How to Set multiple Global Variables without using Controls or Indicators

Question

I have to set many Global Variables (i.e. declare and initialize them) in a subVI in order to pass them to various other subVI's. The only way I know how to do it in LabView is to create a Globals.vi on which you create a control or indicator for EACH Global Variable. That's fine if you have only a few variables. But I have close to a hundred Global Variables (which come from a configuration file for a large program) and clearly it is impractical and cumbersome to create a control for each global variable. In Agilent Vee, there is a simple function called "Set Variable" that sets the data value of a global variable. Then in other module, you simply use the "Get Variable" function to get back the v
ariable and its value.
In LabView you can use the "Invoke Node / Set Control Value" and "Get Control Value" properties to achieve the same thing. But as mentioned above, you need to create a control for each global variable and that is a big pain in my case, with many global variables. Furthermore, the global variables are read from a Configuration Text File to this VI. Is there a way to do it without using the control? Thank you in advance for any help.

Answer 1

Actually you could create the same sort of facility in LV. All you have to do is create a LV2-style global that behaves as follows:
To write a value to it, you supply a value name and the value. These pieces of data are save internally in seperate arrays.
To read a value, you supply a value name. The VI looks up this name in the value name array to return an index into the value array. Output the value you find.
Frankly though, it sounds like what you really need is not hundreds of globals, but a good way to manage configuration data.
Mike...
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