Faculty Member:______________ Date: 17-09-24_________

Semester:______V_______ Section: ______________

Department of Electrical Engineering

EE 383: Instrumentation and Measurements

LAB 02: LabVIEW Programming Environment, Structures and Basic
Operations

Lab Report Viva Marks /

Student name Reg. No. Marks / 10 5 Total/15

419322
Hassaan Ahmed Waqas

Introduction
In this Lab, you will learn about the LabVIEW programming environment.
You will also write a simple Virtual Instrument (VI) to incorporate basic
operations and programming structures in LabVIEW. The structures
featured include For Loops, While Loops, Case Structures, Sequence
Structures, and Formula Nodes.

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Objectives
 Learn the three parts of a VI.

 Learn the three palettes.

 Learn how data is passed in LabVIEW.

 Distinguish between controls and indicators on the front panel and

block diagram.

 Learn how the Case Structure executes.

Theory
LabVIEW Programming Basics

Introduction

LabVIEW is a graphical programming language that uses icons instead of

lines of text to create applications. In contrast to text-based programming
languages, where instructions determine program execution, LabVIEW
uses dataflow programming, where the flow of data determines execution.

In LabVIEW, you build a user interface by using a set of tools and objects.
The user interface is known as the front panel. You then add code using
graphical representations of functions to control the front panel objects.
The block diagram contains this code. In some ways, the block diagram
resembles a flowchart.

LabVIEW programs are called virtual instruments, or VIs, because their

appearance and operation imitate physical instruments, such as
oscilloscopes and multimeters. Every VI uses functions that manipulate
input from the user interface or other sources and display that information
or move it to other files or other computers.

A VI contains the following three components:

• Front panel—Serves as the user interface.
• Block diagram—Contains the graphical source code that defines the
functionality of the VI.
• Icon and connector pane—Identifies the VI so that you can use the VI
in another VI. A VI within another VI is called a subVI. A subVI
corresponds to a subroutine in text-based programming languages.

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Front Panel

The front panel is the user interface of the VI. You build the front panel
with controls and indicators, which are the interactive input and output
terminals of the VI, respectively. Controls are knobs, pushbuttons, dials,
and other input devices. Indicators are graphs, LEDs, and other displays.
Controls simulate instrument input devices and supply data to the block
diagram of the VI. Indicators simulate instrument output devices and
display data the block diagram acquires or generates.

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Block Diagram

After you build the front panel, you add code using graphical
representations of functions to control the front panel objects. The block
diagram contains this graphical source code. Front panel objects appear as
terminals on the block diagram.

Additionally, the block diagram contains functions and structures from

built-in LabVIEW VI libraries. Wires connect each of the nodes on the
block diagram, including control and indicator terminals, functions, and
structures.

LabVIEW Palettes

LabVIEW palettes give you the options you need to create and edit the
front panel and block diagram.

The Tools palette is available on the front panel and the block diagram.
A tool is a special operating mode of the mouse cursor. When you select a
tool, the cursor icon changes to the tool icon. Use the tools to operate and
modify front panel and block diagram objects.

Select Window»Show Tools Palette to display the Tools palette. You can
place the Tools palette anywhere on the screen.

If automatic tool selection is enabled and you move the cursor over objects
on the front panel or block diagram, LabVIEW automatically selects the
corresponding tool from the Tools palette.

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The Controls palette is available only on the front panel. The Controls
palette contains the controls and indicators you use to create the front
panel. Select Window»Show Controls Palette or right-click the front
panel workspace to display the Controls palette. You can place the
Controls palette anywhere on the screen.

The Functions palette is available only on the block diagram. The

Functions palette contains the VIs and functions you use to build the
block diagram. Select Window»Show Functions Palette or right-click
the block diagram workspace to display the Functions palette. You can
place the Functions palette anywhere on the screen.

