LabVIEW Probes- Create Debug VI

[JW-JnJ]

I hate to say it, but there is one thing I sorely miss from my days of coding in Matlab. The ability to pause code mid-execution and dynamically try our new code or analyze data. Here is my suggestion for what this may look like in LabVIEW.

Lets say we have a complex set of code that ocassionally has a quirk and you have it paused in that exact spot.

You know your complex equation is causing a problem now, but you don't know why the data in is bad and what to do to solve it. Before, you would have alter your code multiple times to add in analysis VI's and insert possible fixes, then somehow work your way back into the exact state that caused the problem.

I suggest adding a button to the probe window.

This will open up a new VI with controls as each of the probes currently open. These will be linked to the place in memory where the probe data is.

These controls have the exact data as seen in the probe window. You can create new code and run it while the old code is paused.

Now this next part is optional, but might be useful. Changing the control to an indicator would allow you to alter the data in memory. So in the example above, if you changed the Results array using another (fixed) VI, you could continue on with your code and see if it causes problems later.

What does this allow?

• Detailed analysis of data like running an FFT or filter on probe data on the fly without creating a custom probe
• Creating a new, fixed VI to see if it responds to the same inputs correctly
• Test out a new inserted VI before actually inserting it
• Easily export to a file

I'm sure this could do a lot more than I'm anticipating. That's the case with anything you open up to customization by coders.

Either way, I can see this greatly reducing the analysis/fix/test coding cycle by a lot. If you can do in-depth analysis mid-code and try out multiple iterations of a fix without stopping and running again, I can see this being a great time saver.

[admin edit]

NOTE: A large portion of this idea exists in LabVIEW today. Please see Darin K's first post below for details. The idea is being left open because many of the details of how the system works today could be improved.