Does a sub-vi require controls?

[Jim Adams]

Been reading the mail on this one and also thought I would pitch in my $.02
as well.

First, a DSM is a District Sales Manager, someone you should get to know.
Their purpose in life is to sell National products, but ALSO to make your
job easier. A good one is a great source of information, willing to come to
your site and sit with you while you try to do things on your screen and
answer questions when what you expected to happen, didn't.

Second, it sounds like you could benefit most from using the tip suggested
by Dennis. Open up one of your VIs, go to the wiring diagram, select a
small area of your diagram (like you were going to delete it) that has two
or three wires going into the selected area ("inputs") and two or three
wires going out of the selected area ("outputs"). (It is least confusing if
you select an area that doesn't include any front panel indicators or
controls on your VI.) Then with that area still selected, go to Edit ->
Create_SubVI. The area you selected will be replaced by a single icon with
one connection for each "input" and one connection for each "output".
Double click on the new icon (it is your new SubVI) and you should see how
the wires into your selected area have been converted into "controls", and
the wires out of your selected area have been converted into "indicators".
Compare the wiring of your original VI and the wiring of the modified
version of your VI. You will see that all that has happened is that the
transitions across the selected area line have been converted into inputs
and outputs in the subvi ("controls" and "indicators").

Hope this helps, and Good Luck!

Jim

"Dennis Knutson" wrote in message
news:506500000005000000496F0000-1017707437000@exchange.ni.com...
> Couldn't help but stick my $.02 in but it seems that for someone who's
> been using LabVIEW for a couple of years, you've missed out on
> understanding some of the basic concepts. I would suggest that you
> look at some of the VIs under the DAQ palette. These "icons" are
> subVIs and you should be able to see how they can remove clutter on
> your diagram - not add to it. Try highlighting a section of your
> diagram and then under the Edit menu, select Create SubVI.
>
> As far as Pennsylvania, NI has a list at
>
http://digital.ni.com/domestic_sales.nsf/byregion?readform&region=us&subregi
on=pa&node=174691_us.
> Give one of them a call and see if there are any local user group
> meetings or LabVIEW classes.

[New to This]

I threw together a whole bunch of mathematical icons, the point being to not include any controls or indicators in the sub-vi I was going to create and then I followed the instructions given here to go to the Edit>Create Sub-vi but that choice was grayed out. I decided to give a guess and draw a box around the part I wanted to create and then that choice was no longer grayed out. The book says to use this choice but it doesn't say where in the menus to find it. Duh.... Thanks for the tip.
Now I see why It didn't make sense before. I have previously gotten errors and "Bad Wires" for inadvertantly running wires into controls and out of indicators. The books say one should never do this, but one must do this
in using sub-vi's. Moral is, don't believe everything you read. Thanks for the help. Now, how do I change a control to the color I'd like it to be and secondly, how do I copy a color so I can make many controls the same color?
Bob

[Greg_McKaskle2]

.... Now, how do I change a
> control to the color I'd like it to be and secondly, how do I copy a
> color so I can make many controls the same color?
> Bob
>

Show the tools palette and click on the paint brush tool. If you click
on the rectangles next to the paintbrush, it will show a color picker
menu, or you can right click on a control to show the same menu and
select the color. Finally, you can hold down the ctl key and click or
use the color dropper tool. All of these actions will set the current
color of the paintbrush. Now you can left-click on various parts of a
control to set the colors to be the current ones.

A couple other things to think about. In larger appli
cations, it is
very useful to use strict typedefs so that the color and appearance can
be set in one place, the definition .ctl file, and update all of the
users of the typedef. Also, controls are built up of multiple pieces,
some of which are quite small. If you accidentally color the wrong
piece, hit ctl-z to undo it and take better aim. You can also use one
of the magnifier tools available on the web to make it easier to hit the
parts.

As for the poorly taught class, I hate to hear it when that happens.
Please notify someone from NI, like the DSM that you will soon know, or
the technical support person that you are talking about. The comments
are the best way to fix the bad situation when it occurs.

Greg McKaskle

[New to This]

That class was a couple of years ago. I did notify NI and they sent me the Basic I, Basic II and DAQ books free of charge. but if the books were better than the classes, they would be giving out the books instead of having the class. One really needs both the books and a good instructor.
Regarding the colors, you've overwhelmed me with choices. I eventually get a color by left clicking and then right clicking, and then sometimes a box of colors appears and after a few minutes of clicking around I can sometimes get the right color and sometimes not. The books seem to have as many choices as you've given me. Is there a procedure somewhere on how to do it, Step 1, click on this, Step 2, cli
ck on this and is it left or right click? The book is not clear.
Of course, my books are two years old and are for Version 5.1. We are now using 6.0 and I understand Version 6.1 is different yet. One wonders sometimes if the entire computer industry takes lessons from Bill Gates and changes just for the sake of change. As you as you learn it, it is different. I'll agree some changes have been good. I like the way the pallettes stay in place now and aren't instantly covered up as they were on Ver 5.1.

Bob

[Greg_McKaskle2]

....

> Regarding the colors, you've overwhelmed me with choices. I
> eventually get a color by left clicking and then right clicking, and
> then sometimes a box of colors appears and after a few minutes of
> clicking around I can sometimes get the right color and sometimes not.
> The books seem to have as many choices as you've given me. Is there a
> procedure somewhere on how to do it, Step 1, click on this, Step 2,
> click on this and is it left or right click? The book is not clear.
> Of course, my books are two years old and are for Version 5.1. We
> are now using 6.0 and I understand Version 6.1 is different yet. One
> wonders sometimes if the entire computer industry takes lessons from
> Bill Gates and changes just for the sake of change. As you as you
> learn it, it is different. I'll agree some changes have been good. I
> like the way the pallettes stay in place now and aren't instantly
> covered up as they were on Ver 5.1.
>


There are several ways to load colors into the paintbrush tool depending
on how you wish to use it. I can see how this was overwhelming, so see
if this helps.

1. If it isn't already visible, show the tools palette using the Window
menu.

2. Click on the paint brush tool, the bottom most item in the palette.

3. Right click on a part of the control you need to recolor. This will
show the color selection menu.

4. Select the color you want to use. Moving the mouse over the various
squares will preview the original object using that color.

5. Click and release on the color square you wish to use.

You have now changed the color of part of the control and made that
color be the current color in the brush tool. The squares in the tool
palette next to the brush will show the color you selected and the color
that will be applied on left clicks with the brush tool.

To color other parts of the control, place the tip of the brush on them
and left click.


If you accidentally choose or apply the wrong color, use undo to put it
back. Undo is under the edit menu and uses Ctl-Z as a shortcut, similar
to other application.


As for changes to the LV UI, it isn't Bill Gates, but users of the
product that affect the direction and speed of change. You will notice
some changes, such as the LV6 and LV6.1 color picker offering a more
complete set of colors, but the clicks and tools work the same. The
procedure you are using hasn't changed much since LV2.5, which was
released 9.5 years ago. Other posts have recommended additional books
such as LabVIEW for Everyone. I'd agree that they should be worth your
time and money, and of course you can ask questions here as well.
Finally, in addition to your local DSM discussed previously, you should
ask about a local user group meeting where you can meet and learn from
other LV users in your local area.

Greg McKaskle