07-13-2010 02:51 PM
I have a medium size application with a huge number of shared variables (>3000). They are broken down into 20 stations. The first 3 are done. We have been taking each lvlib, exporting into CVS, modifying it in Excel, and importing back into a new lvlib. This is absolutely mind-numbingly tedious. Is there a better way to do this? I want to work on the code, not get absorbed like a Borg into a Shared Variable Engine.
07-14-2010 01:58 AM
will channel view help?
07-14-2010 06:28 AM
No. Channel View does not help. To me it only looks like a way of looking at Shared Variables and importing and exporting them into CVS files. Unless I"m missing something I can do all of that in Project Explorer.
07-14-2010 07:48 AM
Some things you may be able to do:
Can you post any of your code?
07-15-2010 06:18 AM
Yes, we are using Shared Variables on a network. This is a PLC application and each of the 18 test bays have over a 150 SV's. Then there are the overhead system SV's. Each has it's own unique address. That is the where creating SV names has become quite the headache. There is no code to show you regarding creating my SV names. I'm doing everything via the Project Explorer and Excel.
07-15-2010 08:35 AM
@PaulG. wrote:
Yes, we are using Shared Variables on a network. This is a PLC application and each of the 18 test bays have over a 150 SV's. Then there are the overhead system SV's. Each has it's own unique address. That is the where creating SV names has become quite the headache. There is no code to show you regarding creating my SV names. I'm doing everything via the Project Explorer and Excel.
I haven't worked with Shared Variables, but with 18 bays of 150 SV, wouldn't it be possible to use some array/cluster of those 150 instead of 3k individual?
/Y
07-15-2010 10:59 AM
My predecessor already invested a lot of work in the current architecture, so we are going with making the SV's the way I have been. However ... after talking it over with my boss ... we agreed ... this kind of work is why we have "interns".
07-15-2010 11:10 AM
@PaulG. wrote:
My predecessor already invested a lot of work in the current architecture, so we are going with making the SV's the way I have been. However ... after talking it over with my boss ... we agreed ... this kind of work is why we have "interns".
I was wondering how you got into this situation.
[Set Rant mode = True]
In the old days of BridgeVIEW and early DSC the entire tag generation and import into the DSC Tag Engine could be completely automated and that is how I handled a similar challenge with 5000 tags all mapped to distinct PLCs.
Since then, I have avoided DSC SV like the plague. May shape up to more work going in but at least I don't end up restricted by the functionality of DSC or playing tag with a support group on the other side of the world that reply with thilling quotes like...
"I don't now about BridgeVIEW, it was supposed to be like LV-DSC"
[Set Rant mode = False]
Sorry I can't help Paul.
Ben
07-15-2010 12:22 PM
@Ben wrote:
@PaulG. wrote:
My predecessor already invested a lot of work in the current architecture, so we are going with making the SV's the way I have been. However ... after talking it over with my boss ... we agreed ... this kind of work is why we have "interns".
I was wondering how you got into this situation.
[Set Rant mode = True]
In the old days of BridgeVIEW and early DSC the entire tag generation and import into the DSC Tag Engine could be completely automated and that is how I handled a similar challenge with 5000 tags all mapped to distinct PLCs.
Since then, I have avoided DSC SV like the plague. May shape up to more work going in but at least I don't end up restricted by the functionality of DSC or playing tag with a support group on the other side of the world that reply with thilling quotes like...
"I don't now about BridgeVIEW, it was supposed to be like LV-DSC"
[Set Rant mode = False]
Sorry I can't help Paul.
Ben
I'm supposed to be telling my new boss good news
I wanted to tell him we can salvage some use out of DSC - a fairly expensive piece of software. I should have ran screaming when he told me NI told him that DSC doesn't even have a front panel control for a 3-way valve.
07-15-2010 03:52 PM
My DSC/NSV system is not as large as yours, I only have ~ 500 tags. I manage my tags from excel workbooks and have written tools that automate everything from naming cRIO I/O aliases, to building NSV libraries to creating HMI NSV bindings. DSC is overpriced and most of the features that I use are simply exposing properties of NSV's to enable citadel data logging. The trend I am seeing is that DSC is merging with LabVIEW proper. An example is the appearance of the Hypertrend Graph into MAX and the Distributed System Manager. Over the past few years, NSV's have gone through a painful evolution but I think we have rounded the corner and NSV's are now a powerful and reliable mechanism. Most of the vi's that you need to automated library creation are located in the vi\utility\variable folder.