Seemingly random node placement on block diagram

When I create an indicator on the front panel, the block diagram node shows up in a seemingly random place. Sometimes it gets hidden. The opposite happens when I create a node on the block diagram. The front panel object placement seems random.
Is there a way to get a container where all things will appear in this box? Can I anticipate where something might show up?
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RavensFan wroteThough finding the origin on the block diagram isn't that easy.)
Sure it is...Reset Origin
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Property Node activated even though it's been removed from Block Diagram

Hi,
I messed around with the property node of one of my controls and when I was finished and removed the property node from the block diagram it still makes my control blink.
How do I make it stop??
Is the option of Enable state not possible to set in property node mode. I'd like to go from disabled and grayed to enabled.
Thanks.
Solved!
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Hi
Your blinking property might still be set. Add the property again to set it to False.
To set the enabled/disabled/grayed state use the "Disabled" property.
Hope this helps.

Probe windows disappear on Block Diagram

Hi all,
I came across an odd issue yesterday using the probes in Labview 2011. When I attach a probe to a wire and leave the probes inside the probe window they seem to work fine, however as soon as I launch the probes as separate windows, then click the title bar to move it to a convinient place they seem to disapear from the block diagram. Once this happens the probes no longer function and simply retain the values they had before they removed themselves.
I have attached a couple of images to show what I mean:
probe-window.jpg shows everything working as normal with the values in each probe acquired correctly.
separate-window.jpg shows what happens when I launch the probe windows and try and move them. They disappear from the BD and no longer function as probes.
Not a major issue I know but one I find very annoying as I like to move the windows to meaningful positions to clearly tell me which wire the values are coming from on the BD. I couldn't find anything similar on the forum so I don't know if I'm the only one with this problem, but it definitely did used to work!
Any ideas?
Attachments:
probe-window.jpg ‏81 KB
separate-window.jpg ‏98 KB

I can't replicate the condition. Have you tried to run a repair on your LabVIEW installation?
By the way, there is a much simpler way (and more scalable) approach to accomplishing what you are trying to do:
Attachments:
string to array.png ‏18 KB

Cannot place custom subVI on the block diagram

When I press the "Select a VI..." button on the function palette and select the VI I want to place on the block diagram nothing happens. This only seems to be happening for two particular VIs. Most of the time I can place the custom subVI without any problems.
Is there some option that could have accidentally gotten set that does not allow a VI to be placed on another VIs block diagram?
Please let me know if there is any way to fix this problem.
Thank you,
David R. Asher

David,
What you sent me has a .ctl file extension. The ctl extension is for LabVIEW custom Controls, not VIs. Even though it is actually a VI, the wrong extension must be confusing LabVIEW and not letting it load. It's probably trying to put it on the front panel since that is where controls go.
If you change the ctl extension to vi, it works as it should.
Ed
Ed Dickens - Certified LabVIEW Architect - DISTek Integration, Inc. - NI Certified Alliance Partner
Using the Abort button to stop your VI is like using a tree to stop your car. It works, but there may be consequences.

I created boolean references in my main vi block diagram and copied them to my sub vi front panel. when wire my reference in my main vi to one the input node of the sub vi the wire is broken. the error says its a class conflict why?

i created boolean references in my main vi block diagram and copied them to my sub vi front panel. when wire my reference in my main vi to one the input node of the sub vi the wire is broken. the error says its a class conflict why?

Expanding and clarifying what BJD said;
After you create the temporary sub-VI that BJD mentioned, open its front panel and copy the reference control that LV created when it created the sub-VI.
This reference control will be correct class etc that you need. Use the control to replace the original control that you were attempting to wire up.
The technique of "create sub-VI...copy" always works for me.
There is one more thing that you should watch out for.
The mechanical action of the boolean can not be set for latch action when attempting to read the value using a value property node.
Trying to help,
Ben
Ben Rayner
I am currently active on.. MainStream Preppers
Rayner's Ridge is under construction

DIO Port Config & DIO Port Write Block Diagram Errors (Call Library Function Node:library not found or failed to load)

