Why cannot the block diagram view of a VI show the "connector pane" view in the UR corner, like the front panel view does?

Perhaps there is a good reason for this that I just haven't figured out. I haven't seen any questions about it searching the NI site, however.
But it just seems totally inconvenient to always have to go to the front panel to get to the connector pane view, especially if some of those connectors are hidden. Then I have to go to the block diagram, guess which control/indicator I want to unhide, go back to the FP to check it on the connector pane, then go back and hide it again, and repeat if necessary. Even if the C/I is visible on the FP, it's still an extra step or two.
When I'm building connections using the block diagrams and planning where to put connectors in subVIs so they would be easier to wire up (line up inputs/outputs on sides, not have to go top-to-bottom, etc.), it sure would be nice to be able to work totally in the block diagram realm.
Cameron
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Yamaeda wrote:
Good idea, put it in Idea Exchange!
It has been there for a while already. No need to duplicate....
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Putting a frame on the block diagram

Can I put a frame around a set of functions on the block diagram to visually separate them?
How?
Thanks

Under these 'structures' pallete, you will find the 'decorations' pallete. There is a frame, lines, etc.
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Red box Highlighting the entire work area of the Block diagram

I have a thin red box highlighting the entire work are of the block diagram...I've checked for breakpoints but dont see any. I run the code and after completion the entire work area turns black for a couple seconds and then the red box flashes and the continue button on the tool bar is hightlighted. Any assistance would be great
tks

This is indeed a breakpoint.
You should be able to clear it by selecting your breakpoint tool from the tools palette and clicking outside of your main code area.
When your breakpoint tool is going to set a breakpoint, the tool is filled in with black. When is is going to clear a breakpoint, it is not filled.
You can also search for breakpoints from the Edit menu Find function. Click the Select Object icon goto Others and select Breakpoint. This will find all your breakpoints. Sometimes they get set by mistake and you don't know it.
Ed
Ed Dickens - Certified LabVIEW Architect - DISTek Integration, Inc. - NI Certified Alliance Partner
Using the Abort button to stop your VI is like using a tree to stop your car. It works, but there may be consequences.

Cannot place custom subVI on the block diagram

When I press the "Select a VI..." button on the function palette and select the VI I want to place on the block diagram nothing happens. This only seems to be happening for two particular VIs. Most of the time I can place the custom subVI without any problems.
Is there some option that could have accidentally gotten set that does not allow a VI to be placed on another VIs block diagram?
Please let me know if there is any way to fix this problem.
Thank you,
David R. Asher

David,
What you sent me has a .ctl file extension. The ctl extension is for LabVIEW custom Controls, not VIs. Even though it is actually a VI, the wrong extension must be confusing LabVIEW and not letting it load. It's probably trying to put it on the front panel since that is where controls go.
If you change the ctl extension to vi, it works as it should.
Ed
Ed Dickens - Certified LabVIEW Architect - DISTek Integration, Inc. - NI Certified Alliance Partner
Using the Abort button to stop your VI is like using a tree to stop your car. It works, but there may be consequences.

The Block diagram that cannot be edited...

The customer wanted to launch the application ( done in LV7 ) with a shortcut from the desktop and when done with it wanted to close all including the LV environment.
So I made the following changes :
1. Made the application to "Run on Open "
2. Connected the while loop Stop button to the "EXIT" function.
3. Saved and started the application.
Presto!! All worked as expected. Except that I no longer was be able to Edit the block diagram !!
Good - I had a copy of the code before the change and survived the nightmare ....
So the moral : Be very clear of what you are doing before you use the EXIT function.
Just though will share the experience, before somebody makes the fatal mistake as above.
( I have now ordered out my copy of the Application Builder, so that I can have my editable code well away from the customer's PC.)
Raghunathan
Raghunathan
LV2012 to Automate Hydraulic Test rigs.

