Ni fait désormais partie de la nouvelle « division EN SAVOIR PLUS - HTTPS://WWW.EMERSON. COM/EN-US/NEWS/2023/EMERSON-COMPLETES-NFACQUISITION opérationnell detest et mesure Emerson, Rules to Wire By ~ Part | Updated Sop 18, 2022 Contents + How do you define + Sores of non 00d" LabVIEW syle? + General Guideliner 5 Conventions + Fron Pane ‘Regula VL or User nets? + mage + About the Comaniee Overview As wth ay programing language, especially one thls wed in a many diferent counties and on as many ciferent computing Piforms as LabVIEW, there's no substitute fr good programming syle. Sle helps programmers wit beter code thats easier o ‘re, mina, and revi, Even wi all of our diferencesgrogramming experienc, Inguage color preferences esa. good sy guide offers standard that promere euse and sharing of cde and programing concepts ease of documentation and ese of code rhantanance —— ss eccnl How do you define “good” LabVIEW style? Now of course things te not ely that spe Sle can be vty subjective. A mater of fact in reviewing the fleterees Yo goed LBViEW programming practizes hat ar vss, fund 3 em tems tha agree wth Isnt tat do ot Daa in them we si want to make ice Vi with detailed documentation ane il olor ican tie that many of spy do not have het, a Practiaty 2 completely olow the guidelines. Part One ofthis two-part rte suggests LABVIEW sje and programming guidlines for theton panel, ser iterfaces ons and connector panes Pt Tpit inthe net sue of IR wl eve programing guidelines forthe block gram an more LabVIEW advanced techniques, The suggestions present inthis article area combination of the following + ested styles recommended by Ni an the LabVIEW documentation, + Consensus nthe LabVIEW community at ge, ad = Ny esperences nine years of BNEW programming. For example, much of the information about developing user interfaces comes from books on the subject or feedback | have receivedfrom various operators. This article also aclopts and adapts several idass from materiel paowided to me by Gregg Fowler. Special thanks to Gregg for hi ideas an se mater ‘fe cn alo ifr rest rom count to county, company to company, orwork group to work group nd hare i sbroliely nothing wrong with that Whats most importants that you and you oweries select a standard LabVIEW coding se that sus you tne sith | Sources of Information Ths ace is by no means complete. There ate many eletencs to good LABVIEW programing pactce salable Several yes ago Meg Kay and Gary Johnson co-wte s shor ate cle the LabVIEW Sve Guide. This side olfted guidelines to folow when deve oping LABVIEW programs. y using thee technique, you were mares io erste mare maintsinabe and robust LABVIEW cogs However, may of those guidlines were writen fr LabVIEW 3x, whereas we now have LabVIEW 51, With features uch as ActiveX, language vansiton tol, documentation oo et, we desperately nee a syle guide update Meg and Gary's orginal tle guide was the oundtion for mucha what you wl now find inthe AbMIEW Professions Developer's Kt There i another oer but sil very applicable current tat we hive inde on thi LTA sues osource dk The Window 95 Ur Interface Se Guide wae writen by Chi Roth around the tne Windows 95 began shipping Setaes how to update your user imeraces to include features tke recessed contol tabbed dalogs, tao incuded avery seul LABVIEW Iba containing many re contol nd several example i Some other vaiobeLsbVIEW programing references ae Nl Appciton Notes sn Techical Notes. For eam, Techical Note ‘Number 111 actualy ast of standards fr nstrument cries but the overall inten canbe applied 0 other Vs ‘Aco, consider more general publications high recommend a book writen by Steve McConnel of Microsoft called Cade Compl. covets a wie ange of programing taps ike requirement, design, deaugpng, code elews anc documentation Ths book eared tonardC programmers 2 the LABVIEW programmer wll aed od ie pcking and choosing ofthe topes nd dese “what op There at also books useable from Mcrorof ana Apple covering the urrinerace guidelines or hei opening ‘ystems Similar ones should be avalible for other pater ‘ss al pnt. donot underestimate your awn feings on se Something Yel right o wong to you then it probably i General Guidelines 5 let's start with the basic, You can ue these suggestion on any projet large or sal inp or advance, Although Part One of this atic is tended to fcus on guidlines for ABVIEW