Hi Guys, need help on this.
I have this LabVIEW program that used to work on the old computer.
The old computer crashes most of the time, so I upgraded the computer
and used its Hard Drive as slave to the new computer.
I have no idea where are its installers since the guy that made the program
is not in my department anymore.
I downloaded all the drivers needed from NI: NIDAQ9.0, NIVISA,NI488.2,
and drivers of some instruments needed in the setup. I'm using LabVIEW8.2.
Everything's fine until I open the LabVIEW program for our testing.
Here goes the error:
   DIO Port Config
   DIO Port Write
Block Diagram Errors
   Call Library Function Node: library not found or failed to load
Attachments:
ErrorList.JPG ‏200 KB

Honestly, I'm a newbie on Labview. I just want this old program to run on the new computer.
The guys that installed the drivers on the old computer are no longer here in my department.
And I have no idea where the drivers are. So I just downloaded the drivers needed for my hardware and instruments.
Here's my hardware: (cards: PCI-DIO-96, PCI-GPIB), (instruments: SCB100,E4407B, HP83623, HP3458, HP8657)
OS: Windows XP Pro
By the way, I have unzipped the TraditionalDAQ drivers. First I tried the 7.4.1, but installation error appeared.
I thought maybe the installer is corrupted, so I downloaded the 7.4.4 and unzipped it.
But, still same installation error appears. I don't understand, both TraditionalDAQ drivers have same installation error.
Now I have tried the DAQmx8.7.2 driver, bu still the DIO Port Config and DIO Port Write have errors.

Print Problem : Print description and tips from structures, nodes and loops from block diagram

Hello,
I've just completed the entire documentation of my VI and I did describe some Case structures and Formula Nodes. Now I want to print the VI with the VI printer and when I select ''Description'' in the custom printer manager, it doesn't select the description from most functions in the block diagram such as Formula Node, Case Structure,etc.
Is there a way to get these descriptions in the printed version VI ?
Thanks a lot !
Solved!
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Hi Weepet,
After some investigation, it turns out that this behavior is expected behavior. Please see the following help topic
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361G-01/lvhowto/creating_vi_and_object_de/
Essentially, Context Help will only display the description for controls, indicators, and constants. At the same time, the descriptions will only print if that description is available in context help. LabVIEW primitives will always use the description from the documentation, and will not display your custom "Description and Tips". So, for primitives like case structures and formula nodes, we cannot get that information to print. The behavior that you're seeing is expected.
Perhaps you can just use comments to document these functions? You can double click on a blank area of the block diagram and provide comments.
Regards,
Che T.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

Place an image on the block diagram

Is there an easy way to place an image on the block diagram?
To clarify, I would like a simple way to paste a bmp or jpeg or png or whatever onto my block diagram for the purpose of documenting the block diagram for future programmers.
The way I currently accompish this is by creating a picture constant on the diagram and running a seperate vi to load a picture into a picture window, then using copy and paste functions to get the image into the picture constnat in my block diagram.
There's a simpler way, right?
global variables make robots angry
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Thanks, but that isn't at all what I am trying to do. I want to
place an image on the block diagram, not read an image. I've attached a
screen shot of my block diagram to show you that I am using an image
that I pasted onto the block diagram to document the block diagram. The
picture below the wiring is a schematic of a rectangular reticle that
corresponds to the wiring diagram above. You can see which points go
where when drawing the targeting reticle around kermit the frog, so it
is easier to understand the wiring diagram.
The method
I have to use to paste an image into the block diagram is cumbersome. I
would like to know if there is an easy way to paste an image into the
block diagram.
Message Edited by Root Canal on 01-10-2009 01:53 PM
global variables make robots angry
Attachments:
like_this.PNG ‏73 KB

Labview: Null Window ... stopped at unknown on the block diagram

Hi,
I have a fairly large program that was written in Labview 6.0. Recently we upgraded to Labview 9.0 and this program was exported to an executable with the new version.
When running the executable I sometimes get the following error as seemingly random places. I have not been able to make it crash when not using the executable. Labview: Null Window. The top-level VI ".vi" stopped at unknown on the block diagram of ".vi"
I apologise for having to blank out the vi names but i cannot give vi names, say what the software is used for or give over code. I can say that it uses NI USB 6212 IO cards, interfaces with Rhode and Swartz instruments and uses alot of file IO.
I was hoping that someone could give me a hint on how to debug such an error. I have noticed that When this error occurs, the memory use almost doubles.
Thankyou
James
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I think you open the front panel of a VI that has it's front panel removed during the build. Try to adjust the built settings of that specific VI to include the front panel.
Ton
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Bug: Front Panel objects relative position change when placing merge VI onto Block Diagram

