labview viewer

[jimv11]

I'm wondering if there is such a thing as a labview vi viewer utility?  I am a software engineer in the role of software support to the factory.  Labview teststand is used to run a variety of tests on our product.  I don't need to develop tests, but I would like to know what exactly the tests are doing.  It would be very nice if I could look at the vi's developed by our test engineers to see exactly what they are doing.  But I don't need a full blown labview installation on my machine.

[Darren]

Hello,

Unfortunately, there is no LabVIEW "viewer" utility...NI used to have the "LabVIEW Player", but that was a while back and it isn't supported anymore.  My best idea for you would be to use the Report Generation VIs to generate an HTML report including all VI documentation (Front Panel, Block Diagram, Icon, etc.), then you could view the entire VI as an HTML document.

Good luck,
-D

[Jarrod_S.]

Darren's suggestion is great. You can also print customized HTML or RTF documentation regarding your VI, including block diagram screenshots and more, using the File >> Print function directly from LabVIEW. Check it out!

[jimv11]

These suggestions would be great if I had labview.  The point is these tests were created by someone else and I'd like to see what they do.  What you're suggesting requires that the test engineer who created them bring up labview on the test station and output these documents for me to look at. I was hoping just to copy the vi's onto my machine (via network) and bring up a viewer utility to see what the vi's do (sequence of events, commands issued, etc).

[Darren]

Jarrod's solution is pretty easy and requires no programming.  If you can convince your test engineer to select File > Print on the VIs you want to see, then you've got it made.  Otherwise I know of no other solution.

-D

[altenbach]

My idea would not be that great anyway, because we cannot see hidden cases etc. but I am wondering....

I was thinking along the lines of creating a built application that can display BD images of a selected VI in a picture indicator, but unforunately it does not seem to work once I make an application out of it.

According to the LabVIEW 8.0 help, the method "Block Diagram:Get Image Scaled Method" is supposed to work in a built application:

QUOTE: Available in Run-Time Engine and Real-Time Operating System:

Yes (Read/Write)

But all I get are blanks once the application is built.

(In pre-8.0 versions, the help correclty indicated that this method is not available in the runtime!)

So, which one is it:

1. I am not smart enough to use this and I am doing something wrong.
2. The LabVIEW 8.0 help is wrong (I am confused by the "read/write" anyway... what would writing this method possibly do???). 😉
3. something else?

[tst]

Alten, just a wild guess, but is it possible the diagrams were removed? I would expect it to return an error if they had, but maybe it does and you're not seeing it (I don't have 8 to check).

[altenbach]

No, I tested it on "known good" LV 8.0 VIs on my HD.

[Henrik_Volkers]

jimv11,

for the future you just have to recommend complete documentation of your test vis including a printout/file with all diagrams. Its not that much work since LV supports that.

If your teststand is involved in anything like ISO 9000 ff you can argue that you need that docs. At least it has to be documented (sourcecode, including diagrams) somehwere, so all your current vis should be at an known place including the diagram. If not you can hope that the auditor does not ask for it.   

Maybe you will have to pay for it... all a question of the requirements

[tommi_be]

Hello,

I got following problem related to labview. I have LabView 8 in the laboratory computer about 500m away from my office, which is the place I usually work in. Now if I want to view some code examples taken from ni.com, then I must walk down to the lab just to see the examples. Is this clever way to do it?

Why LabVIEW Player isn't supported anymore?

Tommi