In many LabVIEW APIs (toolkits, drivers, etc), it can be important to have run-time licensing checks built in such that the VIs can only be run when they have been purchased and activated.  The add-on licensing tool of the Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit (TPLAT) is very useful for protecting code in the LabVIEW development environment, but this does not protect activated code from running after it has been built into an executable.  To protect code at Run-time, you can instead use the TPLAT API to build licensing checks into the code itself.

One drawback to building in run-time licensing checks is that there is an overhead cost to check the license each time any of the API VIs run.  Fortunately, most APIs already need to be initialized before the rest of the code works to open resources, allocate memory, etc.  Run-time licensing checks can easily be added to this initialize function so it only needs to be called once. 

However there are many situations in which an API doesn't have an open or initialize function (such as analysis functions or a collection of reuse code) and therefore the license checks need to be in each VI in order to ensure total protection.  To overcome this final hurdle and make the license check faster and more efficient, we can turn to the functional global variable.  With this architecture we can have the API do the license check on the first call only and then store the state (expired, activated, evaluation, etc) in the functional global variable.

Check License (Core)

The core functionality of this architecture is the Check License VI.  As mentioned it is a functional global that checks the license status on first call and then stores the status for subsequent calls.  Because of this, there is some overhead on the first call of this function (however long it takes for the licensing check to take place) but there is very little overhead on later calls.  You can also force a license check by using the appropriate control.  In the attached example, the license check is a simple dialog box, but this should be replaced by your appropriate license checking code.

API VIs

Now that you have your core functional global variable created, all you need to do is add this to your API VIs and surround the rest of the code with a case structure.  Then your code will run differently depending on the license status.  The most common situation would be to run normally if the license is in Evaluation or Activated state, and to throw an error if in Expired or Invalid state, but this can be changed based on your licensing scheme.

Initialize VI

Now that you have a licensing solution, you can create a new Initialize VI that will does nothing but check the license status.  This allows a developer to do the licensing check as required, but to ensure no delays in their critical code.

Summary

The attached example shows how to add run-time licensing checks to an API such that you can avoid the overhead of checking licensing in every VI.  It does this by using a functional Global Variable and the "First Call?" function to check licensing on the first call and then storing the status for subsequent calls.  Have you used a similar strategy?  What other methods do you use for efficient run-time licensing?

By default, when any changes to the palettes are made using the Palette Editor, LabVIEW will save the .MNU files in the User directory rather than the LabVIEW directory.  This allows a user to preserve customized palettes across installations by copying user profiles, rather than modifying the LabVIEW directory.

Add-on developers, however, sometimes need to create palettes that can be installed into the LabVIEW directory.  If you are using a package to distribute your code, you can use VI Package Manager to create your palettes and install them in the correct locations.  If you are not using a package, you may need to edit the palettes manually in LabVIEW, and most likely need to specify a save folder other than the user directory.

To accomplish this, you can add the InternalPaletteEdit=True token in your LabVIEW ini file, and LabVIEW will save the file in any location.  Details in the LabVIEW forums.

Note: this token is not officially supported, and is subject to change at any moment, so use at your own risk.

If you have any issues using this, please let us know by email at labviewpartnerprogram@ni.com.

-Roso

The 2013 Alliance Partner and LabVIEW Tools Network Awards ceremony will recognize companies who are creating business value for customers based on NI technology and graphical system design. Finalists and winners will be celebrated on Alliance Day during our inaugural luncheon hosted by the Alliance Partner Network team and attended by NI global sales and executive leadership. Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your expertise and recent successes.

How Do I Apply?

Complete the online application with details on your product and provide a customer solution/case study.

Deadline to enter is May 31. 

All finalists receive:

• Global exposure of your product/toolkit
• One (1) Alliance Day and NIWeek 2013 Full Conference Pass
• Customer solution/case study featured in the NIWeek 2013 official press editor kits and published on ni.com
• Feature in NINews and NI Instrumentation Newsletter
• Personalized achievement award

Finalists will be notified by June 28^th.

We are excited to announce the release of the Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit 2013 Beta!

This release of Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit includes:

• Support for licensing nested libraries.
• Usability improvements to the interface of the Third Party Add-on Activation page.
• Bug fixes and user experience improvements.

Head over to the LabVIEW Beta forum for more information and to download the new version  Also, be sure to let us know of any issues or feedback that you have! More information on the Third Party Licensing and Activation Toolkit can be found on our community.

Enrollment for the LabVIEW beta program is now open and you can enroll by going to http://www.ni.com/beta.  We encourage you to test your products with the new beta build to ensure compatibility with the new version of LabVIEW - beta testing also helps to prepare for the yearly Compatible with LabVIEW Recertification conducted by our engineering team.

Please contact the Tools Network team at labviewpartnerprogram@ni.com if you have any questions or concerns.

The post below was taken from a blog post by Christina Rogers and highlights a new feature in LabVIEW 2012, Project Templates and Sample Projects.  You can take advantage of this LabVIEW feature and provide customers with a starting point for developing applications using your toolkits and APIs by creating your own project templates.

In LabVIEW 2012, new Project templates and Sample Projects help you get started with a project as quickly as possible.

Some of the best weapons against “spaghetti code” – diagrams that are hard to read and impossible to maintain – are design patterns such as the Simple State Machine and Queued Message Handler. The Project templates promote starting with one of these tried-and-true designs.

You can also create your own Project templates and Sample projects, but I’ll talk about that more in a future post.

To use the new Project Templates and Sample Projects, you’ll use the Create Project dialog. You can access this dialog by clicking the Create Project button on the LabVIEW 2012 Getting Started window. It’s also in the File menu and the Project menu.

The Create Project dialog lists the available Project templates and Sample Projects. I am only showing the core set; modules and toolkits can install additional items.

If necessary, you can narrow your choices by selecting a category in the left-hand column or typing keywords in the Search box.

After selecting your starting point, you click Next. Depending on the item you have chosen, you may see a different dialog than the one below. For the Simple State Machine, you need to decide your project’s name and location on disk. You can optionally prefix your file names (in case you want to make all your VI names unique across multiple projects) and define a custom icon overlay.

When you click Finish, you will have a new project to work with. This project is a customized copy of the template, so you don’t need to worry about edits to the VIs interfering with other applications (which can happen when people edit examples).

You can now open the Main VI and explore the contents of your project. Areas where you will probably want to focus on writing your own functionality are highlighted with blue comments. Here is the Main VI of the Simple State Machine template:

You may also want to review the Project Documentation, which explains the template (or Sample Project) in great detail.

We believe that the Project templates and Sample Projects will not only get you to a working application faster, but also lay the groundwork for applications that can be extended and maintained long into the future.

