LabVIEW
Need help understanding VI
dwoerner wrote:I need to create a human readable header file of the second header file, but I have little experience with LabVIEW and I don't understand whats going on this VI.
I don't blame you. The VIs are poorly written and not a good example of how to write good code. It seems that the "LoadHeader" VI simply opens the INI file and then calls the ViewFIFOSet VI with "action" set to "set". This subVI makes an attempt at reading the flattened string and converting it using the "ReadConfigClusterComplex" VI first. If this fails, then it resorts to using the "ReadConfigCuster" VI. Perhaps the cluster changed format over time? The read information is displayed on the front panel array of "FIFO Settings". The "ViewFIFOSet" VI seems to have been written with the intent of performing other operations, though it's not clear if these operation were finished, as some of the code looks like a dead end. It's not also not clear to me what the difference is between each of the 4 controls that are all called "FIFO Settings". There's an additional hidden indicator called "FIFO Settings (Array)". Of course, the visible array of "FIFO Settings" is also an array, so they must have had a "special" definition of array controls. 
Like I said, probably unfinished code.
The easiest way to create a human-readable version of a complex cluster like the "FIFO Settings" cluster is to use the Flatten to XML function. This is in the String -> XML palette. This will provide a human-readable XML file that uses the LabVIEW schema. A small sample of converting a single "FIFO Settings" cluster to a string looks like this:
<Cluster>
<Name>FIFO Settings</Name>
<NumElts>5</NumElts>
<Cluster>
<Name>Measurement</Name>
<NumElts>7</NumElts>
<SGL>
<Name>Binning (ms)</Name>
<Val>0.00000</Val>
</SGL>
<U16>
<Name>External Trigger Condition</Name>
<Val>0</Val>
</U16>
<U16>
<Name>Stop Condition:</Name>
As you can see, this is quite readable.
