Where do i need to start?

[dhirah]

hye members,

i've been given a task to program using labview in order to debug a motorola microcontroller. The steps of debugging it is long and kind of complicated. So, i have to do a program and maybe with a single press of a bouton, all the steps can be done. can a program using labview able to search a file in the computer,open it, runs it? thanks !

dhirah

[Ray.R]

the only limit to what you can do with Labview is your imagination..  🙂

The best place to start is actually designing the software.  The same is true for any language.

Clearly define what you want to do.  Create BOTH a flow chart AND a state machine diagram.  Since LV follows dataflow (not sequences as in text languages), the events and data availability are very important, thus the state machine.  You can do a search for examples.

After you've defined the steps and possibly grouped them into individual functions, you can proceed with the coding.  You can also ask how to do individaul functions (typically called sub-vis).

RayR

[RavensFan]

LabVIEW can do just about anything you want it to.  Do you have a specific problem question?  Or have you never used LabVIEW and don't know how to begin programming with it?

If the latter, I would recommend looking at the online LabVIEW tutorials
LabVIEW Introduction Course - Three Hours
LabVIEW Introduction Course - Six Hours

[Ray.R]

If you are learning LV, you can also obtain an excellent book called "Labview for everyone". 🙂

Taking the courses offered by NI is one of the best way to learn.

This forum is also a very good way to get help.

[dhirah]

Hye JoeLabview,

Thanks for replying. Designing the software? meaning laying out the interface? is that what you meant? yeah i've done the flow chart but not the state of machine..

 can a program using labview able to search a file in the computer,open it, runs it? do you know where i can find those exemples? at least, i can get inspired by it coz right now i have no idea how to programme it.

thanks again for your help!

dhirah

[dhirah]

Hye Ravens Fan,

thanks for replying. Yeah i had looked over it last week. it has been 3 weeks i've started to get used to LV.

the problem is can a program using labview able to search a file in the computer,open it, runs it? do you have any exemple that i can look at it.

dhirah

[Ray.R]

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dhirah wrote:

can a program using labview able to search a file in the computer,open it, runs it? do you know where i can find those exemples? at least, i can get inspired by it coz right now i have no idea how to programme it.

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Absolutely.

Now, you may have to specify some parameters on how to search the file.  Can you elaborate and we can prepare an example?

When you say open it and run it, you do mean an executable, right?  If so, you may also want to specify any parameter, etc.

Also, if running an application, the way it is called may differ if it is a DOS executable, or a Windows application, or someting running on MAC or Linux OS.

Can you provide more details about this portion of your project?

RayR

[dhirah]

Hye JoeLabview,

Thanks for replying. Sorry for the late reply.Anyway about the project, yes it is an executable. And this file situated in the database(network) of this company. All i want to do is, whan i click somthing on the front panel, i want it to seach in and execute it. Once it has been done, it will close the window of the executable and displays a window saying 'Done' or something. That's just the first out of several part.Thanks again JoeLabView.

Dhirah

[Ray.R]

Hi Dhirah,

I just want to confirm if I understand the first part correctly.

>> You need to search and retrieve an executable from a database.  The executable will be downloaded (from the database) to the PC and then run.

If the above is correct, you will first need to setup the database access and create a VI to locate and retrieve the executable.  Is the executable zipped? 

I ask because some clients place items in the database as zipped, especially if there are support files that must accompany an application.

RayR