Originally posted by Christina at http://blog.eyesonvis.com/2012/08/15/labview-2012-project-templates-and-sample-projects/

This new feature can be used as a tool to help your customers begin developing with your API quickly and effectively by providing a framework for development.  Consider adding any required operations from your API (initialization, configuration, and cleanup routines) and any software framework a customer would duplicate in their application to a template to avoid duplicate effort or copying and pasting from shipping examples.  Add documentation to your templates to highlight default settings, algorithms, and places to add functionality & customize the configuration to meet different use cases.

Creating Custom Templates and Projects

DevZone: Using Custom Templates and Projects to Develop LabVIEW Projects

Creating and Distributing Custom Templates with the New Create Project Dialog

We would like to announce the release of the newest version of the LabVIEW Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit 2012.  Aside from official support for LabVIEW 2012, this release contains bug fixes and improvements to the shipping Examples and documentation.  It is highly recommended for all Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit users to upgrade to this release.  For more information, please see the Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit Readme.

To download the newest version, visit the Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit product page on the LabVIEW Tools Network.

For help and support for this product, please visit the Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit community group.

We would like to announce the release of the newest version of the LabVIEW Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit 2012.  Aside from official support for LabVIEW 2012, this release contains bug fixes and improvements to the shipping Examples and documentation.  It is highly recommended for all Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit users to upgrade to this release.  For more information, please see the Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit Readme.

To download the newest version, visit the Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit product page on the LabVIEW Tools Network. 

For help and support for this product, please visit the Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit community group.

Another NI Week has come and gone, and it was another great success.  We set a high bar at NIWeek 2011 but the LabVIEW Tools Network team was quite busy this year and made it even better!  Here are the highlighs in case you missed out:

LabVIEW Tools Network Ships with LabVIEW 2012

Last year we were excited to announce that you could easily access the LabVIEW Tools Network directly from the LabVIEW Getting Started window.  This year, we have done one better and actually ship VI Package Manager 2012 with LabVIEW 2012.  This means without any additional downloads, you can access all your favorite LabVIEW Tools Network add-ons from right within the LabVIEW development environment!

Introducing the Jitter Benchmarking Framework for LabVIEW Real-Time

This year we have introduced our newest tool to help LabVIEW Tools Network developers, the Jitter Benchmarking Framework for LabVIEW Real-Time.  The Jitter Benchmarking Framework (JBF) for LabVIEW Real-Time provides users with an initial reference containing basic definitions of key concepts related to execution jitter on RT systems, explanations of common execution jitter sources, practical examples of execution jitter sources, and a testing framework complete with code templates for common execution jitter measurements on LabVIEW Real-Time systems.

If you are interested in learning more about this new tool, check out the JBF community for more information.

LabVIEW Tools Network Awards 2012

This year we had so many great new products released on the LabVIEW Tools Network.  However, 8 products stood out as the best of the best this year.  A run-down of this year's winners is available on our blog.

LabVIEW Champions vs LabVIEW Marketing Trivia Challenge

This year I was asked to join a few others in the LabVIEW Marketing team to take on 4 LabVIEW Champions in a LabVIEW trivia challenge.  Sadly, the LabVIEW Champions beat us again, but we were much closer this year only losing by 90 points!  Some more details and a picture can be found on the NIWeek 2012 blog.

5 LabVIEW Tools Network-Oriented Sessions

This year the LabVIEW Tools Network team gave 5 technical and marketing sessions   Many asked us for our session content after it was over, so here it is for you to use and share.

Build a LabVIEW Add-on with VI Package Manager (Hands-on) - by Stephen Roso

The LabVIEW Tools Network Awards Winners (Tech Theater) - by Will Schoettler

Explore Tools to Customize LabVIEW - by David Ladolcetta

Introduction to LabVIEW Scripting - by David Ladolcetta

Do Real-Time Right With the NI Jitter Benchmarking Framework - by Robert Des Rosier

I hope everyone had a great NI Week, and we hope to see you again next year!

Over 100 Certified Products and 1 Million Downloads

This year we also announced that the LabVIEW Tools Network has reached over 100 certified products and 1 million downloads!  Thanks to @vishots for the picture of our 2 story tall announcement at the Day 3 Keynote!

The 2012 LabVIEW Tools Network Awards, held August 7th during NIWeek, recognized the top achievements from the NI ecosystem:

New Silver Members

The following partners have achieved Silver level in the Compatible with LabVIEW program. 

• CalcExpress by Konstantin Shifershteyn
• ModBus Toolkit, ViBox XControls, ViBox Probes by SAPHIR
• Kuka Robotics Library by ImagingLab
• UI Tools by LAVA

New Gold Members

The following partners have achieved Gold level in Compatible with LabVIEW program.

• ModalVIEW by ABSignal
• FlexStand Operator Interface by CIM

Cloud and Mobile Innovation Award:

Maintainable Test by Maintainable Software

This software-as-a-service product is used in electronics manufacturing test, for cloud-based data management with LabVIEW, TestStand, and DIAdem.   Their software is used by customers such as Coulomb Technologies, a leader in electric vehicle chargers.  In addition, the Maintainable Software has deep expertise in tools used to develop cloud infrastructure, and have published a technical book on the subject.  Their product works on the latest tablet devices such as Apple iPads.

Software Engineering Innovation Award:

Graphical Object Oriented Programming (GOOP) Development Suite by Symbio

Over the last decade, Symbio has done ground-breaking work in bringing Object-Oriented programming and UML capabilities to LabVIEW.   The product delivers time-savings to software architects by integrating directly within the LabVIEW project environment, and the tools are used by design teams with as many as 40 developers working simultaneously on large applications in LabVIEW.

Big Data Innovation Award:

CURE by Neural ID

According to the McKinsey Global Institute, the manufacturing sector can reduce total costs by 50 percent with a better understanding of data.  Cure by Neural ID provides a LabVIEW toolkit in the form of a pattern recognition engine for unstructured data.  When combined with LabVIEW’s inherent parallelism and ability to run on high-end multicore processors and FPGAs, this toolkit is well-suited for big data problems.   It also compliments other NI software tools like DIAdem, which handle postprocessing for large datasets.  Recently this product has been used by NASA, for a Big Data problem that involves anomaly detection in critical aerospace components.  In addition, it’s algorithms have been deployed across the United States in the ecoATM electronics recycling kiosk, which was named a Popular Science Top 100 innovation.

Test Product of the Year:

INERTIA by Wineman Technology Inc.

INERTIA is a powerful test automation software specifically designed for quickly and efficiently implementing real-time control and test applications. This software add-on for NI VeriStand provides a seamless, integrated control solution for test cell applications such as dynamometer and servo-hydraulic test systems.  A customer that uses this technology is Ford Motor Company, who recently created a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test system to simulate, control, and monitor passenger vehicle fuel cells.