Here's another way to do it.
Create a directory in your LabVIEW x.x directory named 'wizard', and save the attached VI there. If LabVIEW is running, you'll need to restart it, but then in the 'File' menu, you'll have a new selection named "Supress Run on Open...". Select this and you'll get a browse dialog to select the VI to open. It opens it by reference so it will not run.
This is saved in LabVIEW 6.1, but works fine on 7.0 and 7.1.
Ed
Ed Dickens - Certified LabVIEW Architect - DISTek Integration, Inc. - NI Certified Alliance Partner
Using the Abort button to stop your VI is like using a tree to stop your car. It works, but there may be consequences.
Attachments:
Supress Run on Open.vi ‏18 KB

I cannot display the block diagram when the VI is running

It is not possible to show the block diagram while the VI is runs. The frontpannel remains on the screen. When the VI is started from the block diagram, the frontpannel pops up and stays on the screen

Are the VI Properties >> Window Appearance... set to dialog or modal? That could keep the front panel on top.
Lynn

Why Is the Block Diagram Disabled?

What did I do now? Please look at the attached image. A VI that I am using as a subVI in various different programs suddenly started looking like I had used application builder to create an exe file out of it (But I didn't!!). The only options are Start and Run Continuously, and the block diagram is disabled. What did I do to get myself in this mess? How do I undo whatever I did, so I can edit the block diagram again? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Solved!
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Attachments:
Disabled Block Diagram.png ‏259 KB

Did you ever built a source distribution with the option set to remove the diagrams? In this case, the original must still be around somewhere.
Since LabVIEW 8 you can no longer simply save without block diagram and you would not be able to upgrade such a VI to LabVIEW 2011, which it is now. (details)
Of course it is possible that there is some corruption, but looking at the memory usage, the block diagram is blanked out.
LabVIEW Champion . Do more with less code and in less time .
Attachments:
NoBlockDiagram.png ‏38 KB

How to open the block diagram of the NI ELVISmx

How to view the program block diagram of the virtual instrument of the function generator, oscilloscope and so on in the NI ELVISmx,, I have seen before, but now I forgotten how to open the block diagram, who know?
1110340036 jyh

iOS apps can be added to an iTunes library and thereafter transferred to an iOS device. They cannot be opened directly on a PC.
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tt2

What is the best way to keep the block diagram/ front panel clean?

Hello,
I am relatively new to Labview so I'm not able to tell if I'm overcomplicating my programs or making my block diagram too cluttered. I was wondering if there were some ways to tell whether I could simplify my programming just by looking at it (perhaps only experience helps for these things) ?
I have attached my VI here. Currently, it has the capability to monitor the voltage and current from two motors. On display, you can see a indicator with the voltage and current values and there are charts toward the bottom that can display waveforms from different motors with a drop down menu.
The front panel is rather clean in my novice opinion, but the block diagram seems messy to me, just at first glance. I foresee a problem occuring in the future however. In the future, I will have to scale the VI to monitor 50 motors. All the programming will be the same as the one I have now, except it will have 50 indicators and unfortunately 50 times pretty much everything. I would like to avoid this, but I'm not sure how I could.
I am using a USB 6009. I am using its four differential inputs to monitor the voltage and current of two motors. In the future, I will be getting more DAQ units (25 total because 2 motors can be monitored for each DAQ). The new DAQs will help will help with more resource space, but I think complicate things with the additional potential of 24 more DAQ Assistants (as used in my code).
Thanks for any help you might be able to provide!

