Does anyone know of a 3rd party graphing tool that can talk to Labview, perhaps via active-x?

[Canyondude]

I need to create a bar graph with 256 programatically colored bars, and it is impractical to do this with the usual overlaid visible/invisible graphs. Intensity charts can only display integers.

[EdDickens]

MS Excel can be accessed through ActiveX.

NI also makes an analysis package called DIAdem. Much more powerful than Excel, maybe even more than you need, but might worth looking into.

Ed

[Wiebe@CARYA]

Hi,


Use a picture control. You have to program everything yourself, but you will
find it very flexible.

Regards,

Wiebe.

"Canyondude" wrote in message
news:5065000000080000003EE00000-1079395200000@exchange.ni.com...
> I need to create a bar graph with 256 programatically colored bars,
> and it is impractical to do this with the usual overlaid
> visible/invisible graphs. Intensity charts can only display integers.



[Attachment Bar Plot.vi, see below]

[Jeremy_L]

Hi Canyondude,

It depends on how much control you want over your graph. If you just want an easy and simple graph that you do not have to do much to, then go with MS Excel graphs via ActiveX. If you need something more powerful, then Diadem is a definite possibility. The bottom line is that depending on how much control you want, you can use any application that registers an ActiveX control in LabVIEW by placing down activeX objects, containers, or refnums. The last option would be to use a picture control if you would rather stay away from ActiveX. There is an example available that shows you how to make a bar graph on a picture control. Check it out herea>.

Jeremy L.
National Instruments

[Canyondude]

I do need some control, such as changing the axis values and the graph size.

I guess I should have mentioned that I need to update the graph in "real time", maybe 10 or 20 times per second. Also, this application will be compiled and distributed. I do not want to have to run Excel as a seperate graphing engine. I need something more integrated.

I have not looked at Diadem. It seems to be for final (static) reports. Can it do real time updates? Can its charts be integrated into a Labview vi?

As per your sugestions, I have been trying a picture control. I think this could work, though it is very complicated.

[Wiebe@CARYA]

"Canyondude" wrote in message
news:50650000000500000032A10100-1079395200000@exchange.ni.com...
> I do need some control, such as changing the axis values and the graph
> size.
>
> I guess I should have mentioned that I need to update the graph in
> "real time", maybe 10 or 20 times per second. Also, this application
> will be compiled and distributed. I do not want to have to run Excel
> as a seperate graphing engine. I need something more integrated.
>
> I have not looked at Diadem. It seems to be for final (static)
> reports. Can it do real time updates? Can its charts be integrated
> into a Labview vi?
>
> As per your sugestions, I have been trying a picture control. I think
> this could work, though it is very complicated
.

The picture control can be very complicated (if it is used for graphing).
Take a look at the Picture Plots functions in Graphics & Sound. They are
just normal VI's, used for custom graphing. You can reuse much code from
them, e.g. for making the scales. There are also tools to convert from mouse
coordinates to graph coordinates. Perhaps there is even a function that
almost does what you need. Create a copy, and just modify it for your needs.

Regards,

Wiebe.

[Steve Parus]

TeeChart Pro AX from Steema. Demo available. I've used it
extensively with Delphi, but have not tried it with LabVIEW.

http://www.steema.com/

[Jeremy_L]

Diadem is actually geared toward post-acquisition reports, but you can still do real time updates. The problem with this design is that you might not be able upgrade your graph fast enough because you are then going across application processes to pass data. This may be slow, especially if you are running a non-real time operating system. You will be then subjected to the operating system's scheduling procedures. There are VIs that are available on our website that enable you to integrate Diadem with LabVIEW if you prefer to use it.

Jeremy L.
National Instruments