Prognostics Innovation Award:

Watchdog Agent Toolkit by the Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems (IMS)

Prognostics is an important field of study because one of the biggest expenses of large machines is maintenance. The Watchdog Agent Toolkit delivers a set of algorithms in LabVIEW, that allows engineers to predict machine failure and fully understand the health of a machine, in order to reduce costs. It's been used by industrial tool companies such as Hywin to improve their tooling machines and reduce costs.  In addition, the work through the IMS Center exemplifies the positive outcomes of university and industry collaboration.  IMS Center has formed partnerships with over 30 organizations to including National Instruments, Boeing, GE, and Honeywell, to drive collaboration and envision the future of maintenance.

Structural Dynamics Innovation Award:

ModalVIEW by ABSignal

ModalVIEW is a product that extends LabVIEW and NI hardware technology into the area of structural dynamics.  It was designed to help engineers easily acquire sound or vibration signals from a running machine, and obtain both the static and dynamic loading of a structure by using data acquisition hardware.  It’s intuitive interface allows you to animate the response of a structure and show you the structure's vibration behavior at once.  It’s been used to analyze some of the world’s largest structures, including the Donghai Bridge in China. 

Vision Software Innovation Award:   

3D Vision Library by ImagingLab

The 3D Vision Library from ImagingLab extends the capabilities of NI hardware and software to support 3D vision.  According to industry vision expert Markus Tarin, 3D vision represents one of the biggest advancements in vision applications over the past decade.  Once considered too difficult for many machine vision applications, 3D vision is now being deployed into high-volume manufacturing applications in areas like automotive and electronics manufacturing.

Embedded Control and Monitoring Product of the Year: 

ELCOM Network Analyzer

ELCOM was faced with the challenge of building a professional instrument fully compliant with the international standards, that could be used for measurement and data evaluation in power distribution grids.  To address this challenge, they used NI graphical system design tools and the modular CompactRIO platform to achieve unique flexibility of a power quality analyzer, while still meeting the tight time to market criteria.

Congratulations to this year's winners.  To learn more, or download one of these products, visit the LabVIEW Tools Network.

NIWeek is just around the corner! It'll be another week of great sessions and opportunities. Here are some sessions you don't want to miss:

TS8166 - Do Real-Time Right with the NI Jitter Benchmarking Framework

Robert Des Rosier, Partner Program Engineer, National Instruments

Troy Troshynski, Vice-President, Avionics Interface Technologies

One of the most important -- and often challenging -- aspects of any real-time system is the characterization of jitter.  In this session, learn how you can improve and document the performance of your real time system with the NI Jitter Benchmarking Framework for LabVIEW Real-Time. Using Avionics Interface Technologies as a case study, we will explore how this benchmarking helped them get an edge on their competition.

TS8526 - Introduction to LabVIEW Scripting

David Ladolcetta, Partner Program Engineer, National Instruments

Gain an introduction to programmatically creating, modifying, and inspecting G code. Familiarity with VI Server is recommended but not required.

TS8527: Hands-On: Build a VI Package with VI Package Manager

Stephen Roso, Partner Program Engineer, National Instruments

TS8528: Explore Tools to Customize LabVIEW

David Ladolcetta, Partner Program Engineer, National Instruments

LabVIEW Tools Network Awards

VIPM 2012 Released

We are proud to announce the release of VI Package Manager 2012! Click here to get it. VIPM 2012 brings great new features for LabVIEW teams and add-on creators. Through direct collaboration, one-on-one interviews and public forums such as the VIPM Idea Exchange NI and JKI have learned a lot about how people use VIPM and more importantly how people want to use VIPM. Some major changes in VIPM 2012:

New Low Price, Easy Trial Activation

There are now only two versions of VI Package Manager: VIPM Free and VIPM Pro. VIPM 2012 Pro is now $499, and if you’ve ever bought a previous version of VIPM Pro or Enterprise upgrades are just $199. It's also easy to evaluate VIPM Pro for 30 days: just activate VIPM with the special trial code VIPM-PRO-EVAL-NI.

Unleashing VI Package Repositories

With VIPM 2012, VIPM Pro users can create as many VI Package Repositories as they want. This means that if you’re building LabVIEW add-ons or reusable libraries for your coworkers, customers, or the community, you can create one or more central VI Package Repositories to easily distribute your add-ons. Other features:

• VIPM 2012 Pro can connect to any number of repositories. Repository client limits are a thing of the past.
• VI Package Repositories can be hosted in public Dropbox folders. You no longer have to run your own web server or ftp site to host a repository (although you still can if you want).
• VIPM 2012 Pro users can now manage multiple shared repositories. Previously, VIPM could only a manage a single repository.
• VIPM 2012 Pro can create private repositories for package sharing within your organization or with your customers.
• Every VI Package Repository has a unique RSS feed so repository users can subscribe to receive package release notifications in their favorite RSS reader.

Automate Tasks With VIPM’s New VI-based API

Do you want to automate installation of packages or perform maintenance tasks on your reuse library easily? Now you can, with VIPM 2012 Pro’s new public API. Learn more here.

Here are some examples of automations you can create:

• Automated package builds: Create a one-click build for your LabVIEW add-on. Write LabVIEW code to automatically apply a VIPC file, build your package, install the built package & test it, then publish the package to your repository, all automatically.
• Unattended system updates: Script your development systems to automatically find and install add-on updates.
• Group package publishing: Create a “package release dropbox” for members of your team to put built packages into; automatically publish packages from that folder to your repository.
• New development system setup: Create a “system setup” script to automatically install “core” packages on multiple LabVIEW versions with a single command.
• System inventory and maintenance: Validate system installations, perform cleanup and maintenance on deployed systems.

VI Package Configuration (VIPC) Improvements

Our users tell us that once they start using VI Package Configuration files they can’t stop. They’ve also given us some great ideas to improve how VIPC files work. We’ve listened, and VIPM 2012 Pro adds the following enhancements:

• Apply VIPC to any LabVIEW Version: VIPM 2012 allows you to apply a VIPC in any version of LabVIEW.
• LabVIEW Project (.lvproj) Dependency Scanning Support: VIPM 2012 Pro supports LabVIEW project files as a source for finding project VI package dependencies. Use this feature to create a VIPC file containing exactly the right libraries and add-ons for each project you work on.

New in VIPM Free

• New Install\Uninstall Custom Action Parameters
• "Generate VI" Buttons from templates for Custom Actions
• Improved Network Connectivity for users behind corporate Proxies
• Easier Removal of Unpublished Packages

Other Stuff

• Lots of bug fixes.
• If you bought VIPM Pro or Enterprise in the last year, your upgrade is free, just like before.
• Click here for full VIPM 2012 release notes.

Much of this content has been taken from the JKI blog post here.

Many LabVIEW developers have discovered Quick Drop since the time it came out in LabVIEW 8.6.  For those of you who haven't your life is about to be changed for the better.  Quick Drop is a feature that allows you to very quickly access items from the palettes.  From the block diagram or palette simply press Ctrl-space and then type the name of the item you want.  Once it is highlighted you press enter and the item is ready to drop...