I've posted a bug report on LAVA, here:
http://forums.lavag.org/Front-Panel-objects-relative-position-change-when-placing-merge-VI-onto-Bloc...
If someone at NI can reproduce, can I please get a CAR #?
Thanks,
-Jim
Solved!
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Donovan B wrote:
Hi Jim,
After my previous post, I also saw this behavior, so I decided to do another test. If there are no decorations in the VI set to “Merge VI” (“Place VI Contents” for LabVIEW 8.5 and later) the controls and indicators are still not selected when dropping the VI from the Functions palette. I checked this behavior back to LabVIEW 7.1 and it is consistent throughout that controls and indicators are not selected. (Consequently, so is the fact that when decorations are present they don’t maintain the relative position).
I am not sure if this would be better suited as a CAR or product suggestion since it has been this way that long, but it does not appear to be related to the fact that decorations are present in the Merge VI. It does seem strange that the decorations are selected though. Looks like the best way to work around this is to drop the VI from the Controls palette. Hopefully, it’s not too much of a hassle.
Hi Donovan,
Thanks for checking in.
> I checked this behavior back to LabVIEW 7.1 and it
is consistent throughout that controls and indicators are not
selected. (Consequently, so is the fact that when decorations are
present they don’t maintain the relative position).
This just means that not many people use this feature. However, now that VIPM Professional makes it so easy to edit the palettes, I'm sure that others will start complaining that this doesn't work as they expect.
> I am not sure if this would be better suited as a CAR or product suggestion
since it has been this way that long, but it does not appear to be
related to the fact that decorations are present in the Merge VI.
Just look up the functional specifications for this feature and see if all objects are supposed to be selected.
But seriously, is there a reason that only the FP decorations are selected? Surely this would be documented somewhere, if there was a good reason for this current (IMO, buggy) behavior.
> It
does seem strange that the decorations are selected though. Looks like
the best way to work around this is to drop the VI from the Controls
palette. Hopefully, it’s not too much of a hassle.
That's not a reasonably work-around, IMO. It doesn't make sense to drop Block Diagram components onto the Front Panel. For example, this bug affects the JKI State Machine. It doesn't make sense to drop a State Machine onto the Front Panel.
So, I'd file it as a CAR/bug, and then wait to see how LV R&D feels about it. If they can find some valid reason for why Controls and Indicators shouldn't be selected, then that's fine (and hopefully someone will explain it to me).
Thanks,
-Jim

System exec subvi. can't access block diagram for positioning

OK I am back!
my first issue is that for some reason I can no longer attach files here for you all to see...
Second and more to the point is how can I tell the system exec.vi to open where I want it too when access to the block diagram is password protected and I can't seem to make any property nodes for the vi either.
I am using this vi to call the OSK (on screen keyboard) for touch screen panel.
I would have sample to show but see number one...
Solved!
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Thanks Dennis - again
after posting i made an executible of the project as it stood and put it on my touch panel.
I found that it called it OK and I could just moveit around and resize it as i wanted, just once. then whenever i called up the OSK it was where i left it and the same size.
While this may be a small pain to the end user, I think i will keep it like that for now and just let whoever they are deal with it as part of the initial program protocol.
but what about not being able to add attachments here? do I need an adult?

What is the best way to keep the block diagram/ front panel clean?

Hello,
I am relatively new to Labview so I'm not able to tell if I'm overcomplicating my programs or making my block diagram too cluttered. I was wondering if there were some ways to tell whether I could simplify my programming just by looking at it (perhaps only experience helps for these things) ?
I have attached my VI here. Currently, it has the capability to monitor the voltage and current from two motors. On display, you can see a indicator with the voltage and current values and there are charts toward the bottom that can display waveforms from different motors with a drop down menu.
The front panel is rather clean in my novice opinion, but the block diagram seems messy to me, just at first glance. I foresee a problem occuring in the future however. In the future, I will have to scale the VI to monitor 50 motors. All the programming will be the same as the one I have now, except it will have 50 indicators and unfortunately 50 times pretty much everything. I would like to avoid this, but I'm not sure how I could.
I am using a USB 6009. I am using its four differential inputs to monitor the voltage and current of two motors. In the future, I will be getting more DAQ units (25 total because 2 motors can be monitored for each DAQ). The new DAQs will help will help with more resource space, but I think complicate things with the additional potential of 24 more DAQ Assistants (as used in my code).
Thanks for any help you might be able to provide!

