recording production data

[mysticfree]

In days before learning the joys of Labview, I wrote my programs to store basic production data (date of test, part number, # tested, # passed, reject rate, etc) into an Access database.  The basic program flow was to check the database for a record on the day of production.  If this was the first run of the day, create a record with 0 counts, otherwise read the last values for the day and display them on the screen.  After each test cycle, the counts (passed, tested) would be updated and written to the database.  Now I'm rewriting these old programs into Labview (v 8.5).  What is the best method in LV to do the same thing with this type of information?

[mysticfree]

I should clarify that I'd rather not use an Access database if Labview has a better method of tracking data.

Thanks,
Ron

[Dennis_Knutson]

You can buy the Database Toolkit, download LabSQL or search the forum for database VIs (there have been numerous posts on this subject). Most of the methods are based on ADO/ODBC and SQL so you are not tied to any one database.

[pallen]

Hello Ron,

I'm not sure I fully understand your problem.  But I'll try.  

I think I've done similar things before by just writing records to a text file.  Each record was a tab delimited "row" of data points.  My program kept track of parts produced by using a counter and updating an indicator on the screen.  But when the program was re-stared, I would fetch the text file and count the rows to know the number of parts produced and start my count from there.

I couldn't say this is the best way.  But it's certainly a pretty simple way and I've had machines in production environments for years that work this way or similarly.  But there are a lot of other options for saving data.  What you're saving and how often you need to save it are important factors in choosing.  As well as how the data needs to be used after the fact.  

If you look at File IO pallet in LabVIEW, you'll see a number of ready to go options for data storage right there.  

Good luck.

[mysticfree]

Hi Dennis,

I have the Developer's Suite so I think that I have the database toolkit. I will check the other resources as well.

Thanks!

[mysticfree]

Hi Patrick,

It's not so much a problem as I want to make sure that I'm using Labview to its full potential since there is so much in this and I'm still a newbie.  It seems that Labview has several methods of data collection in a sequencial fashion but not for database handling (assuming I'm not overlooking anything, hence my initial question.)  I thought about using a text file solution but it seems rather ackward way to go about keeping track of a given day's production counts.  I will explore the File I/O further.

Thanks,
Ron