If you want to place the TCP Read function, which is easier? Open Data Communication palette, open Protocols palette, open TCP palette and then find and click on the TCP Read function?

Or to simply type "Ctrl-Space" then "TCP R" and then "Enter"?

Once you get used to this in your workflow you will improve development speed tremendously!

However, this is not even the best part!!!

There is also the Quick Drop Shortcuts feature.  With this feature you can automate any repetitive task you perform in LabVIEW saving you even more time.  For example, if you click on a wire, press Ctrl-space, type the name of any item and press Ctrl-i, LabVIEW will automatically insert whatever was listed in the Quick Drop window.  This is the same as right clicking a wire, finding the "Insert" menu item, then navigating the palettes to find the thing you want to insert, only much much faster!

There are a few QD shortcuts built into LabVIEW such as Insert (Ctrl-I), Replace (Ctrl-P), Remove (Ctrl-R) and Wire All Terminals (Ctrl-D).  However you can also add any new shortcut that does any action you want as long as you can write a VI that uses scripting or any other means necesary to accomplish the task.  I'll go into the details on how to do this in a minute, but for those of you who are less inclined to write a VI, know that there are many custom QD shortcuts already available.  For a list of available community shortcuts, see the document in the Quick Drop Enthusiasts community group.  These include some great new shortcuts such as Align & Compress BD/FP Objects, Reset Origin, Restart LabVIEW, Rewire Error Case Structure and many others.

Creating Your Own shortcut

If you have a repetitive task that you want to create a QD shortcut for, it's a pretty simple process.  The first step is to copy the QD Plugin Template found in "<LabVIEW>\resource\dialog\QuickDrop\QuickDrop Plugin Template.vi to the <LabVIEW>\resource\dialog\QuickDrop\plugins directory and give it a descriptive name.  Then you should open the VI, edit the VI Description to include a description along with a default shortcut.  Finally you need to just edit the VI so that it does what you need it to do.  The template is well documented, so you can refer to the block diagram comments to understand what all the different components are and how to use it. 

So what are your favorite Quck Drop shortcuts?  Share them in the comments below...

We are changing the re-certification process for the Compatible with LabVIEW program this year and I have a few deadlines for you to meet in order to be eligible for awards at NIWeek 2012!

As many of you know, the Compatible with LabVIEW program we rebuilt in 2009 requires a yearly review, or re-certification, by our engineers to ensure products are maintaining compatibility with the latest LabVIEW release.  We also use this yearly review to hit upon any tests or requirements we've added to the program during the course of the year -- in doing so, we hope to continue to add value by ensuring your products are up to date with new features and entry points in the LabVIEW platform.

Changes for Re-Certification

We are no longer expecting you to submit an application to trigger the re-certification process.  All products on the LabVIEW Tools Network will be re-certified by our engineers for each LabVIEW release and a report delivered to you for your Compatible with LabVIEW level.  If product updates are required, we expect you to submit an installer with updates identified in the re-certification report to maintain your status on the LabVIEW Tools Network.

*Note: If you intend to achieve a higher level in the Compatible with LabVIEW program, please fill out the Compatible with LabVIEW Application and include the customer references and CLD/CLA information required for the Silver and Gold levels.  Submitting an application will notify our team that you're requesting a product to be reviewed for a higher Compatible with LabVIEW level.  Please submit 2 customer references we can survey for the Silver level and a total of 5 customer references for the Gold level (if you're already certified for Silver, we need 3 additional customer references).

**Also Note: If you ever have an updated installer for the LabVIEW Tools Network, please send an email to labviewpartnerprogram@ni.com with details for obtaining your new VI Package or installer and we will ensure your Tools Network product page is updated as soon as possible!

Important Dates

• Compatible with LabVIEW recognition at NIWeek
  Partners who achieve either the Silver or Gold level during the previous calendar year are recognized with a plaque during the LabVIEW Tools Network Awards at NIWeek.  If you have not achieved a higher level this year and are interested in moving to the Silver or Gold level, the following deadline applies for notifying our team to have your product reviewed in time for NIWeek 2012:
  
  
  • May 15, 2012 -- Notify the LabVIEW Partner Program Team by this date if you intend to re-certify for a higher Compatible with LabVIEW level so we can prioritize your re-certification in time for NIWeek.  Use this application to submit a notification to our team and be sure to include the customer references required for your desired Compatible with LabVIEW Level:
    http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/12901  (2 references for Silver, 5 references for Gold.  If you are moving from Silver to Gold, we need 3 additional references)
    
    
  • May 15, 2012 -- If you have not already registered for the LabVIEW 2012 Beta Program, you will also need to register in order to test your products in the new version and apply updates required to be compatible with the new version.  The beta application process is simple; go to http://www.ni.com/beta to apply and enter 'robert.des.rosier@ni.com' as the email of the person who invited you.
    
    
  • June 30, 2012 -- Once you submit for re-certifying your product for Silver or Gold, the Compatible with LabVIEW process must then be completed by June 30 so the awards to be ordered in time for NIWeek.
    
    
• LabVIEW Tools Network Awards
  The 2012 Tools Network Awards are now open for submission!
  • June 1, 2012 -- Enter nominations by June 1, 2012.  Details for award categories and eligibility can be found here: Now Open: Submissions for the 2012 LabVIEW Tools Network Awards

Contact Us

If you have questions or feedback, please contact the LabVIEW Partner Program team by sending us an email at labviewpartnerprogram@ni.com

Today we have released the first in a 5-part series on tips for Creating and Managing Reusable Code in LabVIEW.  The information in these documents started as a presentation at NI Developer Days 2012 and was very well received.  We thought this information would be extremely helpful for developers of LabVIEW Tools Network Add-ons, so we have expanded on the information and present it to you now as the newest Developer Center documents.  We will release the entirety of the documentation over the course of a couple weeks, so keep posted on the LabVIEW Tools Network Developer Center to learn more!

Check out the new material here:  Creating and Managing Reusable Code in LabVIEW

As always, please let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions for future documents.

-David_L

Help us congratulate JKI on creating such an effective tool for distributing and managing LabVIEW code! 1,000,000 LabVIEW Add-On downloads! The LabVIEW Tools Network takes advantage of this application as well as NI Systems Engineering.

VI Package Manager is a software configuration management tool written in LabVIEW by JKI. It is used to simplify code sharing and reuse by automatically installing palettes and placing code contents in the appropriate locations on disk instead of requiring the user to manually unzip files or build heavy installers. It is an incredibly popular distribution mechanism and is becoming the standard for LabVIEW development teams. It is the preferred distribution mechanism chosen for delivering software from the LabVIEW Tools Network.

VI Package Manager can be accessed directly from the LabVIEW 2011 environment by going to Tools » Find Add-Ons… It is also available from the LabVIEW Tools Network here.

What was the millionth download? You probably guessed: OpenG Libraries. But I'll let JKI tell the rest of the story on their blog.