ron panel ana use interac, these fit et of rules ae general programming philosophies or gudesnes that apply to all aspects of LabVIEW, including your block ciagram code Rule #1 ~ Design first, code second. "now you tht have har tis ip numerous tines before, but that's because itis such god one Sit down wth afew sheets of paper na wt what your sas require the program todo. Alto, aw out aha you want your ue iteraces or panes ook ke, Mark importantly, don't even think about LabVIEW during this step! in esence, you aa creating 2 Sftwere Requirements Document. The Inporant thing to know what you ulna wat to achieve ‘tthe point you may wan! to mock up the eens andr them by other people in your grou before moving on Yeu might want 39 rectly prototyping interface panels xing LABVIEW contos and incatrs One of [VIEW eng insure a quick proteyping tool. There's nothing saying tat the font panes have to work or have complete cagrams at his stage. Prottyping the fron panes ca hep get he kinks worked out ofthe wer iterface up Hon and save you some coding and debugging down the read thinking about dota structres, program flaw, events, sats an sate diagrams Tis ishow you expec the code to work together (af thishappens, then doi nex, but th happens, then do thinset think af your application in temo he stow concepts tht LOVIN is bead upon, Several good aie yaad in pastes ofthe LABVIEW Technical Rerource demon stat examples of LABVIEW architectures for event-driven appltions. Ty looking + Architecture The Big Pacture fo Graphic Program by el Parker nthe Winter 1985 sue (TR Volume 3, Numbe 1 * Sete Your Coz! by Lys Gragg inthe same ee * iterative Architectures Revisited by Geng Fowler in Spring 196 seve UTR ume Number 2) Finally keepin mind the tne scale and budget forthe projec. you are doing something quick and ry, t's acceptable to streamline this process to start coding Sooner you ae ulin Software tht willbe maintarad ver thelong tem or has any chance otha) do more esgn up ron. Thinking up ant pays of down th ro8a when you re enhancing fr version 2,3, anon. Ax this point we are amt rsdyto start wing code, Pat oof his ance wil cover the LabVIEW zofare development proces in mote deta with tis on designing fr modulaity ana eeating clean APS, or cling interfaces, between ViRule # 2 ~- Try code snippets before using them. ket make sure my cde wil work before wing it Todo thi, take aml section af tht code an yt out ina test Vl That rake sre have working coc before gets bared where itis hard to find an debug iter on. For example, have been programming LABVEW for years but tillan not remember whether to use Threshold 1D Array or interpelate 1D Array. So, codes quick te to find the caret one before incuting tha code in my lace dagram Fellowing ths ue wi sate you debugging touble down the Rule #3 ~ Plan for reuse (Of couse now that you nave waten this it af working code, don just throw it aay sve Ul You might ned it agsn on ths othe Used to ner sve tes is an ound mye pending 2 It of ie recreating them, Consseing the cheap cost of megabytes ad Siosbytes nowadays there ijust no reason acto sve Therefore, sve test Vis where appropate Make Vis that cin sand lone apa be reused eseuhere You should keep notes on what sever and well such as paral contrl and indieatorcombstions to sete spec fects Rule #4~ Keep it clean Nomater wha eee you do, ty to keep your code neat and clan. Not ony does th make your code set folow forthe nest petson be warmed ~ may be you), but nest codes uly ood code nthe set of ksepg things cles you wld that you ste ess Alagroms.wi go into more lock diagram Stain Part Two of thi aren the not TR ioe Rule #5 ~ Comment, comment, comment ‘LabVIEW programmes, we ae very busy sma, | kno Bu theres NO substute for good comments inal af the code that ‘you wrt, Commentary code tough algorithms, cstom titi and soon As mentioned in Code Compt, “Good comments dont repest she code or explin i. They cay intent Comments shoud expan a higher level of sbevaction than the code, what you ae tying to do” Remeber that the person who loks at this code sk month rom now may be you Aaything added now wil What recommends that you wrt 3 i usualy no rare thon ane ore santenses} description of ech init Info sraen Then 2d daseiptions fer any uusua conls ar inciatrs. you doeument contol na indcatrsin thee description boxes, the user an s thote inthe fltng help