Best Method, Array or Listbox?

Question

Hi all,
I'm relavtively new to LabView and programming and I'm writing a measurement and analysis program.
It will be used to test many different parts and each type of part will have its own individual parameters for each test. The individual parameters for each component will be stored in the "recipe" for the component.
The user needs to be able to select a recipe to load or edit.
I had the idea of storing all the recipes in a 2D array with each new row being a new recipe. In this case how can I get the program to recognise a recipe being selected? So i can subarray or whatever to use and edit. 
Or is there an easier way to solve my problem involvin listboxes or something like that?
Many thanks..
Rkll

Answer 1

Here is an alternative solution.  Become familiar with LabVIEW configuration files.  A configuration file is like an ini file.  It has headers and information.  It can edited with a text editor, or you can use the special Labview config file functions.  These files have sections, keys, and data like the windows registry.  For your recipes, you could make the section name the recipe name.  Under each section, you can create keys which will hold your recipe data.  Here is an example:
[Chocolate Cake]  (this is the section name)
  Ingredient1 = flour  (the next few lines are the keys and values)
  Ingredient2 = chocolate
  Ingredient3 = Milk
  Method = Mix them all up and bake.
You can use the config file functions to build your recipe file.  You can display the names of all the sections (recipes) to a user and let them choose one.  Once chosen, you can use the config file functions to get all keys and data from that section.  The data can be assigned to variables and such.
Search for some examples using config files in LabVIEW.  I like using them because they allow very good organization of data, and the files are editable with a text editor like Notepad.  Check them out.
- tbob
Inventor of the WORM Global