Smartphones, Tablets, and Mobile Devices Documents

[pjtanz]

Data Dashboard for LabVIEW is a mobile application that enables the creation of custom user interfaces that can monitor and control LabVIEW applications remotely. Data Dashboard for LabVIEW allows you to use iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices to connect to the values of network published shared variables and/or web services using buttons, text input and display, charts, gauges, and LEDs.

Features

• Connect to String, Boolean, and Numeric datatypes (full list here: http://www.ni.com/white-paper/14033/en/)
• Fully customizable layouts, backgrounds, and color schemes
• Swipe between multiple pages
• Connect using network published shared variables or web services
• iPads running iOS 6 or later and Android devices running Android 2.3 or later are supported

Requirements

• LabVIEW Application
• Shared Variable Server OR  deployed LabVIEW Web Service (instructions here: http://www.ni.com/white-paper/13757/en/)

Price

FREE

Download Now

Device Type	Download Link
iPad
iPhone	No longer supported.
Android ( Phone,  7" + 10" tablet)
Windows Store (PCs, laptops, and tablet: Windows 8 / 8.1 RT and Pro, Windows 10)
Windows Phone
Amazon App Store

Troubleshooting and Support

Check the Troubleshooting and Support page for tips and tricks as well as links to our discussion forums.

[wprice]

Can't wait to see the code!

[mvz]

Since PDA's are out, and SmartPhones are in, I can't really use my PDA module anymore. I therefore are very much looking foreward to this functionality on android etc.!!!!

And, I also need it soon, so please put it online...

[gdvorak]

Is this avaiable yet? If not, what is the ETA?

[AdamKemp]

We are waiting on approval from the iOS App Store. We don't know exactly how long that will take.

[malcolmsmith]

I updated the document to reflect that the app now runs on Android 2.3 devices also (but still only tablets, not phones).

[Peter_B]

Is there a reason why the app isn't targetted for Android phones (v2.3 and higher) ?

[pflores]

Why no support for iPhones/android phones?

[AdamKemp]

The application was designed for a larger screen. Targeting smaller screens requires different UI considerations. Even the 7" tablets present challenges that we had to work around (for instance, only 1- and 2-slot layouts are supported on 7" Android tablets because otherwise the controls get too small to be usable).  If we get enough requests for a phone version we may consider adding support, but it would come with more limitations (perhaps only 1 slot per page).

[Forgen]

Yes, I think this app needs to modified to run on any screen size - with Pinch to Zoom, it should be no problem to still make this app very useful no mattter what size your screen is! 

Plus, some android phones have screens that are almost 5" diagonal, and some android tablets have screens just larger than 5" so discriminating by "tablet" versus "phone" is somewhat pointless.

Thank you NI for the app - I can't wait to try it out (on my tablet... for now ).

[Peter_B]

Thanks Adam.  I agree with Forgen that there isn't a valid reason to discriminate between phones and tablets.  I am constantly pinch or double tap zooming into web pages in my Android browser or pages of pdf docs etc.  It is easy/2nd nature with smartphones.

[Peter_B]

Think how more widely the app will be used if able to run on smartphones.  There are over HALF A BILLION smartphones in the world.    The Tablet market is much smaller. My best guestimate is that there are about 35 million tablets in circulation.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-android-tablet-market-share-grows-23-269-12-months/2011-1...

http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html

[q142679]

Wonderful, but I need really a smartphone app. There are a lot of methods to use the little screen.

I've been waiting for the cool stuff.

[pjtanz]

We love all the excitement and feedback.  Thanks, guys.  Keep it coming.

With regards to the phone issue, we're listening - this is our first real app so we're still experimenting with technologies and learning the market.  Over the next few months, we hope to have some great apps and updates that should be really useful.  If you have ideas for the ways that you want to use your iPhone/Android phone or tablet with LabVIEW, feel free to create a document in this community or add the idea to the idea exchange.

[vitoi]

I look forward to trying this product out. I also look forward to seeing its evolution since six indicators and no controls is very limiting. Yes, I know this is only the beginning ... so I'll wait.

What about Windows CE? Will this be added to the list of LabVIEW remote user-interface devices?

I'd be interested to hear abouot people's experience with this product compared to other I've listed http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Using-a-remote-device-tablet-phone-etc-to-provide-a-user/td-p/181350....

[q142679]

@vitoi: You should add in your summary: http://labviewhacker.com/android.php

[vitoi]

LabVIEW hacker appears to use Bluetooth. As such it cannot be used remotely, say across the world.

[RiCo!]

Cmon, only on tablets?! This app should be on phones, people have a smart phone all the time... not a tablet...

[ElectricWraith]

Just tested this out with a cRIO-9073 (running Scan Engine) on our network. I was very impressed to see that even though I only entered the IP address of the chassis, the Data Dashboard app gave me the full list of modules and channels! This is a really slick app and it looks great on my Toshiba Thrive tablet.

I would echo the concerns about it not running on phones, though. Once you guys get that running I think you'll see a lot of very happy developers.

[Vrmithrax]

This looks like something I've been waiting for...  But, my one question that will make or break it (for me):  Is all data communications read-only?  I have several applications where I just need basic monitoring, but the ability to send a few boolean commands (pushbutton to zero sensors) or maybe adjust a parameter or 2.  Any chance the dashboard can send basic data as well as visualize it?

[AdamKemp]

This app currently only supports reading variables.

