How do you keep a VI running while waiting for user input?

[hrh1818]

I have a VI that:

1.  The user enters set points.

2.  The user starts the VI and the VI sends the set points to an external process via a serial interface.

3.  The VI  stops running.

4   The user waits for the external process to complete.

5.  Repeat sequence. Go to Step 1.

This works well except for one small problem.  Starting the VI in step 2 causes an external micro controller to reset.  During the reset it will ignore set point commands.  To get around this problem a delay has been added between when the VI opens the serial port and when the VI sends the set points to the external process   Is it possible to keep a VI running continuously in this type of application, thereby eliminating the start up and shut down of the serial interface?

If yes, how do you keep a VI running while waiting for user input?

Howard

[Dennis_Knutson]

This is actually very simple, especially if you have the event structure. Have you taken any of the tutorials or looked at the examples that come with LabVIEW?

[hrh1818]

What specific examples are you referring to? 

Howard

[Dennis_Knutson]

The ones for the event structure specifically. I'm posting from my phone. Look at the basic ones for user input. even a simple while loop with a boolean and a case statement would work.