I need to scan an input string for EOF (control Z) and then view the data that has come in since the last EOF.

Question

I'm talking to a Furness micromanometer.  It sends a string of three lines formatted as follows:
Time                 xx:xx:xx xM
Velocity             xxxxx ft/m
Temperature    xxx.x degC
I want to watch the input, and when I see the EOF character (ctlZ), I want to display the three lines of text sent since the last EOF.  Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Lynn, attached is the original vi I wrote months ago.  It works, but occasionally there seems to be a disconnect between the instrument and LabVIEW.  The string received is shown in the upper left corner of the front panel (Micromanometer output) is the string last received.  Then it's parsed out into teh three columns.  AS you can see from the block diagram, I made a rather complex vi, although that was NOT my intent.  Occasionally, as I said, things don't work right.  Instaed of the first line beginning with "Velocity", it might read "city" and then everything is sort of offset, and the data is corrupt.  After closing and reatarting LabView it usually works correctly.  SO, I decided to go with a simpler, less complex approach.  Instead of sending the T to the instrument to trigger it, I simply set the Furness to sample at one second intervals (locally - on its front panel interface)and send its data out on the serial port.  Then I want Labview to monitor the port, and read the data whenever it sees there is date to read.  I don't know if I can use EOF or the start bit, or what.  I just wrote an application like this for another instrument, but I was able to determine the number of bytes in the string (19).  I just used a property node (Bytes at port), compared the numer to 19, and if it was greater than or equal to 19, I read the port. It works great, but I can't seem to get a handle on what I'm doing wrong here.  Anyway, attached is the old vi, as well as the beginning of the new one.  Help??!!!
Attachments:
Furness.vi ‏291 KB
simple.vi ‏75 KB