Submissions are now open for the 2012 LabVIEW Tools Network Awards!

Previously the LabVIEW Add-on of the Year Awards, the LabVIEW Tools Network Awards recognize top 3rd-party software products based on NI LabVIEW software and NI technology that are high quality, demonstrate excellent integration, and fill a business need.

The 2012 LabVIEW Tools Network Awards call for submissions is officially open - deadline to enter is June 1. NI leadership selects winners who are honored during a private awards luncheon at NIWeek on Tuesday, August 7th.

2012 LabVIEW Tools Network Award Categories:

  - Test
  - Embedded Monitoring & Control
  - VI Library
  - Platform Extension
  - Most Innovative
  - Community Choice

Eligibility

Submissions must be:

1. The product must be based on NI technology and complementary to the LabVIEW platform.
2. The product must meet the Compatible with LabVIEW guidelines. ( See Details )
3. The product can be any of the following:
   Driver, toolkit, utility, software bridge interfacing LabVIEW to another software tool, set of UI controls, reuse library, code reference architecture/template, FPGA IP, or stand-alone application.
4. The submission must be received by June 1, 2012

See last year's winners.

For questions, contact labviewtoolsnetwork@ni.com.

> Nominate a Product Now <

Hello!

As you know, the Add-On Dev Center is a location dedicated to providing resources for developing LabVIEW tools and full products. One common goal is to take those finished products and put them on the LabVIEW Tools Network. This allows us to grow the LabVIEW ecosystem, provide LabVIEW users with a single location to find high quality LabVIEW-based software, and helps our product partners gain access to new markets. But there has been some confusion from the many names we have for our resources and programs. So in an effort to clarify the connection between our programs, we are bringing them all under the LabVIEW Tools Network name. So from now on, the Add-On Dev Center will be known as the LabVIEW Tools Network Developer Center.

A couple things to note:

1. All of your links are preserved. The rename should not affect the location of our online resources. Your bookmarks are still accurate.
2. You can now reach the LabVIEW Tools Network Developer Center at a new simpler URL: ni.com/devcenter.

We are always looking for ways to improve the LabVIEW Tools Network experience. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know! This includes requests for additional technical documents on the LabVIEW Tools Network Developer Center or even if you would like to get more involved and contribute something yourself. You can reach us at labviewpartnerprogram@ni.com.

Regards and happy coding,

Will Schoettler

LabVIEW Tools Network Product Manager

When developing a new version of an API, have you ever wanted to change a connector pane, but were worried about backwards compatibility for existing users or customers?  Here is one idea to solve this problem.

When changing the terminal assignment of an icon, you can maintain backwards compatibility by creating a wrapper around the existing function with the new terminal assignment and replacing the old function in your palette with the new VI.  Your old function should then be included under your source code directory (in \vi.lib\).  This ensures existing users' code will still locate the dependency after upgrading, but new users and new code can utilize the new VI and terminal assignment.

To demonstrate, take the fictitious example of an OpenG function where the 'dup VI reference' terminal is in a location other than the recommended 'reference' wire location in the top left & right terminals:

If a developer were to release an update where they had modified the terminal location to set it to the recommended top-right terminal, the old VI would be broken:

Now, if instead the developer were to create a wrapper around this function with the correct assignment and replace the palette entry with the new wrapper VI, old applications will still work and new applications can make use of the new assignment:

Notice, you can also edit the icon for the old version to indicate the function was deprecated.  We recommend documenting this in your upgrade notes and VI description for the old function so users know why the change was made and realize it will not negatively impact execution if left as is.

That's all there is to it!

One caveat to note: the new VI will need to have a different filename from the old one, but you can keep the same name in the palette.

For help re-packaging the new API using VI Package Manager, click here.

For help customizing palettes with VI Pakcage Manager, click here.

Wouldn't it be nice if, while building a package for your fancy new add-on, you could create a custom palette for your VIs without having to use the LabVIEW Palette Editor?  Well, with VI Package Manager from JKI, you can!  A new ADC document details the process to build a palette for your add-on in VI Package Manager.  Features include:

• Ability to create a custom category or use a current category
• Automatic creation of MNU files
• Drag and drop ordering and grouping of VIs
• Create submenus and icons
• All files get copied to the correct location when the user installs your add-on

All the juicy details are located here:

https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-20787

The LabVIEW 2012 platform beta program is open for enrollment and there are some exciting features for partners to check out!  I encourage you to follow-up on the invitation below:

You are invited to register for participation in the LabVIEW 2012 Platform beta program. You can register by visiting http://www.ni.com/beta and selecting "LabVIEW 2012 Platform" from the list of beta programs.  Please be sure and enter your complete address information in Western characters.  All customers outside the United States will have to pass Export Compliance as defined here. Please complete the profile questions to help us understand your experience and use cases with LabVIEW.  Make sure you agree to the T&C of the beta program so that you can complete your registration. After you register, please be patient for the beta coordinators to process your application.  You will be notified once you have been approved. Registration does not necessarily guarantee you a position in the beta program.  Determination of acceptance into the program is up to the sole discretion of National Instruments. We will have a private section of the Discussion Forums on NI Developer's Exchange set up for beta users to discuss the beta version of the LabVIEW 2012 Platform. We eagerly await your registration.  Thank you for your invaluable help in assisting us design and test LabVIEW.

(http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Announcing-the-LabVIEW-2012-Platform-Beta-Program/td-p/1859557)

-bob

Today I write to tell you about a new initiative on the LAVA community to bring tools from the LAVA Code Repository over to the LabVIEW Tools Network, codenamed Team LAVA.  The goal is to create a team of LAVA Virtual Developers who will work together to help each other get their own packages certified and published on the LabVIEW Tools Network under the LAVA name.

I have been working with LabVIEW Champion Jonathon Green (aka JGCode) over the past few months to get this project going.  Along with the help of Ton Plomp and François Normandin, we have already released two tools, Code Capture Tool and Rename LVOOP Labels, and have a few more in the pipeline.

For those of you who do not know, the LAVA Forums (LabVIEW Advanced Virtual Architects) is an external community of LabVIEW developers dedicated to advanced development in LabVIEW.  Over the years, LAVA developers have created many useful code libraries and development tools which are hosted on the LAVA Code Repository. 

For more information or to get involved with this initiative, please check out the Team LAVA Blog.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

We typically use this blog for posts related to LabVIEW Partner Program business, including changes to our programs and for tips & guidance from the Marketing wizards in our group.  After a recent return to using Firefox (back from Google Chrome), I was pointed to several useful Add-ons to Firefox (Adblock Plus and FireFTP) and decided I'd post a blog entry to share a bit about a tool I find very useful on a day-to-day basis, Dropbox.

What is Dropbox?

Think of Dropbox as a shared folder on your PC. 

The files in your Dropbox folder are automatically backed up to Dropbox servers in the cloud.

