Publish VI's

[Tyler_C]

Folks,

I'm in need of some advice. I'm finishing up my thesis and would like to document my LV programming (there's quite a bit, 60 VI's/Sub-VI's) and wanted to know what the best way to show this was (aside from screenshots of each individual VI). For some of the VI's, a screenshot would do, but other's I'm sure it would just confuse.  Any suggestions? 

Cheers,

Tyler 

[Tyler_C]

I've tried to edit the message to no avail. 

-1 for me posting on a topic I've since found after some more digging.     Documentation Protocol

If anyone has other suggestions, it would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Tyler 

[Cory_K]

What is your audience? If you show a bunch of screenshots of block diagrams to someone who doesnt know LabVIEW, they may appreciate the colors, but thats about it.

I would say a better suggestion would be some type of flow chart with explinations between each item.

Ex:
A (user interface) >> B (instrument initialization) >> C (data aquistion) >> D (data analysis)

This would be so they could get an idea of how everything worked together.

Then you can go into specifics and explain HOW each of the VIs worked.

Of course, this is all just IMHO.

[Tyler_C]

Yep, that's where I'm at right now. I've printed everything to HTML and have flow charts at the moment. The problem I'm running into is that several of my larger VI's look like they are being viewed from across the room. My audience is my thesis committee, some who have experience in LV and some who don't. The suggestion I've received from my peers (who are not versed in LV) is to go into sufficient detail where someone could replicate the programing in another environment.  Aside from glueing a USB drive to the document, I'm at a loss.  Thanks for the "IMHO"   

Tyler 

[Hornless.Rhino]

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Aside from glueing a USB drive to the document

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Perhaps just put a CD sleeve inside the back cover like I did with a thesis. Either one of the pre-sticky ones, or use some double sided tape. (Make sure to check whether you're allowed to first).

Doesn't really help if you're not allowed to though.

You could always split the vi up a bit using (just for the thesis) variable nodes or something to show across multiple pages where the various sections connect (like in street directories how it will say "map 34 connects along this edge" etc).

[Tyler_C]

I can't include any digital media, but that's a good idea to split it up for the purposes of the document and mapping it out. Excellent suggestion!

Thanks   😃

[johnsold]

If your diagrams look "like they are being viewed from across the room...", the diagram may be too big.  The generally accepted guideline is to keep the diagram to the size of one screen.  Even with a large screen a diagram will likely be readable when printed, if a bit small.

In your case you have a specific documentation requirement, so I would consider refactoring the code to fit panels and diagrams both on one screen and on one page.  There may be one or two exceptions where this might not be feasible.  The main user interface panel might need to match the screen size rather than the page size.  After being accustomed to working on large diagrams, this might take some effort, but it may be worth it to force yourself to modularize the code and to work within constraints which have nothing to do with the performance of the software. (Which, however, have a lot to do with your graduation!)

Lynn 

[Tyler_C]

Yeah, my early programming efforts were massive screens of wires...after a few years of experience I've learned the beauty of Sub-VI's and all the new stuff is like that.  =D   So, most of my problems are coming from the initial "learning" programming!