[AdamKemp]

We have just released a version of this application for iPhone*. It is listed under a different application name ("Data Dashboard Mobile for LabVIEW") for statistics gathering reasons. You can find it in the app store here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/data-dashboard-mobile-for/id497723555?mt=8

Please try it and let us know what you think!

*The Android version still only supports tablet devices.

[vitoi]

Great news. Thanks.

[rhoward99]

Really need an Android smartphone app now! I have a tablet, but it's not with me all of the time, while my phone is!

[Harold_Timmis]

Please make this app work on Android smartphones:)

[Seamus_C]

Hi,

Great App.  

On my Android Tablet, I can find the app on the market but it says my tablet is not supported.      Can you point me to the APK so I can do a manual install myself?

Thanks

[AdamKemp]

Which tablet do you have?

[nilohdez1967]

Hi I tested the aplication on my iphone 4 and it work perfect. Thanks, it is a great api. Waiting for the possibility to send command or make control from iphone to labview VI.

Regards.

[Seamus_C]

I have a HAIPAD M7S and it's running android 2.3.

http://blog.mcbub.com/index.php/tablet-pc/new-tablet-super-slim-body-haipad-m7s-has-come-to-the-stag...

It is a low cost device but but has full market support. If I can't find an app i need on the marked I just download the apk and manually install.

[AdamKemp]

The version on the Amazon Market supports smaller tablets. Can you access the Amazon Market?

[Seamus_C]

I can access the amazon market but get the same problem there,

[Blake!]

Actually, both marketplaces support 7" and 10" tablets. The Amazon Market contains only our Gingerbread build. The Android Market allows users to download either the 2.3 or Honeycomb version of the app through their multiple APK feature.

Unfortunely, your tablet is filtered out by both distribution mechanisms as it is officially unsupported. We are not endorsing side loading the app at this time. Instead, we are actively monitoring all of the user feedback given here related to Android Phone/Small-Medium tablets support and considering supportability in a future release.

Details on the generalized screen size for Android devices:

http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html

[gorgooger]

Hi,

why is Data Dashboard for LabVIEW only available for tablets?

Why don't you let the user decide whether this app is useful on a smart-phone?

[rolfk]

The typical user nowadays has a different expectation. If it doesn't work properly and preferably perfectly they are likely to scream about how worthless an app is. So it is in an app developers interest to err on the safe side and limit the platforms an app can be downloaded too. If someone knows how to get it installed on his unsupported device, he will not go and scream about why it doesn't work perfectly.

[gorgooger]

Hm yes, got it ... but why can't I download when I confirm: "yes, I know it might/will not work as expected and if I face trouble I might describe, but not complain about it" [LINK] 🙂

I think this would do.

[rolfk]

Because the markets don't seem to want to support that. Wanting to make it a consumer safe experience as that is where the money is, not the tinkerers.

[gorgooger]

O I would merrily load it from the NI webside. I would register for it, so I can get a mail, when an update is available.

[lucchris]

I agree with gorgooger. Let the user of the app decide if it is save for his users or not.

[Blake!]

A phone ready version in now available in Google Play. The Amazon App store has listed the phone version of the APK as Under Review. I will update this post when the Amazon App Store has pushed our binary live. Thank you all for your feedback and enjoy.

[Peter_B]

Excellent  .  Many thanks Blake and Adam for making this available to the Android phone market !!  I look forward to trying it out.

[gorgooger]

Hi,

first a big thank you.

I don't want to complain, but may be you want to know that this app keeps crashing from time to time on my Galaxy Nexus (4.0.2).

I also would like to put more than one sensor on one screen, 4.65" are big when you have just a collection of boolean.

A zoom out feature would be very nice.

An alarm trigger for certain values could also be helpfull.

Ups sorry 😉 here we get something extremely usefull and all I have to do is demand more.

(Smartphone "keyboards" are so smal)

[Peter_B]

Four indicators per screen on the phones would be handy and not too cluttered.  Right now it is limited to  only one indicator per screen.

[AdamKemp]

Due to the wide variety of phones and the small resolution that most have we removed the ability to use different layouts with multiple slots per page. Some of the controls just don't work well in that small of a space. For instance, there's not enough room for a chart with axis labels, and the gauge labels become unreadable. We didn't want to have unusable controls, and we didn't want to have complicated rules about when you can use certain controls so we decided to keep it simple and just limit the phone versions (on both platforms) to a single variable per page. You can of course have multiple pages and swipe between them, but you only get one per page on the phone.

[malcolmsmith]

@gorgooger : Is the crash at design-time or while running? Are there reproducible steps that cause it to happen?

[gorgooger]

@malcolmsmith:

For me it crashes only at design time while adding local gyroscope values.

Would be there a possibility to store different layouts?

[gorgooger]

When I try to connect to a shared variable on my netbook (LV-fall-2012) I get only a "No supported variables."

They are network shared, and deployed. The firewall rules are also edited.

[AdamKemp]

What are the types of variables in that location? Data Dashboard currently only supports numerics (integers, doubles, and singles, but no fixed point or complex), booleans, and strings. It does not support arrays, clusters, waveforms, or any other type. It also does not support authentication.

[Blake!]

DataDashboard for LabVIEW with Android Phone support is now live in the Amazon App Store.

[vt92]

Is there a list of supported Android platforms?  Apparently, my phone is not supported. 

[Blake!]

The minimum requirment for phones is Android 2.3.3. What version of the OS is your phone running?

[Keith_Ward]

Is there a particular technical challenge being able to write to shared variables in the app or is it a conscious decision/intentional limitation?