You then have access to your files from:

• any PC you configure as a client (easy to do, you run an installer and provide your Dropbox account login)
• your iPhone or other mobile phone with a supported client
• through your secure login on the Dropbox website

Why does this matter?

Let me show you the features I find most useful in Dropbox and how I take advantage of them.

File Sharing

Dropbox makes sharing files across multiple systems very easy by automatically backing up files from your system to Dropbox servers in the cloud and then pushing updates down to PCs you've configured as clients.  I use this to sync my code across multiple development machines (at work or at home) and to virtual machines and PCs used for testing.  I've found I no longer rely on my USB flash drive and have since repurposed it as a Linux/RT boot drive.

Sharing files among users is another feature of Dropbox.  I configured this through the Dropbox website and it allows me to share files with other Dropbox users.  Every time a file is added or updated, everybody in my group share is updated and notified!  It's like a network share that doesn't require IT to configure it for you!  Just be sure to keep confidential files off of your Dropbox share -- I know it's tempting, but your organization may not appreciate it!

I've also been using Dropbox for public file sharing of pictures and other documents.  I've been on a mission lately to collect articles, pictures and letters about my grandfather's time as a POW in WWII -- it's a great story, be sure to ask me to tell it during NIWeek next year!  Anyway, I wanted to share the documents and images I've compiled, scanned, etc. with my family, who don't have Dropbox installed on their computers.  I found sharing these files is as easy as dropping them into a folder marked as a 'public share' and emailing out a link.  (This is also a useful feature when "supporting" the family with PC issues.)

Backups

The files synced to your Dropbox account on the cloud are not only encrypted during transfer, but Dropbox also maintains a backup of all of your files and this includes revisions of files (I believe it is a 1 month history).  I was recently working on a utility to view & update the VI properties for a folder of VIs from the same dialog window.  At one point I decided to test a feature on a directory containing an API I've been working on (JSON parsing in LabVIEW) and discovered I'd named every control and indicator in my API as 'error in (no error)'!  Similar to a source code control utility, Dropbox allowed me to restore my API to an earlier revision and override the changes introduced by my bug, problem solved.

Storing files in the cloud was also very helpful when battling with a Solid-State Drive company for the past 8 months -- to make a long story short, our team purchased SSDs which proved to brick themselves by entering a "panic" state when resuming our laptops from sleep.  If we had not stored backups in the Dropbox cloud, much of our data would have been lost...several times over!

Mobile Access

I mentioned accessing files from other PCs I've configured as clients and sharing files with other Dropbox users (or public sharing).  One other useful feature is to access your Dropbox folder from mobile devices (I use my iPhone) and through the Dropbox website from machines without a Dropbox client.  Never again will I be caught with a dead laptop battery, no charger, and no access to my PowerPoint slides!

Try it out!

A 2GB account is free and you can get started with this link or by going to Dropbox.com to register: http://db.tt/nXmzcSN (I should note -- by using the link to the left, you and I both get a 500mb increase in capacity! This is a perk Dropbox offers for referring others ).

What tools or add-ons do you find useful?

For this Part II blog post on Market Validation, I will lay out a spectrum of best practices and tools that can be used for market validation.  To get started, let's look at relative costs associated with each of these tools, because you will ultimately need to make trade-offs based on your time/budget.  The red boxes represent secondary market research, which while important, is generic market data that most people (including your competitors) will also have access to.  The blue boxes represent primary market research, which is proprietary domain knowledge that you will create as you better understand the target customer. 

Before going further, let's recall once again why market validation is so important.  The relative costs of doing market validation, are dwarfed in comparison to the cost of NOT doing market validation and building a product that is destined to fail.  It's much cheaper to listen to customers before you build the product, especially if they are telling you that your product idea is not that great. 

Now let's look at each of these tools in more detail.

Secondary Market Research (Generic information)

Secondary market research is a great place to start, and can quickly help you determine the market size and competitive landscape.  I use the following two types regularly:

Market Research Reports.  At NI, we purchases various market research reports in the industries that we operate, they usually cost a few thousand dollars a piece.  You can typically secure the abstract page free of charge, which contains high-level information.  Example companies that offer market research in the high-tech space include Forrester Research, Gartner, EETimes, Frost & Sullivan, VDC, Prime Data, Aberdeen, and many more. 

Publically Available Financials. All publically traded companies (and some privately held companies) have financial information available that you can use to do a "market build-up" and come up with your own projected market size.  What's great about this, is it can be done free of charge.  One of my favorite sites for financial information is ycharts.com, you can dive in by industry and sector. 

Primary Market Research (Proprietary Research for your Product)

The purpose of primary market research tools when doing market validation, is to go beyond the general market data and really understand the customer's needs.  The outcome of this step will help shape your product offering.  Here's a few of the tools I use for market validation, it's not an exhaustive list but I find these to offer a good variety.  Note that each of these have their own tradeoffs. 

Industry Conferences.  You need to get plugged into the market and the best way to do that is attend a conference that specialized in that area.   The primary goal is to make contacts and learn best practices to go deeper with your market validation.   A follow-up activity would be 1-1 interviews with key contacts you meet at the conferences. 

LinkedIn Groups.   This is an inexpensive time investment to get started, and it's free of charge.  Just like attending an industry conference, LinkedIn can help you find experts in your field, and you can use the Groups on LinkedIn to participate in conversations.  The downside is, it still takes work to get something out of this, and I find the face-to-face interactions to be more effective than online mediums. 

Surveys.  If you have a list of contacts that you can reach out to, online surveys can help you collect information efficiently and at a low cost.  I personally use jotform.com as my tool of choice, but there are plenty of options out there.  Be careful with surveys to not ask leading questions, and also keep in mind a survey is not nearly as powerful as a 1-1 conversation. 

Phone Interviews.  Phone interviews are more time consuming than surveys, but also much more powerful.   If someone is willing to spend 30-60 minutes on the phone, that is a pretty good indicator that they are feeling some pain with their current product -- and presumably your product could address that.  The rule of thumb from experts, is to talk to at least 100 people when doing your market validation.

Focus Groups.  Focus Groups are more challenging to pull off logistically, because you'll need a team to execute this.  This is something you can outsource, but they can be expensive.  The results can be very effective though, because you are bringing together a sample group of your target audience and getting in-depth discussions led by a moderator.

Customer Visits.  This is my favorite activity when doing market validation, because you gain tremendous insight by going on-site to a customer and learning about his or her challenges.  A popular book at NI that many of the product managers read, is called "Customer Visits: Building a Better Product Focus, by Edward McQuarrie".  It really offers a "recipe" for how to apply customer visits to gain market insight.  The downside is, if you are a new player in the market, you don't have any existing customers to go and visit. 

