Building An Application (GUI)

I need to create an application that make use of Swing to do up the GUI. Can anyone recommend a software that helps to do to it? Preferably it would be easy to use, drag 'n drop, freeware? I don't have much time to learn to use a new IDE.
Also, in the application, I would need to perform animations at time steps.
Thanks for any help!

Try NetBeans/Forte4J. They're free and relatively easy to learn.
Cheers
DB

Similar Messages

Book Recommendation for Building Swing Applications

I'm looking for recommendations on books for building swing applications from the ground up.
I'm not a strong GUI developer. 95% of my experience has been strictly on back end development in many other languages. What little GUI experience I have has been with C++ (years ago) and most recently with HTML.
I know what I want to develop, and even have the GUI design for my application drawn out. I just need a good book that can walk me through developing the interface in Java.
I already have several books on Java. But, I find them somewhat limiting because they don't help me build the app from the ground up.
Yes, I've tried the online book on the Sun site, "The Jfc Swing Tutorial: Guide to Constructing Gui's".
Please offer some recommendations and reasons on why you like the book.
Thanks.

A few comments to that ....
the first thing is understanding the LayoutManagers, that are available.
I will give you a short guideline where they are usefull:
FlowLayout - usefull for JLabel-JTextField combinations or several JButtons
BorderLayout - usefull for the structure of basic containers
CardLayout - usefull for every area of the screen, where you want to appear different panels
GridLayout - usefull for a group of same-sized components laid out in a grid
GridBagLayout - usefull for a group of components, that have different sizes, very flexible
JTabbedPane - a special container, that is similar to CardLayout but with visible tabs to switch panels
Normally you can say "I want that group at the bottom of the frame, that other group at its left side, that toolbar at its top" - if you can say so - that shouts for BorderLayout. If you can say "in this area I want to use several panels" that means CardLayout or a JTabbedPane.
You see, if you have an idea, what the LayoutManagers do, you know exactly which area needs what Layout - so you have a guideline, which LayoutManager to use in that panel.
To make an example:
You want 3 buttons centered at the bottom of a frame - this 3 buttoms should be of that size, that is needed by the button texts. So, what to do:
1. create a JPanel with FlowLayout
2. create the buttons and add it to that JPanel
3. create another JPanel with BorderLayout
4. add that first JPanel to the second JPanel at BorderLayout.CENTER
5. add this Panel to the ContentPane of the frame at BorderLayout.SOUTH
that is a simple panel in panel construct - placing 3 buttons centered at the bottom of the frame. You have to play with that different LayoutManagers a little bit - the way you stick one panel in another changes the look of the GUI - if you know, how it changes (by playing with the examples of the tutorial), you will have that "from the ground"-experience, you are looking for - believe me.
greetings Marsian

Error 10 when building an application in LV8 and Report generation toolkit 1.1.1

I am trying to build an application using LV8.0.1 and Report generation toolkit 1.1.1 and i get this error.
Error 10 occurred at ABAPI Dist Copy Non-VI Files.vi -> ABAPI Dist Build LLB Image.vi -> ABAPI Copy Files and Apply Settings.vi -> EBEP_Invoke_Build_Engine.vi -> EBUIP_Build_Invoke.vi -> EBUIP_Build_Invoke.vi.ProxyCaller
Any ideas?
Scientia est potentia!

Did you attempt to add the _wordsub.llb and _excelsub.llb files to the application as support files? I believe in LabVIEW 8.0 instead of adding the entire LLBs you should just add the _Word Dynamic VIs.vi and _Excel Dynamic VIs.vi as dynamic VIs. I think I've seen a similar post on the discussion forums in the past that recommended this.
If this suggestion doesn't help, please reply, and attach a simple VI and .lvproj file demonstrating the problem so I can investigate further.
Good luck,
-D
Darren Nattinger, CLA
LabVIEW Artisan and Nugget Penman

Open vi reference problems in labview 7 after building an application

I have a vi with an Open VI Reference vi in it.
This works fine. But when I build an application of it and run the vi it gives problems.
I get an Open VI Reference error. Why?

If you have strict typedefs for the dynamic loaded VIs you need to include the line "BldApp.RemovePolyVIsandTypedefs=False" into your LV ini file. See this discussion.
Waldemar
Waldemar
Using 7.1.1, 8.5.1, 8.6.1, 2009 on XP and RT
Don't forget to give Kudos to good answers and/or questions

I get a "vi is not executable" error when building an application.

