Data Acquisition Idea Exchange

I would really like to see a user configurable hardware front panel that integrates with LabVIEW. The panel would connect to a computer via USB. National Instruments could sell different hardware controls such as pushbuttons, LED's, switches, LCD panels for graphs, rotory encoded switches, slide switches and potentiometers, LCD indicators for text and numbers, etc.

LabVIEW would discover which panels are connected and which hardware controls are available in those panels. The user could then drop them as terminals on the block diagram and use them as normal.

Another option for the panel could be an embedded computer running LabVIEW so that the whole thing can be stand alone.

Proposal : If left unwired, the DAQmx Create Channel Minimum and Maximum Value inputs would default to the maximum value for whatever physical channel was wired.  Currently for example, AO Voltage defaults to +/- 10 V.  Some devices such as the USB 6008 are limited to 0 to +5 V.  For programs that allow for different daq devices to be used and changed at run time, one does not know ahead of time what the allowable input limits will be and cannot be assigned.  Is it possible to use the DAQmx Device property I/O Type:Analog Output:Voltage:Ranges to obtain the limits and then wire that result however this involves extra coding to make use of them.  If the DAQmx Create Channel is used at many places in a vi it becomes cumbersome to have to extract the property for every instance of use.  i.e. even if DAQmx Create Channel is done once, another call to it does not retain the values previously set.  A solution would be for DAQmx Create Channel to simply obtain the minimum and maximum values based on whatever physical channel was wired to it and use them.