Dataflow Programming

Equations

Converting ºC to ºF

The formula for converting degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit is as

follows:
°F = (1.8 * °C) + 32
For example, to convert a Celsius temperature of 100 degrees into degrees
Fahrenheit, first multiply the Celsius temperature reading by 1.8 to get
180. Then add 32 to 180 and get 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slope of a Line
The formula for the slope of a line is as follows:
Slope = (Y2 – Y1) / (X2 – X1)
where (X1, Y1) and (X2, Y2) are points on the line.

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Procedure
Part 1. Converting ºC to ºF

In Part 1, you will create a VI that can be used as a sub-VI.

1. Launch LabVIEW from Start»Programs»National Instruments

LabVIEW 6.1. Click New VI to open a new front panel.

2. (Optional) Select Window»Tile Left and Right to display the front

panel and block diagram side by side.

3. Create a numeric digital control. You will use this control to enter the
value for degrees Centigrade.

a. Select the digital control on the Controls»Numeric palette. If

the Controls palette is not visible, right-click an open area on the
front panel to display it.

b. Move the control to the front panel and click to place the
control.

c. Type deg C inside the label and click outside the label or click
the Enter button on the toolbar, shown at left. If you do not type
the name immediately, LabVIEW uses a default label. You can
edit a label at any time by using the Labeling tool, shown at left.

4. Create a numeric digital indicator. You will use this indicator to display
the value for degrees Fahrenheit.

a. Select the digital indicator on the Controls»Numeric palette.

b. Move the indicator to the front panel and click to place the
indicator.

c. Type deg F inside the label and click outside the label or click
the Enter button.

LabVIEW creates corresponding control and indicator terminals on the

block diagram. The terminals represent the data type of the control or

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indicator. For example, a DBL terminal, shown at left, represents a
double-precision, floating-point numeric control or indicator.

5. Display the block diagram by clicking it or by selecting Window»

Show Diagram.

6. Select the Multiply and Add functions on the Functions»Numeric

palette and place them on the block diagram. If the Functions palette is
not visible, right-click an open area on the block diagram to display it.

7. Select the numeric constant on the Functions»Numeric palette and

place two of them on the block diagram. When you first place the numeric
constant, it is highlighted so you can type a value.

8. Type 1.8 in one constant and 32.0 in the other.

If you moved the constants before you typed a value, use the Labeling tool
to enter the values.

9. Use the Wiring tool to wire the icons as shown in the block diagram.

• To wire from one terminal to another, use the Wiring tool to click
the first terminal, move the tool to the second terminal, and click
the second terminal, as shown in the following illustration. You
can start wiring at either terminal.

• You can bend a wire by clicking to tack the wire down and
moving the cursor in a perpendicular direction. Press the spacebar
to toggle the wire direction.

• To identify terminals on the nodes, right-click the Multiply and

Add functions and select Visible Items»Terminals from the
shortcut menu to display the connector pane. Return to the icons
after wiring by right-clicking the functions and selecting Visible
Items»Terminals from the shortcut menu to remove the
checkmark.

• When you move the Wiring tool over a terminal, the terminal
area blinks, indicating that clicking will connect the wire to that
terminal and a tip strip appears, listing the name of the terminal.

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 • To cancel a wire you started, press the <Esc> key, right-click, or
click the source terminal.

10. Display the front panel by clicking it or by selecting Window»Show

Panel.

11. Save the VI because you will use this VI later in the course. Select
File»Save. Type Convert C to F.vi in the dialog box. Click the
Save button.

12. Enter a number in the digital control and run the VI.

a. Use the Operating tool or the Labeling tool to double-click the

digital control and type a new number.

b. Click the Run button to run the VI.

c. Try several different numbers and run the VI again.

Part 2. Calculating the Slope of a Line

Using the techniques you learned in Part 1, create a VI to calculate the
slope of a line. Then, transform the code into a subVI using the
Edit»Create SubVI method. Save the VI as Slope.vi. Save the subVI
as SlopeSub.vi. The equation for slope is given in the Theory section.

