How to use preprocessor directives as in C?

Question

I have a list of id's and corresponding names associated with them,i want to map the id's to the names during the first time program runs and to use the names after that instead of id's during run time(but not mapping the id to the name again and again during runtime,only once during the start of the program, something like preprocessor directives in c ) can this be done in labview.

Answer 1

Hi Amit,
      A G implementation of "#define" seems to imply pre-compile graphical substitutions - that would be interesting.  Of course it's not supported and a work-around seems necessary.  I began reading this thread with the same enthusiasm for Enums as tst, and Falkpl, but at this point Enums seem unsatisfactory, expecially in light of your criteria of "not mapping the id to the name again and again during runtime,only once during the start of the program" (that seems to rule-out falkpl's #define VI, but what about tst's idea of parsing the enum's string-representation?)
      In "C", instead of the #define, one might accomplish the very same effect (maintaing values in one place) with [global] constants.  LabVIEW has constants too - they can be defined in one place and wired to wherever they're used - why not do that?  Are you trying to achieve a specific "look" or "effect" on the diagram?
Cheers.
const int a = 50;
const int b = 10;
int main()
   int ch;
  while(1)
   scanf("%d",&ch);
   switch(ch)
     case a: printf("Hiiiii");
     break;
     case b: printf("Hello");
     break;
     default:
Message Edited by tbd on 01-28-2008 01:10 AM
"Inside every large program is a small program struggling to get out." (attributed to Tony Hoare)