Since no serial logger application really include the features that I need in my work environment, I'm thinking about making a logging application in LabView that suits my needs. To put it simple, I want to log the bytes coming on a serial communication (RS232) link, and present them as HEX values in a windows. Also, I want to be able to perform some simple filtering, like inserting line break before or after certain bytes or combination of bytes.
I begun writing such an application in Java, but I later found out that both my choice of programming language and my method of logging and filtering the incoming data wasn't too well thought through. Therefore I want to do some more research before starting this. 🙂 So I'm wondering, is LabView suited for this kind of task? Initially, LabView seems to be perfect for this kind of task, when incorporating some RexExp functionality etc. But it would be great if you could give me a few ideas about what to do and definitely what absolutely NOT to do. 🙂
To begin with, my first requirement is to insert line breaks before or after receiving certain byte combinations. Therefore it could be an idea to just store the incoming data in a string indicator, and use a Match Pattern VI to insert a line break if the last X bytes match the given patterns. But eventually, it could be interesting to incorporate some filtering, to be able to either filter out certain byte combinations or filter out everything BUT other byte combinations. Is this possible to achieve real time, without destroying the received data? And finally, how about resource usage? It might be that I'd want to log over longer periods of time. Could a LabView logger cope with several MB or tenths of MB of data?
I'm greatful for all feedback! 🙂