It usually is mainly experience that will teach you the best methods to make your code look pretty. I don't know anyone who is proud of their first from-scratch application. There are a few resources out there to help with best practices, like this group on ni.com, but you'll learn the most from your own development.
Your front panel looks great. FPs in general are really up to you. You can make it look as ugly or pretty as you want. When you have some duplicate controls and indicator groups, you should utilize clusters and arrays to simplify. You could use a little bit of cleanup in that regard, but not much. Also, personally, I hate reading red text unless it's a warning of some sort.
Your block diagram could use some cleanup in a modularity sense. You have a lot of repeated code, which you could consolidate in to a subVI that is used in multiple locations, or in a For loop. A general rule of thumb is to keep your block diagram within a single monitor. You shouldn't have to scroll. Your application is pretty simple, so it's hard to mess it up
Here are some specifics about your block diagram:
Right click your terminals on the block diagram and uncheck "View As Icon". You're welcome.
Duplicate operations on each waveform "(x*2-4)/16": create subVI and/or run the waveforms through a For loop.
You do a lot of 2-element arrays and then indexing. Just replace those with a Select node based on the numeric.
All of your code is running every time, including your property nodes at the bottom, which is unnecessary. As you learn LabVIEW architectures, you will learn how to bypass this with initialization and exiting code, but for now you should put a case structure around those for only when the motor numbers change.
I'm not sure how you're timing your main loop, but you should put a delay in there because you don't need the DAQmx node to be pulling as fast as your CPU will allow.
There are free intro videos you can watch to learn what NI would suggest in terms of coding and teach you some of the basic features and such. Here's a three hour course, and here's a six hour course.

Labview: Null Window ... stopped at unknown on the block diagram

Hi,
I have a fairly large program that was written in Labview 6.0. Recently we upgraded to Labview 9.0 and this program was exported to an executable with the new version.
When running the executable I sometimes get the following error as seemingly random places. I have not been able to make it crash when not using the executable. Labview: Null Window. The top-level VI ".vi" stopped at unknown on the block diagram of ".vi"
I apologise for having to blank out the vi names but i cannot give vi names, say what the software is used for or give over code. I can say that it uses NI USB 6212 IO cards, interfaces with Rhode and Swartz instruments and uses alot of file IO.
I was hoping that someone could give me a hint on how to debug such an error. I have noticed that When this error occurs, the memory use almost doubles.
Thankyou
James
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I think you open the front panel of a VI that has it's front panel removed during the build. Try to adjust the built settings of that specific VI to include the front panel.
Ton
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How can I open a vi and show the block diagram?

Hi,
I am opening an vi using "Open VI Reference" and "Invoke Methodpen FP", but I want to open the vi and show the block diagram, but I haven´t found any method (Invoke Method) to do that and any property.
Any idea?
Thanks!
Gracinda

OK, I can come up with a reason. I have written a program that will search the entire VI Hierarchy of a program and update all of the descriptions for all VIs with the top level program part #, the name of the top level program that the VI is used in, the company copyright info, the ITAR notice, company address, the name of the engineer performing the update, along with the date and time. This will also place as a background image on all the VIs, a watermark of the company name, legality stuff and the copyright. It works very slick in that if there are thousands of sub-vis, such as what I'm working on now, it goes through all of them, makes sure the data is there as per company policy without having to open every one of them look at them and update or not whichever the case may be. The one portion that is tough is that the program will detect if there is a description written about what funtion the VI performs and if there is not a description, then it pops up a dialog requesting the user to write a description. The problem is that without looking at the block diagram for the VI, it can be nearly impossible to write a description for the functionality of the VI. So is there a way to programmatically open a VI, show its block diagram (this would only be in the case of a missing description) and then upon completion of the updates, close the block diagram? (I already open and close the VI programmatically in order to read the VI DESC and update as needed, but that is in the background and of course you can't see the block diagram).
Thanks,
Dan

How to add text to the block diagram

How do you add plain text to the block diagram for documentation and can I change the background color to yelllow or something else that may be helpful? see image below
Windows is a 64 bit extension to a 32 bit graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition. Byte that Microsoft!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Just double-click in an emtpy area and start typing. Use the coloring tool to color the text background.
(there is also a "free label" in the decorations palette, but that seems like a detour )
LabVIEW Champion . Do more with less code and in less time .