I have an ongoing project that has worked fine in the past when building an application. I have recently added some report generation toolkit vis(Excel) and get an error for some of the ni vis and some of my own that call lower level excel vis. The error is that he vi is not executable, however they run fine in the development environment. I do not get this error if I save all vi's into one llb with save with options command and then build. However, when I try to run the app, this error re-appears. Also, do I have to add the dynamically loaded vi's that are part of the toolkit in my build script? Could this be the cause of the problem? If so, what's the best way to find all of them? Any suggestions?

You have hit in on the nail! You do need to add the dynamically loaded VIs when you are creating an executable from your VI. You need to add _wordsub.lib and _exclsub.lib as dynamically loaded VIs into your executable. Try this and let us know if you have any more problems with it.
J.R. Allen

Can I programmatically copy vi within llb AND build an application?

I previously posted the question how to programmatically work (copy, delete) on files within llbs and got two answers to use the librarian vis in vi.lib > utility > libraryn.llb
That works really good but only till I try to build an application. The application builder seems to use the librarian vis also and complains that it cannot build an application with vis that are currently in use...
Any idea how to solve that?
Cheers, Daniel Troendle

Make a copy of all the VIs used by the librarian and save them under a
different name (making sure to link the sub-VIs to the new name of course.
Awkward, but it should work.
Shane
D. Troendle schrieb in Nachricht
<[email protected]>...
>I previously posted the question how to programmatically work (copy,
>delete) on files within llbs and got two answers to use the librarian
>vis in vi.lib > utility > libraryn.llb
>
>That works really good but only till I try to build an application.
>The application builder seems to use the librarian vis also and
>complains that it cannot build an application with vis that are
>currently in use...
>
>Any idea how to solve that?
>Cheers, Daniel Troendle
Using LV 6.1 and 8.2.1 on W2k (SP4) and WXP (SP2)

Error while building an application

Who can help me.
Today I started LabVIEW and I want to build my application and I got this error:
Fehler 7 ist bei AB_Engine_HandleLinkErrors.vi -> AB_Engine_Update_Source_from_Linker.vi -> AB_Build.lvclass:CalculateDependencies.vi -> AB_Build.lvclass:Build.vi -> AB_EXE.lvclass:Build.vi -> AB_Build.lvclass:Build_from_Wizard.vi -> AB_UI_FRAMEWORK.vi -> AB_Item_OnDoProperties.vi -> AB_Item_OnDoProperties.vi.ProxyCaller aufgetreten
I've build applications in the past without any problems but now.....
Thanks for any help

So I've tried it on an other PC and it was working again.
I don*t know why.
But when I tried to copy it back it was the saem although I did a mass compile on the other PC.
What have I done.
I took one of the old versions and modified it over the weekend.
But if somebody know what's happened or someone has any solution let me know.
@RMathews: I have the LabVIEW 8.5 Developer Studio including the Report Generation Toolkit on both PCs.
Eddy

How do I build an application that will run without being installed?

I have seen some of the prior posts on trying to do this, but most of them were older, so I'll ask:
Using 7.1, how do I build an application that will run without having to install the runtime engine? I have a client that wants to run serial port monitoring VIs to watch some custom hardware we built for him. His IT dept. won't let him install anything. If I could make this VI run off of a USB thumb drive without needing anything installed on the system it would be ideal. Space is not a problem, so I could include any runtime files needed. Can anyone tell me how to do this?
Thanks

Under what operating system was it running under back in the 90's when it was working?
I think that starting with NT platforms (applies to 2000 and XP, but not 9x) the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) prevented direct I/O to serial ports. Serial port related code that ran fine on 3.x and 9x would not run under NT platforms without modification.
Just some food for thought, do not know if it applies to your situation.
Good Luck
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It’s the questions that drive us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Building an Application in Windows to be used in Linux (with the Run-Time Engine)