window 8 he moves tha mouseover tha various conto. Its great you can document them al but in today's busy envionment, tare my not be tira fer hat. f you ae csiplined enough a document yout canal ndeatos nid then you hav the added bene that programming documentation can be suomi casted sing abVIEWs Documentation Teal. (onthe diagram, abe all code that ist obvious. Ata minim, tt abla stuctures fie loos, fr oops, cases, and sequences That way the main portions af the code te aways documented, Avery handy fete in LABVIEW isting apd enumerate cases. These handy structures ae prety much sofdocumenting Inthe et eof he exapein Figure I, you nave toad era comment t0 describe each case With testing case shown onthe ight and good sting names, that task nes cae of tsa Be Eat Opie Boeck Undone Hep [ost aroieden Fat I] Figure 1: Use strings or enumerated types to create descriptive names fr case structure frames. ‘Als inde any eferences hat you use. For examale, say you havea pace of code that convert a depot to its corespandng part pressures of water vale. Ifyou obtained that fermul trom sme speci source, ten reference that source a fee standingCalais how W-R, Zan, petro Hurd tbe Than Snead innsphrs ASME Syeestm rao ea Exchanger 1Udugert 1804 cleaned mara ere GOA GenataindervomandTrand cena ards Supoee Stes Deng Tenpesuet sit mast teh Ppee! Ho SRS] vo (SSiaieaiaia] Figure 2: Use fee standing text boxes to document reference such a formulas or slgorithms. Naming Conventions Rule #6 ~ Use descriptive names. De not use names ke VI #1 or Untied when something ike Save Data to Spreadsheet Fle. cr Convert Voltages to Engineering Unite wl do the beter jb, ta ince ation words ite Open, Close, Save, Calculate, Update, tor ub tht ke pref my WI ames with category a Vi Function designate. TAs is use if you eer tanspor your Vis using LabVIEW lates (448) easy to gets hundhed or mote Ws ino a brary, bu sorting these hunded outa the destination iften tough By prefaing nose Vs with words ie Display, File, DAG, etc, is esto group and move them | lo ue tht separate my reusable “is om thor that ar projec specfe Vis | might se again wl star with Fle or Uy while the project Vs wl usually tart wt the projec name or cient. This makes my Vimanagementeaserbecause | can ll ata gance wat a Vis ype or uncon ‘Als, don frget to include the “atthe nd ofthe fle names. Many operating syste Ike Windows and Uni use thes extensions to determine what le belong to what sppleton. f couse th brings ust the nestle Rule #7 — Watch for platform naming problems. Ifyou know you Vis ill eventually end up ona Macinss, ty to keep them 31 characters a shoterin length Aso ty to avoid characters lke \/2"<>e* tat sme le systems ute or spec purpoves Eventhough you may not expect to be changing platforms, Front Panels Regular VI or User Interface?Rule #8 ~ Use standard LabVIEW controls for regular Vis. Use dig controls where approatte or user ntertace is For simple is that enya programmer wl sm use al ofthe AbNIEW ontrlsavalobie to you. Keep your screens nen but dont woryt99 much about cosmetics However, youre mating ser incafce ana use the dialog conto whee aproprat,incluing the conas within the atached Wid library you area Macatosh or ‘ther platform user, ty to make your user intefsces ook appropiate for the platform, Rule #9 Use small letters for controls on regular Vis. Coptalie the ist eters of user interface conto. Again use the captaization ad font guidelines hat mate the platform you ae sing oes poo over afew other applitions on my computer to see how they set up logs and user interfaces als ty to use baton abel sim to the ones ued by my operating system, An don forge eazing the look, Fr exampe, English version of Wincoms cape theft eter of bution foes while Spanish versione do nt. Almay yt Be consent th he weeintrace ues for your plitform and language applicable o your application make us ofthe bun Localzation features in LabVIEW. User Interfaces Rule #10 ~ Group controls logically Vfyouhave conto an panel that ae elted to one another, group them by puting them ins ese contol or wapoing& Aecorton around them the dat ae uted together programmatcaly | use 3 ctr If they ate not Luss ane of he aecerstons nat Imatches the operating stem, pator or county | am wring code fer. See Davis Moschela'sLTR aici A GUI Machine (ZR. VoL. 6.No. 1 formore amples Rule #11 ~ Watch your screen