LabView application hangs up when scrolling the block diagram

Hi all.
I attached you "Main.vi" that is part of my LabView project. I don't know what's going on, but when I scroll the block diagram to the maximum right, the LabView application hangs up. There are a lot of things in this block diagram because is an outline yet. My plan was to make it more structural, but now I can't do anything because this error don't allow me to edit the diagram.
Please, try to open it (ignore all the dependencies) and check if it hangs up also in your computer.
If it does, is there any way to recover it? It's really important for me because I don't have any backups since two weeks ago...
Regards,
Francisc
Hi all.
I attached you "Main.vi" that is part of my LabView project. I don't know what's going on, but when I scroll the block diagram to the maximum right, the LabView application hangs up. There are a lot of things in this block diagram because is an outline yet. My plan was to make it more structural, but now I can't do anything because this error don't allow me to edit the diagram.
Please, try to open it (ignore all the dependencies) and check if it hangs up also in your computer.
If it does, is there any way to recover it? It's really important for me because I don't have any backups since two weeks ago...
Regards,
Francisco
Attachments:
Main (v3.1).vi ‏257 KB

It didn't hang up on my computer, but it did make me nauseous, luckily I keep a bucket by my desk.
You might have video card issues. Try this: open the VI, and hit Auto Cleanup, then save. Close LabVIEW, reopen. If that does not work, try to get to the far right side by going to the Front Panel, and double clicking something that will take you there. If you get there successfully, use the disable structure to disable ~ 1/8 or more of the diagram on that side. Save, reopen.
Richard

Cannot open block diagram

I opened a VI I recently created and when I try to open the block diagram its greyed out. doing Ctrl I and selecting Protection shows file as Locked(no password) and all options to unlock are greyed out. Any ideas how I can sort this out?

You appear to have done everything right. I doubt that being on the network would be a culprit.
You've probably mapped the drive, right?
Did you even save it with the Locked property?
I am wondering if someone else had access to one of your PC's and played a trick on you.
I tried a test VI and I can open the block diagram. See image below (composite of 2 images)
Message Edited by Ray.R on 11-20-2009 10:31 AM
Attachments:
locked.PNG ‏37 KB

How do I get the Label for a Front Panel Control to appear in the Block Diagram but not on the Front Panel?

How do I get the Label for a Front Panel Control to appear in the Block Diagram but not on the Front Panel? On the Front Panel I am making a complex control that consists of a Slider and a Numerical Input box. Both Controls display the same information and either can be used for Input. When one changs, the other is made to display the same value.
But I only want the Slider to display the Label on the Front Panel, to avoid confusion. On the Block Diagram however, I want both controls to display their Labels so that I know what they are. How do I display the Label for a Control on the Block diagram, but not display its Label on the Front Panel?

No. The Label Visible property is separate for the front panel control label and the block diagram terminal label.
How did you start out with the block diagram's label not being visible? Whenever I drop a control or indicator, the label is always visible on both the FP and BD by default. Maybe there is a LabVIEW option that causes new controls/indicators not to have their labels visible by default, but I have yet to find it. I don't think an item should ever be dropped without the label visible, good LabVIEW coding practice demands that the labels for control terminals on the block diagram be visible so that you know what control or indicator a wire is going to.
That being said, I have seen a lot of VI's posted where the label for the terminal on the BD is not shown (against good programming practice.) I've gone to the BD and right clicked to show the label. Sometimes, the people have an empty label (which will turn off the visibility for both the FP and BD) and I'm forced to add some text of my own into the label so I can figure out what their code is doing. When I add some text to the label, at that time, I find both the BD and FP labels become visible.
Are you dealing with controls that have empty labels to start?
Good programming practices:
1. Always have a name for all of your controls, never use and empty label by deleting the text in the label.
2. Make the labels unique. For example, don't have two controls both called Stop. How do you know quickly know which terminal relates to which control?
3. Always show the labels on the block diagram, so you know the function of a control's terminal. If you want to hide the label on the FP, that's okay.
4. If you want a different label to appear on the FP than whatever you actually called the control, then use the caption. You can hide the label and show the caption. This is useful if you need to programmatically change what the "label" is on the front panel such if you are making an application that needs to change its user interface such as for a foreign language.

Why cannot the block diagram view of a VI show the "connector pane" view in the UR corner, like the front panel view does?

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