Open a new VI and complete the front panel and block diagram as
follows:

Front Panel

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 Block Diagram before subVI
After creating the subVI, your block diagram will resemble the one below.

Block Diagram with subVI

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Part 3. Calculator VI
Write a VI that adds, subtracts, multiplies, divides, and averages two input
numbers and displays the results on the front panel. Save your VI as
Calculator.vi.

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Case Structures

A Case structure has two or more subdiagrams, or cases. Only one

subdiagram is visible at a time, and the structure executes only one case at
a time. An input value determines which subdiagram executes.
The Case structure is similar to case statements or if...then...else
statements in text-based programming languages.

The case selector label at the top of the Case structure contains the name
of the selector value that corresponds to the case in the center and
decrement and increment arrows on each side. Click the decrement and
increment arrows to scroll through the available cases. You also can click
the down arrow next to the case name and select a case from the pull-
down menu.

Wire an input value, or selector, to the selector terminal to determine

which case executes. You must wire an integer, Boolean value, string, or
enumerated type value to the selector terminal. You can position the
selector terminal anywhere on the left border of the Case structure. If the
type of selector terminal is Boolean, the structure has a TRUE case and a
FALSE case. If the selector terminal is an integer, string, or enumerated
type value, the structure can have arbitrarily many cases.

Specify a default case for the Case structure to handle out-of-range values.
Otherwise, you must explicitly list every possible input value. For
example, if the selector is an integer and you specify cases for 1, 2, and 3,
you must specify a default case to execute if the input value is 4 or any
other valid integer value.

You can create multiple input and output tunnels for a Case structure.
Inputs are available to all cases, but cases do not need to use each input.

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However, you must define each output tunnel for each case. When you
create an output tunnel in one case, tunnels appear at the same position on
the border in all the other cases. If at least one output tunnel is not wired,
all output tunnels on the structure appear as white squares. You can define
a different data source for the same output tunnel in each case, but the data
types must be compatible for each case. You also can right-click the
output tunnel and select Use Default If Unwired from the shortcut menu
to use the default value for the tunnel data type for all unwired tunnels.

Formula Node

The Formula Node is a convenient text-based node you can use to perform
mathematical operations on the block diagram. You do not have to access
any external code or applications, and you do not have to wire low-level
arithmetic functions to create equations. In addition to text-based equation
expressions, the Formula Node can accept text-based versions of if
statements, while loops, for loops, and do loops, which are familiar to C
programmers. These programming elements are similar to what you find
in C programming but are not identical.

Formula Nodes are useful for equations that have many variables or are
otherwise complicated and for using existing text-based code. You can
copy and paste the existing text-based code into a Formula Node rather
than recreating it graphically.

Formula Nodes use type checking to make sure that array indexes are
numeric data and that operands to the bit operations are integer data.
Formula Nodes also check to make sure array indexes are in range.
For arrays, an out-of-range value defaults to zero, and an out-of-range
assignment defaults to nop to indicate no operation occurs.

Formula Nodes also perform automatic type conversion.

The Formula Node located on the Functions»Structures and Functions»

Mathematics»Formula palettes is a resizable box similar to the For
Loop, While Loop, Case structure, and Sequence structure. However,
instead of containing a subdiagram, the Formula Node contains one or
more C-like statements delimited by semicolons, as in the following
example. As with C, add comments by enclosing them inside a
slash/asterisk pair (/*comment*/).

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When you work with variables, remember the following points:

• There is no limit to the number of variables or equations in a

Formula Node.

• No two inputs and no two outputs can have the same name, but an
output can have the same name as an input.

• Declare an input variable by right-clicking the Formula Node border

and selecting Add Input from the shortcut menu. You cannot declare
input variables inside the Formula Node.

• Declare an output variable by right-clicking the Formula Node

border and selecting Add Output from the shortcut menu. The output
variable name must match either an input variable name or the name of
a variable you declare inside the Formula Node.

• You can change whether a variable is an input or an output by right-

clicking it and selecting Change to Input or Change to Output from
the shortcut menu.

