What is this function building block??

[snwbrdr]

Hi I am new to labview.  I have a basic example that resets a source measure unit, sources voltage, takes a current measurement, and then again resetting the meter.  I am just unsure of what the three yellow blocks are that I made a green box around??  If anyone can point me in the direction of where I can find them in lab view so I can read about them to understand what they are trying to do at those points.  Also I am wondering if after you have finished your design in lab view if you can make it into a .exe file that can be opened and run by an operator like you can in C or VB, or do you need the full software package installed on every PC??  Thanks alot for your help.

[CoastalMaineBird]

  I am just unsure of what the three yellow blocks are that I made a green box around??  If anyone can point me in the direction of where I can find them in lab view so I can read about them to understand what they are trying to do at those points. 

When looking at the diagram, hit CTRL-H and the help window will appear. Move your cursor over one of the functions (the "yellow blocks") and the help window will offer a short description of the thing you're hovering over.

Right-click on a function and choose HELP from the menu and you get a more detailed explanation.

Also I am wondering if after you have finished your design in lab view if you can make it into a .exe file that can be opened and run by an operator like you can in C or VB, or do you need the full software package installed on every PC?? 

Yes.  You need to have it in a project (if you labVIEW is newer than 8.0, I think), and make a build specification.

When you BUILD the build spec, you get an EXE file.

This EXE needs what's called the LabVIEW RunTime Engine installed on any machine that it runs on.

No fees or anything, but it has to be there. 

It does NOT need the whole LabVIEW DevSys .

[snwbrdr]

Thanks for the help on the .exe!!!  This picture actually though is from a pdf document of the manual of one of the source meters I use and not labview so the cntrl+h here won't help me.  Thanks

Message Edited by snwbrdr on 10-30-2009 09:40 PM

Message Edited by snwbrdr on 10-30-2009 09:43 PM

Message Edited by snwbrdr on 10-30-2009 09:44 PM

[CoastalMaineBird]

Well, if all you have is a PDF then you cannot build an EXE from it.

The "999" icon converts a numeric value from the control (on the panel) to a string.

Note that this is an INTEGER conversion, if the control has a value of 3.7, the string will be "4".

Maybe that's correct for your application, maybe not.

The next icon is a CONCATENATE STRINGS operation which appends the string value above to a fixed command string ("smua.source.levelv=").

I'm not sure which of the icons you mean for the third one. 

[snwbrdr]

Hi, thanks for your help. The third one is to the right bottom of the pictue where it says "put current into numeric string....."  So are the icons in question not a part of labview or is that part of the power supply drivers??  If I can locate those icons in labview then I can easily recreate this to experiment with.   

[smercurio_fc]

It appears that you are dealing with a Keithley 2600. The NI Instrument Driver Network has drivers for many instruments, including the 2600. I would suggest looking there to get pre-written drivers that you can look at to see how to talk to the instrument. The specific code you have is dealing with scripts for the 2600. I don't know what you're doing, so it's not clear that you need to delve into this area as opposed to just using the basic commands for the instrument.

To learn more about LabVIEW it is recommended that you go through the tutorial(s) and look over the material in the NI Developer Zone's Learning Center which provides links to other materials and other tutorials. You can also take the online courses for free.

[CoastalMaineBird]

The third one is to the right bottom of the pictue where it says "put current into numeric string....."

Oh - I missed the other green box you drew.

That function is converting a string into a numeric value.

 A string indicator can only display a string.

A numeric indicator displays a number but it can be adjusted to show 1 decimal place, or 6 dec. places - it can be set up to accept a number like 18.0 and show it as 1.5 feet, and so on.

 So are the icons in question not a part of labview or is that part of the power supply drivers?? 

ALL (repeat, ALL) of the icons on your diagram are part of basic LabVIEW and have nothing to do with any particular drivers.

The particular strings you see are  specific to your instrument, but that's just the data that the functions are sending.

If I can locate those icons in labview then I can easily recreate this to experiment with.    

The STRING palette has the CONCATENATE STRINGS function.

There is a sub-palette of STRING functions called STRING-NUMBER CONVERSIONS (or something like that) that has the other two you asked about. 

[LV_Pro]

As mentioned in the previous posts, what is displayed in the document is entirely LabVIEW. Unfortunately, one comment made earlier was incomplete. You can make a LabVIEW program into a .exe, but only if you have either the Professional Development package or the addon Application Buildr, toolkit.

[snwbrdr]

Hi guys, just wanted to say thanks for your help!

[CoastalMaineBird]

Hi guys, just wanted to say thanks for your help!

That's what the KUDOS buttons are for 🙂