Expert Opinion.   My last recommendation is to speak with the experts.  This may also be the most challenging and cost prohibitive activity.  For example, a business tycoon such as T. Boone Pickens may require upwards of $25K for a discussion on energy.   However, in many cases you can get response from an expert without paying a speaking fee -- so don't be discouraged.  I've reached out to experts via email (or on their blog) and had some success with getting responses.   Also, if you aware of a speaking engagement that the expert is delivering, many times experts will stick around and answer questions after the session.

Conclusions

Consider using a range of tools for both secondary and primary research when doing your market validation. 

Secondary market research key points:

• Includes:  Market Research Reports, Publically Available Financials
• Can be easy to access
• Contains general market information
• Generic in nature (available to anyone)
• Can be paid (Market Research Reports) or free (Publically Available Financials)

Primary market research key points: 

• Includes: Customer Visits, Phone Interviews, Expert Opinions, Focus Groups, LinkedIn Group discussions, Survey, Industry Conferences
• Represents your proprietary research
• Can shape your product design
• Requires significant time investment, but is well worth it
• Rule of thumb: Experts recommend you talk to at least 100 customers when developing a new product

To wrap up, remember that perhaps the best return on your investment will be the times when market validation helps you realize that the product idea isn't that great.  It's 10 times cheaper to find out a product will fail, before you build it, then going through with the product launch and then have it flop in the market.

When creating a new product or add-on tool, there are many challenges to consider, like determining features, distribution channels, and pricing. But often the biggest challenge is coming up with the perfect name -- and that challenge can be even greater if you’re naming a partner product.

Let’s break down the naming process a bit and apply NI’s naming strategy to give you an example of putting a naming theory into practice. So what goes into selecting a good product name? The first thing to settle on is a naming convention. Ideally this is done before you name your first product, but it’s never too late to put best practices in place.

Your primary consideration here is determining how much time and money you have, and want to spend on creating awareness for your name.

• If you have an ample marketing budget, you can go with a fanciful name -- a made-up name like Xerox or Motiva.
• If you have a more modest budget, a descriptive name like Data Acquisition Express will get you easier awareness.
• If you select a fanciful name, you may want to consider registering it as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• If you go with a descriptive name, you likely will not be granted trademark rights, as descriptive names are deemed generic and are open to anyone to use.
• At NI, we have National Instruments and NI trademarked as well as our software and hardware platform names. To see the complete list of NI trademarks, visit ni.com/trademarks.

Other product naming considerations include, whether or not to include your corporate brand as part of the naming convention or to include model numbers for hardware products and version numbers for software products. Locking in a naming convention and then consistently sticking to it is a product naming best practice.

At National Instruments, in most cases, we lead with NI because it’s our corporate brand, and has broad awareness and a positive reputation for delivering high-quality, innovative software and hardware products. Then we follow it with the software or hardware platform name, and then a descriptor/descriptive phrase of what the product does. We include a year distinction for software versions and a shortened NI hardware platform acronym or industry-standard bus name with a hyphen and four-digit model number for hardware products.

Software Naming Convention Examples:

NI LabVIEW Database Connectivity Toolkit

NI LabVIEW 2011

Hardware Naming Convention Examples:

NI CompactRIO Real-Time Controllers

NI cRIO-9012

NI USB-8452

After you have completed the steps above, you may face an additional challenge of incorporating a third-party corporate and/or product name into your product name -- i.e. partner product naming. This is where we think you’ll appreciate some guidance from NI on how to properly include an NI product name or trademark as part of your product name.

The two main guidelines are:

1. Do not incorporate or include National Instruments trademarks into your company name, product name, domain name, or in the name of your service.
2. Ensure your product name is not confusingly similar to any of National Instruments trademarks.

Clear as mud, right? OK, now let’s break this down with a hypothetical naming scenario. Let’s say I have a company named FDB that is an NI Alliance Partner; and here at FDB, I’ve created an add-on tool that is Compatible with LabVIEW and that brews the ultimate beer. Clearly the perfect name for my add-on tool is LabBREW. It describes the product in someway (BREW) and also creates easy alignment with NI LabVIEW. Genius! Right?

So wait, what was the number two guideline again?

Although LabBREW may be a cool, fun name, trademark laws and industry-standard best practices say it’s not so genius. And here’s why. Combining parts or the whole of a trademarked name can create customer confusion on which company owns, supports, and/or is responsible for the product. Is LabBREW an NI product? If so why is a company named FDB selling it? If it breaks, or if the beer I brew with it tastes bad, do I call FDB or NI? You now can see how a customer may potentially be confused, and the possible impact to either FDB or NI that could result from this confusion.

So if I was at FDB, what could I name my product that would fit these two guidelines? One possibility might be: FDB Brew Right Add-on for NI LabVIEW. I know what you’re thinking. It’s long, it doesn’t roll off the tongue like LabBREW. But, it does provide clarity on who the product is from (FDB); what the product is (Add-on for NI LabVIEW); and what it does (Brew Right).  When given the choice between short and confusing vs. long and descriptive, NI chooses long and descriptive, and believes the trade-off to ensuring a strong brand, protecting our trademark rights to LabVIEW, and ensuring customer clarity are well worth it in the long run.

NI has a large network of developers like you, creating products that work with, or are compatible with, NI trademarked products like LabVIEW. The synergy between products creates a win/win between partner products and NI products. Help us help you market and make your product successful while ensuring that your product’s name complies with these guidelines.

Happy product naming, and this brew’s for you!

by Lee Chapman, NI Brand Policy Manager

If you are reading this blog, you probably already know that the LabVIEW Partner Program has created the Add-on Dev Center, Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit,and the LabVIEW APIs Communities to be THE go-to resource for all technical content that an LabVIEW Add-on developer needs.  From tutorials to examples to videos, we have gathered tons of information from our technical and marketing team in one place for new and experienced developers to help make the best product possible.  However as the new product release cycle and year start to ramp up, we want to make sure that we are continuously adding new and relevant information to our database.  So I ask this to you, the add-on developers of the world: What can we do to make sure that the ADC continues to be the resource that it has been?

1. What content would you like to see here to learn more about LabVIEW?
2. How can we better present ADC content?
3. What topics are you interested in learning about?
4. How can WE make YOU the best LabVIEW developer possible thus making your product even more AWESOME that it already is?

This is your chance to give us your feedback and tell us exactly how we can shape this Community group to fit your needs.  Please give us any suggestion, either big or small.  You can drop a note on this Blog post, or send a more private email to labviewpartnerprogram@ni.com and we'll address as many of the requests as we can.

Thanks for your help,

The LabVIEW Partner Program team

If you are reading this blog, you probably already know that the LabVIEW Partner Program has created the Add-on Dev Center, Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit,and the LabVIEW APIs Communities to be THE go-to resource for all technical content that an LabVIEW Add-on developer needs.  From tutorials to examples to videos, we have gathered tons of information from our technical and marketing team in one place for new and experienced developers to help make the best product possible.  However as the new product release cycle and year start to ramp up, we want to make sure that we are continuously adding new and relevant information to our database.  So I ask this to you, the add-on developers of the world: What can we do to make sure that the ADC continues to be the resource that it has been?