sizes. Make sire that your panel can be islayed on the system you intend to use on you ae not sre then you may want 9 se 404480 or 800600 as default You can louse LabVIEW 5.1 Screen Sing feaures Lewis, Rule #12 ~ Do not space controls too closely (especially when using touchscreens). “Tomsie things eer onthe eyes and Fger, ty lave some gry or whitespace in benween thesis contol on your ont Paras fyou ae using touchscreen, igure thatthe smalest anything an be is about 12" sqre things are ay smaller han ts or ay closer together you wil have a hat tine clicking on them without ting adjacent objets Asa Rule #13 ~ Dont place consecutive dialog buttons on top of each other. Say you havea dalog tht aks the wer they want rename or replace le Suppose they choose Replace and another log ppeas tat aks the they ae sure they wantto overwrite the Fle you place the Replace button i the same general location as the Camelot OK buttons on the net dalog, wil be very easy to double clk or it bution unintentonaly (ust me, Ive done Instead, move the net dnlog window or butons so tat the operator cannot scent sleet ove buttons Rule #14 ~ Use Key Focus or key navigation forthe default choice Ifyou man the safe a defaul function to be eeeuted the operator presses retum or escape use the Key Foeus atibute of Key Navigation sting fr thst conto: Thisis especialy important fr dangerous operation like veering Fes, where youdo net want the operator selecting something ules they are sur tht what thay intend t do, You can mk hear by Rule #15 ~ Use specific words for button names. Instead of OK ane Cancel use word he Save, Replace, Quit Start, Stop, ee fr bullon labels Tas makes he program much easier forthe operator to use And ta make things even easier on the operator (trough hard for the programe Rule #16 ~ Always include a Cancel or Back option, Ife user els he can pres anything an the screen without causing any problems he wile much more comfortable using the program. Users was tere to explore and “sellin” themselves when they know they have safe ay to back aut Remeber Undo? Regular Vis Rules #1719 referto requir Vis whose ont panels re not spayed tothe operator a3 user interace or og, Rule #17 ~ For Booleans, the name should give an indication of the meaning of the true state. Make it eblous what 9 Soolean sch does when tue. For example, Rett Init, sn Caneel inate ha thy wi de jst hat ‘TRUE Ty t avoid Boolean names te Don't digplaydislog o* No Replace Use names tc a Dgpay Dialog or Allow Replace, ns th he svBVs nts gic stead woul io recommend naming Booleans sing ior hain Font ana? st enc where te rakes sense For instance, ls Seanning? ate han Seanning a OnRule #18 ~ Lay out controls and indicators as they are in the connector pane. Put allo your inputs onthe lt and outpts onthe ight jst asin the cantor pane. Put yout al and reference numbert (refnuns nthe upper if and night ang ear utes inthe lower it and ght Noe tht thir ony applies to non nertice Vi Do not wony about this ule for user intarface Vs since a logit, and eficent yout is are important Rule #19 ~ Add default values in parenthesis where applicable. “Anytine asubV contol can use 2 deft valence that valu in parenthesis Not ony wil that make the defaue valve obvious, but anyone using the calling Vwi ee the defaulted nthe help window for at VL For example, you havea Restinput you might © Tabet 5 Rese (Finciting that Reset ll nat be chosen unless the alle wes ina Tue ifthe delat Snot alos, Sea mare lescrptive sb! ke apen mode (Oread/rte). untae mportnt you wil want Yo ineude those oo ~ ke teat (500 ma. ‘gin you ae tng to make the programmer and opertors jobsite emper, Icons and Connector Panes Moving up the font panel it we come tothe con an connector pane Here one ea you can dnitely make much easier Rule #20 ~ Use the same connector pane, even if it means unused terminals, Salacs terminal out an stick wth it For example use the 12 termina connector pane in simos allot my Vi By using he same connector, becomes very e259 wre icons together nent Ica aso ado dele inpus and outputs witout having tent the subvIin allo the caling Vis. 1 50 use the same connector laut each tine wil know a3 glance what a terminal probably does without even Roving to lk tit Athough you can pk canmectrs wth moe thin 12 terminals ty ma toda you need more than that, eansier grouping contol egeterint ster instesd You ean