Including comments in SPC charts

[MarkfromSAGE]

I have recently bought the SPC toolkit for labView (Currently running LV7.1).  The toolkit is relatively easy to use, but I have a couple of requirements which it doesn't seem to accommodate which are normal SPC charting properties.

First, it would be nice to mark an out of control datapoint in a different color compared with the in control points.  I know that I can pull an array of out of control points out of the sub-vis, but for a shop floor operator it is much easier to see a different color point.

Second, I would like the ability to display comments which are associated with a particular datapoint.  One simple way to do this is to hover teh mouse over the point
and have a message box appear.  Another would be to click on the point and display a box.  I can't seem to find how to do either.

Any ideas?

Mark.

[unclebump]

Here is a way to do it with cursors on a graph. does the spc toolkit use picture charts or actual graphs and charts??

[broken link removed]

[MarkfromSAGE]

Thanks for the reply.  Unfortunately, I don't think this is going to do it.  I didn't explain my problem well enough.

I'm collecting SPC data, which are simply a list of numbers, or groups of numbers (1D or 2D arrays), and plotting them on a control chart (which is an x-y graph with some statistically calculated limits).  Each of the points may or may not have a comment associated with it.  This is stored (in my case) in a database with the data fields, the comments field, and a timestamp field.  In labview this would probably be an array of clusters. 

Each of the points may be in or out of control, showing the user whether or not they have a problem with the process they are monitoring.  This is calculated by the SPC functions at runtime, as it depends on the overall set of data.  (In SPC we are measuring the deviation of a measurement from a normal distribution, so one needs a number of measurements to decide whether a point is in or out of control, and that status could change as more measurements are added to the dataset.)

Now, the LabView SPC modules deal with the calculations very well, and also plot the charts nicely, except that I would like to be able to access any comments (which usually contain information regarding the process set-up, so any improvements in the process can be assigned to particular causes or changes observed by the operator) and assign them to a particular point on the chart.  This point is not static on the graph, as more points may be added, and so the comment needs to be somehow locked to a point.  Similar arguments apply to plotting the point in a different color, as an indication of an out of control point.

I looked at the example you suggested, and at the property nodes associated with XY graphs - but could not find anything which allowed me to associate anything with a particular point.

Hopefully, that explains my problem a little more clearly...

[unclebump]

I know you are using 7.1, but here is a new feature in labview 8.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/4A573AF6169D96928625706E0071B911 

[Ben]

I would recomend going with the annotations suggested by uncle.

They give you most of the functionality you are asking for "out-of-the-box'.

If you need to stay with LV 7.1 see this link

https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/How-do-I-remove-the-y-value-from-the-cursor-palette/m-p/225136?requ...

were we talk about hacking into the cursor pallette and CC posts some code demonstrating how to manipulate the cursors.

Both of the above methods LACKS the mouse over functionality you asked for.

THat functionality would have to be developed explicitly.

Ben