1. What content would you like to see here to learn more about LabVIEW?
2. How can we better present ADC content?
3. What topics are you interested in learning about?
4. How can WE make YOU the best LabVIEW developer possible thus making your product even more AWESOME that it already is?

This is your chance to give us your feedback and tell us exactly how we can shape this Community group to fit your needs.  Please give us any suggestion, either big or small.  You can drop a note on this Blog post, or send a more private email to labviewpartnerprogram@ni.com and we'll address as many of the requests as we can.

Thanks for your help,

The LabVIEW Partner Program team

At NI Alliance Day earlier this year, the partner team at NI hosted a slew of both technical and business sessions for our partners.  One session for LabVIEW developers was called “The Addressable Market for LabVIEW Add-ons”, where we shared some adoption data for the LabVIEW Tools Network.  Due to the innovation from our partners who are using LabVIEW in some pretty interesting and exciting ways, this online marketplace continues to see more than 2X growth in both web traffic and downloads.  In addition to all the new partner products, there’s also been some great work by the LabVIEW R&D team to enable hooks into LabVIEW itself through APIs, which contributes to this growth in LabVIEW Add-ons by allowing more places for developers to extend the environment.

The question I get asked all the time, is "Should I build this product?"  And going back to Alliance Day, there was a critical topic that we didn’t get into during the sessions  – Market Validation. This topic is critical for every product company to understand, and it’s the motivation for this blogpost. If the market validation stage of product development is overlooked, the success of your product launch is left to chance.  I’m really interested to hear your personal experiences with market validation, so drop me a comment below or shoot me an email at jeff.meisel(at)ni.com with what has worked for you. During this post I’ll share some simple things that I've learned along the way when performing market validation. 

First, consider the analogy where you are captain of a ship planning a trip in unknown waters with treacherous conditions.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a strong plan in place, and understand as much as possible about what lies ahead?   If you talk to the local fishermen and they aren’t going out to sea, that tells you an important piece of information.  Similarly, if you check the weather information, and realize a storm is coming – you may decide that leaving shore is not the right decision.  Now, it doesn’t mean that you have to cancel the trip entirely.  One possibility is to change the timing of departure or reroute your travel path.  Both options are better than going into the oncoming storm.  And if you lose some money by scrapping your original plan and creating a new one, well at least you didn’t lose your entire ship or put yourself in harm’s way.  The same goes for new product development.  Through market validation, a systemic approach can be used to evaluate market opportunities before investments are made.  If the product is a bad idea, it’s good to know that early. 

Basic Guidelines for Market Validation

Rob Adams, author of “If you Build it Will They Come?” provides some good insight into some basic guidelines.  His book is a quick read and Adams offers a blueprint for how to perform market validation.  For example, one rule of thumb is that you'll need to allocate 10 percent of development budget to Market Validation.   Why?  If the product isn't going to work,  it’s better know with a 10 percent investment versus 100 percent investment. 

Three critical questions to consider when applying market validation in evaluating a new product launch are:

1. Is there a clearly defined need?
2. Can you deliver the right product to meet that need?
3. Are customers willing to pay?
   

The following diagram shows a basic view of market validation, which we can expand further in future discussions:

Talk to People, Rinse, Repeat

Wrapping it all together

If you’re not willing to invest the time in doing market validation, that’s a red flag and illustrates that it may not be a good idea to build the product in the first place.  In addition, if you don’t know if there is a market need for your product, what the right features are, or if customers will pay -- don’t build it.  Or at a minimum go back to the drawing board before proceeding. For example, the pricing model is something that you can tweak in order to see if customers would be willing to pay under different terms.   But the question “Is there a need?” is something you can’t get around – so always start there first. 

In a future Part II blog post, we’ll look at some best practices on how to perform Market Validation for your product.    As mentioned, feel free to email me some of your strategies for market validation – I’d love to learn about them.

More Resources:

LabVIEW Tools Network

NI Alliance Partner Network

References:

Book Reference - Rob Adams "If You Build it Will They Come?"

There is a way to build add-ons that plug directly into the LabVIEW project window. Using LabVIEW Project Providers, your add-on can integrate into the project and add new menus, toolbars, right click menus and do much more:

1. Add new menu options

2. Add new toolbar buttons to Project Explorer window

3. Add right click pop-up menu options

4. Modify the icons in the project tree

5. Customize the double-click behavior of any item in the LabVIEW project

6. Add new items to the project tree

To get a better idea of what YOUR add-on can do with project providers look at some existing project providers from National Instruments:

1. LabVIEW Source Control

2. LabVIEW VI Analyzer Toolkit

3. Build Specifications: Application Builder, Source Distribution, and Web Services

For more information on building provider based add-ons, please contact the LabVIEW Partner Program Team

NIWeek 2011 has come and gone and it was a great success.  The LabVIEW Partner Program and the LabVIEW Tools Network specifically had some great announcements, releases and events that made it one of our best NIWeeks ever!  Hopefully we'll be able to top it for NIWeek 2012.

LabVIEW Tools Network Directly in LabVIEW 2011!

In LabVIEW 2011, there is now a "Find LabVIEW Add-Ons" link directly on the Getting Started window.  Clicking this link will open the Tools Network View of VI Package manager which provides LabVIEW users with a direct entry point to download and install add-ons, toolkits and LabVIEW applications directly from within the product.  The new Tools Network View was a great hit at NIWeek and was mentioned in 2 keynote presentations and multiple technical sessions throughout the week.  Let's all work together to drive traffic of the LabVIEW Tools Network by trying each other's products from the new VIPM LabVIEW Tools Network View!

Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit 2011 and the Standard Licensing Mode

This week we also launched the newest version of the LabVIEW Third Party Licensing & Activation Toolkit 2011.  This was a major release with the introduction of the Standard Licensing Mode for a quick, easy and FREE way to license your LabVIEW Toolkit directly in LabVIEW.  More details can be found at ni.com/licensingtoolkit

LabVIEW Add-On of the Year Awards 2011

The Add-on of the Year Awards was a huge success this year.  With over 75 partners and NI employees in attendance including the Father of LabVIEW himself, we were able to celebrate our 6 award winners, 7 Gold Products, 14 Silver Products and 17 Standard third party products.  More details can be found here

8 Partner-oriented Technical Sessions

The LabVIEW Partner Team gave 8 technical sessions specifically tailored for our add-on developers including "Create a Software Evaluation for your Product in 10 Minutes", "The Addressable Market for LabVIEW Add-ons", "Professionalize Your Add-on or App Best Practices: Documentation and Icons" and "Hands-On - How to Build a LabVIEW Add-on with VI Package Manager".  Great work team!

Over 75 products now available on the LabVIEW Tools Network and Counting!

There's not really any explanation needed for this one!  We just keep growing and growing.