It usually is mainly experience that will teach you the best methods to make your code look pretty. I don't know anyone who is proud of their first from-scratch application. There are a few resources out there to help with best practices, like this group on ni.com, but you'll learn the most from your own development.
Your front panel looks great. FPs in general are really up to you. You can make it look as ugly or pretty as you want. When you have some duplicate controls and indicator groups, you should utilize clusters and arrays to simplify. You could use a little bit of cleanup in that regard, but not much. Also, personally, I hate reading red text unless it's a warning of some sort.
Your block diagram could use some cleanup in a modularity sense. You have a lot of repeated code, which you could consolidate in to a subVI that is used in multiple locations, or in a For loop. A general rule of thumb is to keep your block diagram within a single monitor. You shouldn't have to scroll. Your application is pretty simple, so it's hard to mess it up
Here are some specifics about your block diagram:
Right click your terminals on the block diagram and uncheck "View As Icon". You're welcome.
Duplicate operations on each waveform "(x*2-4)/16": create subVI and/or run the waveforms through a For loop.
You do a lot of 2-element arrays and then indexing. Just replace those with a Select node based on the numeric.
All of your code is running every time, including your property nodes at the bottom, which is unnecessary. As you learn LabVIEW architectures, you will learn how to bypass this with initialization and exiting code, but for now you should put a case structure around those for only when the motor numbers change.
I'm not sure how you're timing your main loop, but you should put a delay in there because you don't need the DAQmx node to be pulling as fast as your CPU will allow.
There are free intro videos you can watch to learn what NI would suggest in terms of coding and teach you some of the basic features and such. Here's a three hour course, and here's a six hour course.

Why does my block diagram change when I copy my code to another system?

I am doing development work on a laptop on Win XP and using LabVIEW 2009 with service pack 1. When I copy the code to the target system, my block diagrams are changed and no longer fit the screen. Much of the code is spread out, mainly down. The target system is running Windows 7 and also has LabVIEW 2009, SP 1.
I notice that any constants that are clusters are expanded when copying the code to the other system. I've gone in and turned off the autosizing for these clusters but they are still expanded. I like to shrink them to a small size for saving space.
I've gone through and manually re-adjusted the block diagram on the target system, but when I copy it back to my development laptop, the same thing happens again. This is not an acceptable way to develop code and it has caused a real problem to proceed. I'm contracting this work and must develop this code offsite. Can anyone please help me with this? I can't keep restructuring my block diagrams every time I copy the code from one system to the other.

