Lesson 1

Navigating LabVIEW
Recognize the main components of the LabVIEW environment
and create a new project and VI.

A. What is LabVIEW? D. Front Panel

B. Project Explorer E. Block Diagram
C. Parts of a VI F. Searching for Controls, VIs, and
Functions

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LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

A. What is LabVIEW?
Recognize benefits of LabVIEW.

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A. What is LabVIEW?

Benefits of LabVIEW
• Interfaces with wide variety of
hardware
• Scales across different targets
and OSs
• Provides built-in analysis libraries

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A. LabVIEW Environment

LabVIEW Language Characteristics

LabVIEW Core 1 LabVIEW Core 2
Topics and Later Topics
• Graphical • Multi-threaded
• Dataflow-oriented • Object-oriented
• Compiled • Multi-target
• Multi-platform • Memory-managed
• Synchronous
• Event-driven

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LESSON 1 Navigating LabVIEW

Activity 1-1
Confidence Activity: Building a VI

Build an application to calculate the product of two numbers.

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 LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

B. Project Explorer
Recognize the main components of the Project Explorer.

• LabVIEW Files
• Project Folders

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B. Project Explorer

LabVIEW Files
• LabVIEW project —.lvproj
• Virtual instrument (VI) — .vi
• Custom control — .ctl

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LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Demonstration
Using the Project Explorer and Creating a VI

Create a project and VI in LabVIEW.

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B. Project Explorer

Adding Folders to a Project

• Virtual folder

• Auto-populating folder

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LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

C. Parts of a VI
Recognize and understand the difference between the front panel
and block diagram.

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LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Demonstration
Components of a VI
Icon/Connector pane

Block diagram

Front panel

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 LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

D. Front Panel
Recognize the components and functionality of the Front Panel
window and select appropriate controls and indicators.

• Front Panel Window Toolbar

• Controls and Indicators
• String, Boolean, and Numeric Data Types
• Front Panel Object Styles

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D. Front Panel

Front Panel Window Toolbar

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D. Front Panel

Controls and Indicators

• Controls: Inputs
• Indicators: Outputs

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D. Front Panel

String, Boolean, and Numeric Data Types

Boolean Boolean
control indicator

Numeric control
Increment/Decrement buttons

Numeric indicator

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LESSON 1 Navigating LabVIEW

Activity 1-2
Select Front Panel Objects

For each scenario, determine the appropriate data type and whether the front panel object
should be a control or indicator.

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D. Front Panel

Front Panel Object Styles

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 LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

E. Block Diagram
Recognize features of the Block Diagram and be able to select
functions.

• Block Diagram Toolbar • Wires

• Components of a Block Diagram • Context Help and LabVIEW Help
Express VIs
Examples
•
•
• Node Appearance

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E. Block Diagram

Block Diagram Toolbar

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LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Demonstration
Components of a Block Diagram

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E. Block Diagram

Express VIs

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E. Block Diagram

Node Appearance
Icon Expandable Node

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E. Block Diagram

Wires
• Wires transfer data between block diagram objects.
• A broken wire:
Floating-point Integer String Boolean
Scalar
1-D Array
2-D Array

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LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Demonstration
Context Help and LabVIEW Help

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E. Block Diagram

Examples
Use NI Example Finder
(Help»Find Examples) to
browse and search
hundreds of installed
examples.

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 LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Exercise 1-1
Exploring a VI

Identify the parts of an existing VI.

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 LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Exercise 1-1
Exploring a VI

What are constants and when should you use them?

What are free labels and when should you use them?

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 LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

F. Searching for Controls, VIs,

and Functions
Find the controls, indicators, and functions you need.

• Palettes
• Quick Drop
• NI Global Search

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LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Demonstration
Searching for Controls, VIs, and Functions

Using the palettes, Quick Drop, and Global Search demonstrate

searching for controls, VIs, and functions.

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 LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Exercise 1-2
Locating Controls, Functions, and
VIs
Learn to use the palettes and search for controls, functions and VIs.

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 LESSON 1 LabVIEW Environment

Exercise 1-2
Locating Controls, Functions, and
VIs
Why would you want to add a function to the Favorites category in the Functions
palette?
Why would you use the Quick Drop dialog box instead of the Search button on the
Controls and Functions palettes?
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LESSON 1 Navigating LabVIEW

Activity 1-3
Lesson Review

Refer to the participant guide to answer questions about what you have learned in this
lesson and then discuss the answers as a group.

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Lesson Review

1. What are the three parts of a VI?

a. Front panel
b. Block diagram
c. Project
d. Icon/Connector pane

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Lesson Review

1. What are the three parts of a VI?

a. Front panel
b. Block diagram
c. Project
d. Icon/Connector pane

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