Hi All,
I have an LabVIEW project I have developed in a Windows environment. I can create an Application (.exe) using the Build Specification -> Application Builder which works fine on the development platform.
I now want to distribute the application to a Linux Environment. The OS is openSUSE v10.3 (with GNOME). I have downloaded the two rpm files needed for the run-time engine and installed them, as per here:http://digital.ni.com/softlib.nsf/websearch/97E14BA3E0C14A89862572C300567733?opendocument&node=13207...
Now, the question is; how do I create an Application in Windows which can be used on the Linux Box? According to the Application Builder instructions, it's simply a case of removing the .exe extension in the Target File Name options, however, this gives an error "Invalid Extension."
If I do create an exe and manually remove the extention is doesn't work on the Linux enviroment (typing ./application).
Has anyone had experiance of this?
Many Thanks for Any Help,
Oliver
Windows XP SP 2
Labview 8.2.1
openSUSE v10.3 (with GNOME)
LabVIEW Run-time Engine Version 8.2.1 for Linux

The cross-platform nature of LabVIEW refers more to the code than to the executable.
LV (given the appropriate development version) can compile the same source code into a Windows (using LV for Windows), Linux (using LV for Linux) or Mac (using LV for Mac) program.
This means you will still have three versions of your program, one for each platform.
If you want to distribute VIs (without block diagrams), you will also need different versions of these as without the block diagram, they cannot be re-compiled for a new platform.
Shane.
Say hello to my little friend.
RFC 2323 FHE-Compliant

Placing ini file in specific location when building the application

Hello,
I have a small problem. I have an ini file that I use to store certain parameters. Lets call this file app.ini. When I build the Application.exe, it puts that file into the data directory. I was hoping that it would be one level higher and be located in the same directory as Application.exe is (otherwise it won't read the file correctly.) I looked at the Source File Settings in the Category list in the properties window for the build and set the Destination to be "Same as caller", but that didn't put it where I wanted it. I'd really like this file to be one directory higher when I make my build in order for my app to read it correctly. Any suggestions?
I use this executable later on when I make my installer and the problem simply propagates there too, not good.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

One way to solve the problem:
1) In build properties window select Destinations and create a new destination. Select as "Destination Path" the same dir where the exe will be stored
2) Assign this destination to the .ini file.
Let me know if it works
Marco

Window popup doesn't open in a build .exe application

Hello. I wrote code in order to open a VI as a windows popup.
Running it in labview, it works fine. If I build the application (host side) and I run it in windows (win 7) it doesn't open any popup.
I'm sure that:
1) both the main and popup VIs are included inside the source files during the build steps.
2) the popup is not running behind the main window.
3) popup VI window appearance is "modal"
Here my code:
Does anyone know what to do?
thank you
fpia

Thank you Mark and josborne.
It seems all you suggested me it's ok. I mean:
The path of my VIs are correct. I selected the startup VI (and I can see it inside this section) and in "Always Included" section there is the right VI popup.
The front panel is not removed from the VI popup. I can see it in the "source file settings" section.
josborn, I tryed to put error handing in my code, and I got some errors but I think thery are unuseful in my specific case. Here they are:
Built Application or Shared Library (DLL): Make sure all dynamically loaded VIs were properly included in the build specification for the application or shared library.
LabVIEW Real-Time: VIs built into executables cannot be accessed through VI Server calls. Use Source Distributions to dynamically call VIs on Real-Time targets.
I got this error from the "Open VI reference" function. But...
About the first line, I'm sure all the involved VIs are included. I see the VI caller as "Startup VI" and the VI popup as "Always Included".
About the second line, I'm not testing it with a Real-Time target. I'm running this simple project just in a windows 7 environment. Anyway my VI server is running and setted in according with NI documentation.
I attach the project. Could you please be so kind to give a glance to it? It is very small and simple.
Thank you.
fpia
Attachments:
VIPopup.zip ‏81 KB

Problems with tutorial: Building an Application

Hi,
I made the step by step tutorial (Building an Application Part 1: Application Objects,
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/new2java/divelog/part1/page8.jsp)
There is a problem. If I compile the DiveLog.java Code as it calls on page 8 at the end of Part 1. Errormessages appears as follows:
DiveLog.java cannot resolve symbol
symbol: class Diver
location: divelog.DiveLog new Diver()
The same messages appear for the classes: Dives,Welcome,Statistics,WebSite and Resources.
I have followed the steps on page 7, but it didn't work.
I mean, I wrote the classes Diver.java, Dives.java and so on. Then I saved them in the divelog directory (and compiled them).
Has somebody an idea?
(I use a Win 98 platform)
Thanks in advance,
joletaxi

i think it is because you wrote wrong commands.
the right is :
javac -classpath h:\ DiveLog.java
i have put the DiveLog.java in h:\divelog\DiveLog.java
do you understand me ?
another question:
i can't see the part 2 of the book.could you see it?