Windows XP used Tahoma size 8 as its basic system font. When MS came up with Vista, they changed it to Segoe size 9. I'm not sure what Win 7 is, but I think it is the same as Vista. That font change, and certainly font size change seems to be the underlying cause for block diagrams changing their appearance. (And for front panel controls and labels as well.)
LV seems to use the Windows system font as its default font. Interestingly, it seems like the font sizes in LV are something like size 12, 13, 14, 15. I think a size 9 is equivalent to a size 15, but I'm not sure about the comparisons. (Check out this thread.)
There are a few things you can do to try to make one system look more like the other.
1. Go into the Windows screen settings. In Vista, right click desktop, Personalize. Window color and appearance. Open classic appearance properties. Try changing the color scheme from Windows Aero, to something like Windows Classic or Windows standard. They both use Tahoma 8.
2. Or same as Step 1, but go further into Advanced button. Pick on any option that uses font such as Menu, Message Box, Active or Inactive Title Bar and change the font there. I'm not sure which of the items that has a font setting is the key one.
3. LV uses 3 fonts called Application, System, and Dialog. I think each of those map to one of those Windows options, but I'm not sure which goes to which.
4. In LV, Tools/Options/Environment has a subsection called Fonts. Those 3 basic LV fonts are selectable there. There is also a checkbox for me which is checked and says to use default. If you uncheck that checkbox, a Font Style button becomes enabled. You go in there and you can choose fonts and sizes. And the Application, System, and Dialog fonts as well as all the usual fonts names (Arial, MS Sans Serif, Greek, ....) are selectable along with fonts sizes. Play around in there. The whole section is very confusing, and I have no idea how it works. I recommend going to this idea A better way to specify (default) fonts and putting in a vote. Also this idea, Fix font behavior between windows versions, platforms & executables, deserves some love.
5. Some of these settings can also show up in your LabVIEW.ini file.
FPFont = "0" 15
BDFont = "0" 13 (I think the "0" means app font, "1" means system font, and "2" means dialog font)
Also,
appFont="Tahoma" 13
systemFont="Tahoma" 13
dialogFont="Tahoma" 13
(And if necessary, put these in your built application's .ini file)
As you can see, there are a lot of different things going on and they also seem to conflict with each other. I starting stumbling on the block diagram issue between working on my app on XP at work and on my Vista machine at home about 6 months ago. I think my problem actually started with the front panel when I was trying to align labels, and use some arrow head decals on boolean buttons. I think I did the customization of buttons in a couple different ways (because I did some, came back later to do others, and couldn't remember exactly how I did it.) As a result some decals looked different than others when I changed machines. And I swear going from XP to Vista, or Vista to XP the problem got both worse ways rather than let's say larger one way, and smaller the other way.
Replying to your message is about as much to me trying to combine all the pieces of knowledge I've stumbled across over the past months and year as it is for trying to help you. Hopefully, this information gives you some places you can look at and play with. (I bet #1, would be a quick, easy way to solve your immediate problem, but I haven't really tried it myself to be sure.)
I hope someone from NI who has a better understanding than me about these font issues could jump in and correct any mistakes I made, or add anything I might have left out. What we really need is some sort of "nugget" or National Instruments white paper that really explains all of this in ways we can use rather than us stumbling around in the dark doing things trial and error to figure it out. Generally, any changes to the .ini files require you to shutdown LV and restart it to take effect which can take a couple minutes. And considering all the various combinations of things that can be done above, your talking about dozens of possible restarts, and sending .vi's between two different PC's with two different operating systems, before figuring these things out.

Navigating a complex block diagram

Hello Guys,
I already have an existing VI which is very complex with several tabs. The block diagram is pretty huge and i am having difficulties in finding SUB VIs in the block diagram. Clicking on any of the tables in the front panel doesnt take me to block diagram. Does any one ahs any suggestion as of how to traverse through a design.
Thanks,
Assad.

Assad wrote:
Clicking on any of the tables in the front panel doesnt take me to block diagram.
Why should it??
However, you can always right-click on any FP object and select "find terminal", "find local variables", "find property nodes", etc. All these will take you to the right place on the BD.
LabVIEW Champion . Do more with less code and in less time .

How can I open a vi and show the block diagram?

Hi,
I am opening an vi using "Open VI Reference" and "Invoke Methodpen FP", but I want to open the vi and show the block diagram, but I haven´t found any method (Invoke Method) to do that and any property.
Any idea?
Thanks!
Gracinda

OK, I can come up with a reason. I have written a program that will search the entire VI Hierarchy of a program and update all of the descriptions for all VIs with the top level program part #, the name of the top level program that the VI is used in, the company copyright info, the ITAR notice, company address, the name of the engineer performing the update, along with the date and time. This will also place as a background image on all the VIs, a watermark of the company name, legality stuff and the copyright. It works very slick in that if there are thousands of sub-vis, such as what I'm working on now, it goes through all of them, makes sure the data is there as per company policy without having to open every one of them look at them and update or not whichever the case may be. The one portion that is tough is that the program will detect if there is a description written about what funtion the VI performs and if there is not a description, then it pops up a dialog requesting the user to write a description. The problem is that without looking at the block diagram for the VI, it can be nearly impossible to write a description for the functionality of the VI. So is there a way to programmatically open a VI, show its block diagram (this would only be in the case of a missing description) and then upon completion of the updates, close the block diagram? (I already open and close the VI programmatically in order to read the VI DESC and update as needed, but that is in the background and of course you can't see the block diagram).
Thanks,
Dan

Seemingly random node placement on block diagram

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