also mk the suBVI nto soverl subs hat exch need 9 ile less ata. Another connector pane suggestion to follow the NI syle where appropiate fr flow shrough partes, Fr exile refnums an ast fow trough ong the top connectors and eror clusters Faw tiveugh along the baton. Rule #21 ~ Use required, recommended, and optional settings for terminals. ‘When havea Vth absokitely must have n inp ied se the Ths Connection is Requires” option onthe connector pine. Tit ‘way anyone incusing me) who tes tous the Viwthout wring the required input rst il see nce big broken aon, dont now how many hous of debugging hve saved with th seemingly simple tick Lkewie, there are parameters that normaly donot want changed ue the “Ths Connections Optional” sating Tha ay the terminal doesnot even show up in he standard help ‘wind, meaning the usar probably wl have tolkow what thy te doing before wing i Rule #22 ~ Use the "Small Fonts* font for icon labels. There a very handy fant fr cresting kon tt wth LabVIEW. Double-click on the text tol he giant inthe Kon editor an select Sal Fonts om the fon tf you ao choose psn sve and se 10, you'l be able to abe cons inn tine. ven fou donating oe Rule #23 ~ At a minimum, create a text icon. ‘We all want o ave nice grphi icons However time restraint often prevent rom doing so, Ther are times when its approprote ‘to take te sme to make inv pictures such as when creating icons fr instrument civers designed 0 N specications, btits general not prac n most conuactstuatons nthe cage whete programming tine (or budge sited t ast put something ea sve dts” “convert image ina tet onthe en. black dagtam covered wth subVs that lnk the same shart een for debug you nave the tine, by i means caste anion forthe Rule #24 ~ Always include a black and white copy of the icon for printing Although most of us have ne color mont, donot ore! to ereste s lack and wt copy f the an fo peng LABVIEW often tiesto create ts awn Bsc and white version ofthe con, but ijt not the same Fonts and Colors Rule #25 ~ Use LabVIEW's default fonts and colors. ln cresting al of your panel nd diagrams tr to use LAVIEW's but in fone as much a possible, The incl he application, log sng eyte fons LABVIEW maps these to comparable font fie on deren pltonms making cos pstfar Vi ceston a Ie smoother Ifyou d use lhe ons, remeber tat hey might not alway be present on another computer they aren, LABVIEW wl rubttute the closest match, ually producing fr, bt not parte rerute The same hing cn be ae for coors LabVIEW wil map ts bse clors prety well egal ofthe hirdware or platforms capabilites. Coase any colors outside of these nd you may have same portablty concen. OF couse you alse hae to remeber that coor Preferences ate high ust dependent Toei problems | uuslceste nie boring gry panels ot gue my operators conel af hit Color trough 3 stp seren Ii ay 0 sor alr preferences foreach operator in ext or configuration ia, Then when yourunyour program, load those preferences and use attribute nodes to color the screen and controls. t may sound like a bit of work, but you only have to doit once Aad it sue beat tevin interfaces ie atime agin, ‘Summary Looe for Pat Too his atc inthe nea LTR sue for more suggested LabVIEW style and programming guidelines Part To wl cover sidelines forthe block gram ane mere sakance techniques You st liayt agree wth sora of my suggestions or these suggested guidlines may nt be praia fr your programming envrenment peti, his wl soak scusson nthe UR Community, and more LR aries or eters tthe etr on hs apc to help promate the use af LabVIEW standra practices. Remember th! the hoe point of se guide ito gt yout tink about how you peogtam, The actual sie stands nat so imporant a the fc that you re actualy using sandr, Choose what works bes for you ot Your group and ick with Ung standard yes and guidelines wl resultn quicker development, beter code 55 debugging, and happier operators. About the Companies About LTR LABVIEW Technical Resource(TM LIR was the lesing independent source of LabVIW-specifcinfrmaton Each LR sve presented powell tps and techniques nd indus resource CD packed with is, ilies, source code, and documentation LabVIEW “Technical Rasoure sn longer eve Avot Stress Engineering Services ‘tress Engirecing, a NI Select integrator, cevelops custom appliations using many f NI pdt, including LABVIEW. ‘ures Engines Serves Psst ins ult Wir By Pare