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NXG 5.0 - first impressions...

This is the first time I've taken a fairly deep dive into the world of NXG, and I have to say... it's pretty damned good for being 4 years old!  However, it's still a toddler.  (But it's definitely no infant!)  It does feel like LabVIEW rewritten with over 30 years of experience behind it, though.

 

More than ever, I am thinking that, if this is the future of LabVIEW, it's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

Bill
CLD
(Mid-Level minion.)
My support system ensures that I don't look totally incompetent.
Proud to say that I've progressed beyond knowing just enough to be dangerous. I now know enough to know that I have no clue about anything at all.
Humble author of the CLAD Nugget.
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I'm LabVIEW NXG Enthusiast. 

One disappointed point is LabVIEW NXG Community doesn't provide LINX support...

I was looking forward to try Arduino on NXG Community.

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Thanks for the encouraging note, Bill!

 

Emboar - you are correct, we do not yet have the LINX functionality supported in LabVIEW NXG. However, the LabVIEW NXG Community Edition does include the LabVIEW NXG Web Module, so you have some interesting options there. 

Thanks,

Rita Prather
Software Product Manager
rita.prather@ni.com
National Instruments
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Hi billko - would you mind sharing some of your favorite features or experiences with NXG? I've done my own deep dive with NXG 4.0 which I wrote about here and here, and came away extremely underwhelmed. I've not tried NXG 5.0 yet, so hopefully things have improved.

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@cool_ranch_doRITAs wrote:

Thanks for the encouraging note, Bill!

 

Emboar - you are correct, we do not yet have the LINX functionality supported in LabVIEW NXG. However, the LabVIEW NXG Community Edition does include the LabVIEW NXG Web Module, so you have some interesting options there. 


Hi Rita, thanks for your reply. Is LabVIEW NXG Web Module license included in Community Edition? Yes, it was installed with LabVIEW NXG Community Edition but I couldn't activate it. NI License Manager said I didn't have a valid license. Must we purchase the license?

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GCentral
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Maybe we're looking at it from different sides of the same coin.  To me, NXG is the successor to LV Classic, but it's still just a toddler; not ready to take the mantle from Classic, yet.  It's pretty rough around the edges, but I like the direction it is headed.  Most of the complaints I have are about things that aren't yet implemented.  For example, dynamic registering of anything other than user events would be nice.  And how about subdiagram labels?  Old school making a free labels for every subdiagram is a pain.  There are few deliberate design choices that I am unhappy about.  (Anyone think it looks like kindergarten graphics?  I know at least one other person who does!)  Once you wrap your head around the new workflow (took me about half an hour), it gets pretty intuitive when it comes to figuring out how to do something "new".

 

I like the fact that you can dock your BD constants - it becomes just a little nub on your subVI, and all it takes is a mouseover to see what is connected to it.

 

I like the fact that VIs are now tabs in your workspace - no longer do I have to sift through dozens of VIs on the desktop.  Now I can just go to the tab.

 

I like that unused terminals and controls are placed in a container so they are out of the way.  This may lead to abuses by "unscrupulous" programmers, but to me, it reduces clutter - at least until I figure out where it needs to go.

 

I like that the UI now features "alignment guides" that show you when objects are aligned in some way.  The closest example I can think of is when lining things up in PowerPoint.

 

I like that the UI is now independent of the monitor resolution, and that it uses hardware accelerated graphics.

 

I'm pretty sure I can make fairly complex applications with NXG, instrument support notwithstanding.

 

I think that should be an accurate summary of my experiences with LV NXG 5.0.

Bill
CLD
(Mid-Level minion.)
My support system ensures that I don't look totally incompetent.
Proud to say that I've progressed beyond knowing just enough to be dangerous. I now know enough to know that I have no clue about anything at all.
Humble author of the CLAD Nugget.
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Thanks for the detailed summary. I agree with all your positives (and negatives, including the kindergartner look). Sometimes it's hard to see the good bits when there's a lot that's missing. NXG 5.0 has finally finished installing, so will try to look at it with a forward looking perspective this time around.

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It takes quite a bit of imagination to fill in the blanks.  🙂

Bill
CLD
(Mid-Level minion.)
My support system ensures that I don't look totally incompetent.
Proud to say that I've progressed beyond knowing just enough to be dangerous. I now know enough to know that I have no clue about anything at all.
Humble author of the CLAD Nugget.
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Does the new tab-based interface work well with multiple monitors? I use 3 screens at work and frequently use all of them. I usually have my main front panel on one, main block diagram on another, and maybe the probe window on a third.

 

I'm worried the tabs will make me use a single screen, which doesn't sound appealing.

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@BertMcMahan wrote:

Does the new tab-based interface work well with multiple monitors? I use 3 screens at work and frequently use all of them. I usually have my main front panel on one, main block diagram on another, and maybe the probe window on a third.

 

I'm worried the tabs will make me use a single screen, which doesn't sound appealing.


I remember a NXG demo at a user group where this was brought up.  The presenter was able have the front panel and block diagram on different panels.  I just played with NXG 2 and you can drag the .gvi tab out of the window to create a new window.  Then in the original window click the .gvi in the project and it will open in that window.  Then choose one as a panel and the other as a diagram.

 

Sorry for the crude description, but I have not really used NXG yet.  Hopefully they have made it easier in NXG 5, but I just received a new license and have not installed it yet.

 

Bryan

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