• You can declare and use a variable inside the Formula Node without
relating it to an input or output wire.

• You must wire all input terminals.

• Variables can be floating-point numeric scalars, whose precision

depends on the configuration of your computer. You also can use
integers and arrays of numerics for variables.

• Variables cannot have units.

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Square Root VI

Complete the following steps to build a VI that checks whether a number

is positive. If it is, the VI calculates the square root of the number.
Otherwise, the VI returns an error message.

1. Open a new VI and build the following front panel.

2. Build the following block diagram.

a. Place a Case structure located on the Functions»Structures

palette.

b. Click the decrement or increment arrow button to select the

FALSE case.

c. Place the Greater or Equal to 0? function located on the

Functions»Comparison palette. This function returns TRUE if
Number is greater than or equal to 0.

d. Right-click the numeric constant and select Format &

Precision from the shortcut menu. Set Digits of Precision to 1,
select Floating Point Notation, and click the OK button. This
ensures there is no data conversion between the constant and the
numeric indicator outside the Case structure.

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 e. Place the One Button Dialog function located on the
Functions»Time & Dialog palette. This function displays a dialog
box that will contain the message Error...Negative
Number.

f. Right-click the message terminal of the One Button Dialog

function, select Create»Constant from the shortcut menu, type
Error...Negative Number, and press the <Enter> key.

g. Select the TRUE case and place the Square Root function
located on the Functions»Numeric palette, as shown in the
following block diagram. This function returns the square root of
Number.

3. Save the VI as Square Root.vi.

4. Display the front panel and run the VI.

If Number is positive, the VI executes the TRUE case and returns the
square root of Number. If Number is negative, the VI executes the
FALSE case, returns –99999.0, and displays a dialog box with the
message Error...Negative Number.

5. Close the VI.

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 Screenshots:
### F TO C CONVERSION SCREENSHOTS START HERE ###

### F TO C CONVERSION SCREENSHOTS END HERE ###\

### SLOPE OF LINE SCREENSHOTS START HERE ###

### SLOPE OF LINE SCREENSHOTS END HERE ###

### CALCULATOR VI SCREENSHOTS START HERE ###

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### CALCULAROT VI SCREENSHOTS END HERE ###

### SQUARE ROOT SCREENSHOTS START HERE ###

### SQUARE ROOT SCREENSHOTS END HERE ###

Questions
1. What is a VI? What are the three main parts of a VI? Briefly describe
each.
A VI is a Virtual Instrument; a computer program that ‘emulates’ a
physical instrument. The three components are:
i) A Front Panel, in which components are placed
ii) A Block Diagram, where functions are programmed
iii) Icon and Connector panel

2. What are the three palettes? Briefly describe each.

i) Tools

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 ii) Controls allow you to select hardware components to place in the
front panel
iii) Functions allow you to program in the block diagram

3. How is data passed in LabVIEW?

Data is passed through controls such as numeric controls, knobs, etc

4. How can you tell the difference between controls and indicators on the
front panel and on the block diagram?
On the front panel, controls usually have an interactable interface where
you can directly manipulate the variable, e.g a knob you can turn, or text
you can type. Indicators do not.
On the block diagram, controls have output wires on their right side,
while indicators have input wires on their left side.

5. How does a Case Structure execute?

In a similar manner to conditional statements in programming languages.
The user has to define the function corresponding to all possible cases of an
input variable. Then, depending on the value of the input at execution, the
corresponding function will run.

References
 Getting Started with LabVIEW. November 2001. Part Number
321527E-01. http://www.ni.com/manuals.

 LabVIEW User’s Manual. November 2001. Part Number 320999D-

01. http://www.ni.com/manuals.

 LabVIEW Student Edition. http://www.ni.com/labviewse.

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  LabVIEW Introduction Course - Six Hours.

 LabVIEW Introduction Course - Three Hours.

You can watch videos from the website for additional help:
http://www.ni.com/academic/students/learn-labview/

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