Which labview to buy?

[Invention1]

I am new to labview, but not to programming and instrument control in general.  I'd like some advice on which version of labview and which add-ons I need to buy.  Trying to set some budgets.

Here is what I want to accomplish: 

We will be creating some files that will run on a PC and control some processes.  The client is going to distribute the program and PC with thier product, maybe a few hundred of them a year. The user interface has to "look" like it came from the company, not from Labview or some other third party.  Company logos, custom screens, nothing that says "this is a cheapo interface hacked together out of someone else's stuff".

Q:  Does this mean I need the "Developer suite"?  That's some expensive stuff.  Can the Labview base product produce programs that can be distributed to many PCs without many Labview licenses?  Or is this only something that "Developer suite" can do?

We will be controlling some temperature control hardware.  We haven't totally focused on a hardware selection yet, but likely what it will be is a small PID controller module, with one temperature input and one output to cotrol a process.  We may use an ethernet connection to the hardware, or it may be a serial connection we haven't decided yet. 

During a process run, the PC will occasionally send it updates to its setpoint, and keep track of data from the process such as temperature readings or alarms.  Eventually the program will output to Excel for further analysis. 

Q: Do I need any add-on packages to accomplish any of these tasks?

A possible hardware package would be Omega's i-Series temperature controllers. There are several others that do similar tasks.

Q: is Labview overkill for this kind of applicaiton?

Help me decide which package is right for me so I can get it into the budget and get the boss to pay for it! 

[smercurio_fc]

Note: I can only give you a brief overview. You may find it advantageous to contact your local NI sales rep for more information.

Based on your description I would tell not to even bother with the Base version. You would need at least the "Full" version. However, you will also need the Application Builder so you can create an executable of your code. You can then install the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine (which is free) on the target machines.The main difference between the "Full" and "Professional" is that the "Professional" comes with the Application Builder. You have to buy this as extra ($999) for the "Full".

You mentioned PID, but you say the PID will be done in hardware, not software, so based on what you're saying I don't think you'd need the PID Control Toolkit.

As for the Excel stuff you could code this directly yourself or you can buy the Report Generation Toolkit for Microsoft Office ($529). There have been lots of posts in the LabVIEW forum on writing stuff out to Excel. There's also lots of examples in the Excel thread. Seasoned programmer may find that they can manage just fine without the Toolkit.

Now, as far as getting the "Professional" over the "Developer Suite", at this particular point in time, the "Developer Suite" is being heavily discounted so it's only $500 more than the "Professional". The "Developer Suite" includes a number of toolkits, such as the PID and Report Generaton Toolkit. So if you wanted to get te Report Toolkit, the cost of the "Professional" + the Report Toolkit would be the same as the "Developer Suite". At least for now.

Another thing to keep in mind is the maintenance cost (SSP). The maintenance cost for the Developer Suite will be more, obviously.

So, your choices are:

Full + Application Builder

Full + Applicaiton Builder + Report Toolkit

Professional

Professional + Report Toolkit

Developer Suite

As for the quesion "is Labview overkill for this kind of applicaiton?" ...  define overkill.   The application can be done in LabVIEW. Lots of professional stuff has been done in LabVIEW. Check out the UI Interest Group.

[Invention1]

As for the quesion "is Labview overkill for this kind of applicaiton?" ...  define overkill.   The application can be done in LabVIEW. Lots of professional stuff has been done in LabVIEW. Check out the UI Interest Group.

Overkill is development software that costs more than I need to spend.  I am sure Labview can do the job, but is it the most cost effective solution?

Hmm.  Here is a little history.  i used to use Labview's competitor, Testpoint.  Testpoint met all my requirements right out of the box, and was quite cost effective.  Several years ago, NI bought up the parent company to testpoint and killed the product off in order to create a monopoly on this niche market.  Thanks, NI, that really sucked.  It is still possible to buy computers that can run Testpoint applications, but they won't run on Vista or Windows 7 so thier days are numbered. I can still develop stuff on Testpoint, but that won't last more than a year or two before it goes the way of GWBasic and Fortan IV.  Shall I reward NI for their pirate ways and buy their product now?  Well, Microsoft killed my favorite word processor, and I still buy their stuff.  Life in the big league.

I could probably cobble something together in a more general purpose language, like Visual Basic or something like that.  Although I have used that language to develop applications, there would be something of a learning curve to get it to talk to hardware like a PID control module. Would that be a larger learning curve than learning Labview from scratch?  I dunno.

Apparently some of the iSeries controllers and others have GUIs that can be implemented on web pages.  Would this allow control of these devices without labview or anything else but configuration software?  Perhaps, but I am not familiar enough with them to be sure yet. Maybe I would have to suffer having someone else's logo on the interface, instead of a custom app that looks like it came from my client.  That wouldn't look good.  Do I know this for sure?  no.

I'm pretty confident that, if I purchased Labview it could easily talk to hardware devices and create the kind of app that I am looking for, and I'd be able to do it without lots of pain.  "Lightweight" would mean something less expensive that would do the job.  Obviously I am asking a biased audience, but perhaps there is more than one way to skin the cat.  Opinions? 

[JÞB]

Some things to consider: Service, Suport, Training, Community.

NI has IMHO done a great job with "after the sale" features.  My local NI rep is a phone call away,  the training is effective, service requests are handled with visability, and the Forums participants willingly share immense expertize!  The vast library of instrument drivers (and a true template of how to organize one) makes it almost too simple to wire a test application.

You will pay for these features in any IDE.  With LabVIEW its an up front cash transaction. With C++ or VB.NET its in pain and time on the back end.

[Sarah_Y]

Looks like you've been getting some good information here.  If you're interested, you can always call one of our technical sales reps at (888) 280-7645 and they would be more than happy to answer any broad or specific questions that you have!