cluster to manage long wires

[rpicazof]

Hello,

I have a conceptual question. Is it in general a good practice to use clusters to avoid a crowded block diagram with very long wires? Is there anything to be careful with? such as increased memory usage, computational time, wrong evaluations, etc.?

For example, previously I had 5 outputs of a for loop going somewhere (far!) in the block diagram, creating many long wires.

rpicazof_0-1718709191849.png

Alternatively, I thought of immediately clustering the outputs together so that everything is tidy, as here:

rpicazof_1-1718709402068.png

I would be grateful for any insights, thanks!

[GerdW]

Hi rpicazof,

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@rpicazof wrote:

I would be grateful for any insights, thanks!

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When you would split your very large block diagram into several (logical organized) subVIs then you wouldn't have to worry about long wires!

[rpicazof]

Hi GerdW, 

I agree subVI is the way to go, I am actually using a subVI that has 5 outputs

rpicazof_0-1718712794385.png

but even if the wires are not long too many of them are cumbersome, that is why I think my question still remains :D, but thank you for the tip

Best,

[raphschru]

What I would do:

raphschru_1-1718716945012.png

In this way, your cluster array will be modified in place without unnecessary memory copy.

Also, you have the least possible wires coming in and out of your subVI and the code is scalable through the use of the cluster type definitions.

Regards,

Raphaël.

[GerdW]

Hi rpicazof,

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@rpicazof wrote:

but even if the wires are not long too many of them are cumbersome, that is why I think my question still remains

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Those wires are "cumbersome" because:

• the connector pattern of your subVI is choosen badly
• the connections to the pane are choosen badly (ever seen all those NI functions like VISA or DAQmx where related inputs/outputs are located in the corresponding connectors on left/right side of the connector pane?)
• the subVI icon was drawn badly (borderless, with only a smaller glyph, but a connector pane using the full 32×32 pixel size!)
• (as raphschru wrote) you should use the cluster already inside the subVI!
• the local variables belong outside of the FOR loop!