Why do "official" NXT blocks have to be password protected?

[Eagle 1]

Like everyone, I'm new to building NXT blocks with LabVIEW.  The projects we had in mind when we got LabVIEW were to combine and modify existing NXT-G blocks to make them more suitable for our purposes.  However, the first thing I learned was that the block diagrams to all of the existing blocks are password protected.  Therefore, instead of being able to take the easy approach of modify the work that has already been done, we have to start from scratch.  Does anyone know why NI won't let the public have access to the block diagrams?

[Riconquistiamola]

Hi Eagles Coach,

The existing NXT blocks contain several different VIs with proprietary software. Like any other software company, it is in National Instruments' best interest to protect the original source code the NXT software was built upon.

So, rather than leaving eager programmers such as yourself in the dark we created an NXT Toolkit which provides all NXT VIs not deemed proprietary. You have the means to create your own blocks while National Instruments keeps important software practices internal.

If you're looking for examples so you don't have to start from scratch, simply peruse the examples included with the Toolkit! C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 7.1\examples\NXTToolkit contains several relevant examples for just about any application, and if you hit any bumps just post to the discussion forum.

Cheers.

[John Field]

Hi Eagles Coach,

I'll chime in from the perspective of the development team.

The toolkit was developed after MINDSTORMS had already shipped. During the MINDSTORMS build process, we put a password on everything because while MINDSTORMS was built from a special version of LabVIEW 7.1, there are plenty of differences. In fact, some blocks that we built will crash LabVIEW 7.1.

Also, as we went through the MINDSTORMS development process, we continually improved the way that blocks are built. So, some of the 1.0 block implementations are not done the way that we build blocks anymore. These blocks aren't buggy in the software, but they don't use our recommended designs.

So, moving forward, perhaps we'll open up some of the diagrams (after polishing them for public viewing), but we'll have to weigh that against future bug fixes and features.

In the meantime, take a look at some of the blocks posted here or on nxtasy.org for examples of good coding style.

Thanks.

- john

[Ale914]

Hi,
any possibilities to see the code of the LabVIEW to NXT compiler? i think that this is a great work and may be usefull to the community on NXT developer.

Ciao

[Albert.Geven]

Hi Alessandro

You could look at the disaasembler, search on the lego site

[Ale914]

Hi Albert,
i know, but what i find very intresting is view the labview code that compile the VI for the NXT. i'm very curious to see it i guess that the compiler use a lot of labview scripting function so NI want to mantain it closed.

Ciao