Building ADF application Using Maven

I have a requirement to build the Adf application using Maven.
My JDeveloper version is 11.1.1.3 and I imported the Maven plugins.
When I create the new Fusion application , pom.xml is getting created in model project but not in viewcontroller project. Any reason for that?
Please help me to point to the right article and example to build Adf application using Maven?

User,
While you can build an ADF app using Maven, it's nowhere near easy or automated in terms of getting started. There are a few people who are doing it, but they have invested a lot of effort including:
* loading the ADF libraries into their corporate repositories
* re-structuring their ADF projects to match the Maven directory standard (or customizing their POMs)
* Hand-building POMs for their ADF apps
Most or all of the people that I know who are doing this are doing all of these things without the benefit of the Maven integration provided in JDeveloper. If you have a search of this forum and the [url https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/adf-methodology]ADF EMG, you can find plenty of discussions about this. There's no "step-by-step" guide that I know of, and it will definitely take you quite a bit of effort to get started. The Maven integration in JDeveloper is still in developer preview mode, and in my opinion, isn't ready for prime time - at least not with respect to ADF projects.
John

Error 10 every time I build any application on OS X

Even if a create a simple VI with nothing but a while loop, a stop button and a timer inside, I get error 10 while building the application. I have tried several combinations fo the inclusions/exclusion selection, enable/disable debugging, etc. Always get the same error. I know other people can build applications with os x so it must be something about my installation, but I don't know where to start. I'd rather not reinstall everything. Hope someone has seen this before.

Thanks for your reponse.
It happened no matter how simple or complex my application. I have now made the problem go away. I'll tell you what I did.
First I re-started the computer. Then I tried to build a very simple application and it worked. But when I tried again, it failed with Error 10. So I restarted labview and it stll failed with error 10. The only way I could get it to build the app was to restart the computer and then it would only build it the once.
Then I started looking at some of the VI's that are part of the app builder and I got a little suspicious because some seemed to be linked to the LabVIEW 8.0 folder, not the 8.2. I had LabVIEW version 7.0, 7.1, 8.0 and 8.2 on my computer.
I removed all but version 8.2 and now the build works every time. So I think somehow the app builder VI's got crosslinked between versions after the first time I built and app in 8.2. I don't know how this happened since I actually rarely, if ever, have tried to use the app builder on my mac. I can't imagine a case in which I had Labview 8.0 and 8.2 open at the same time and built an application with one of them.

Building an Application that reads html filename

I want to build an application that displays html files on the screen and when the user presses a button that gives a cue to the PCI-DIO-96 to give an o/p to external connected modular distribution panel that uses shift registers and from the panel (that's fed from a DC P.S.) to some bulbs. each html filename will be corresponding to a specific bulb.

Hello Taher,
I apologize for the long delay in responding to your support request. We've had a restructuring and I unfortunately misplaced our thread in the shuffle.
There are a lot of great resources for each portion of the program you are wanting to develop. It sounds like you have several components:
1)displaying an HTML file
2)conditional logic
3)digital output to DIO-96
You could display the HTML file in an embedded ActiveX control with a web browser (like Internet Explorer), if you are using Windows. There are several examples in LabVIEW that can help you do this, and you might take a look at the example at the following link:
http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niepd_web_display.display_epd4?p_guid=B123AE0CB9AD111EE034080020E74861&p_nod
e=DZ52051
To accomplish the conditional logic that you need, you will probably want to use a loop and/or a case structure to determine which output port to pass to. To learn more about these structures, navigate to Help >> LabVIEW Bookshelf, and look at the Getting Started with LabVIEW manual. You can also find some great examples that use these structures by going to Help >> Find Examples and navigating to Fundamentals >> Loops and Structures.
The last requirement of your program, writing to the digital lines of your DIO card, offers a lot of possibilities. The best place to look when getting started with this type of program is again, to the example code. If you go to Help >> Find Examples, and navigate to Hardware Input and Output >> Traditional DAQ >> Digital Input and Output, there are quite a number of pre-written, working applications that you can start from.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you would like help on any specific aspect of your application.
Good luck!
Liz F
National Instruments

Building An Application (GUI)

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