number pad control

[tetonedge]

I was wondering if anybody knew how or has a good numeric pad control or vi. I have a HMI and i need to put up a number pad and haven't quite figured it out. Thanks

[tst]

You basically just need a bunch of boolean buttons set as a keypad using a shift register to build the numeric string. There are several examples around (including in this site) if you will search for things like "virtual keypad".

[tetonedge]

Do you have any links, also is this possible without an event structure?

[tst]

Going to the top of the page, changing the search are to the DevZone and searching for "keypad labview" should yield some results.

This is definitely possible without an event structure (by using polling), but why do you want to do it without an event structure?

[tetonedge]

it is going to be used a sub vi that is called to the front and i have not had great luck with event structures doing that.

[Dennis_Knutson]

In your previous post where it was suggested you use an event structure, you used it incorrectly. You passed some front panel Booleans to a subVI with an event structure. The event structure is designed to respond to "user" events and since the event occured in the main, the subVI had nothing to respond to. In this case, you want to display the front panel of the subVI, have the user hit a few buttons, and have it return a number. This is the perfect situation for using an event structure.

[tst]

Well, that makes it even easier. I've done this both with and without an event structure and am regularly using the more recent version (the one with events).

Build the VI using events to get the key presses and build the string. Once you click your final OK button the string is output through the connector pane to the calling VI. Then you can use this subVI in as many places as you like. If you set the VI to show its FP when called and to be modal the user will have to get rid of this dialog before doing other things.

I would also suggest adding a Cancel and Backspace buttons to your keypad. It is my experience that they can be helpful.

To learn more about LabVIEW, I suggest you try searching this site and google for LabVIEW tutorials. Here and here are a couple you can start with and here are some tutorial videos. You can also contact your local NI office and join one of their courses.
In addition, I suggest you read the LabVIEW style guide and the LabVIEW user manual (Help>>Search the LabVIEW Bookshelf).

[Bob_Y.]

I would suggest starting with the Formula Express VI's configuration page at:  . . . \vi.lib\express\express arith-compare\FormulaConfig.llb\Configure Formula.vi
It has most of what you want plus more (that is fairly easy to strip out).

Hope that this helps,
Bob Young

[tetonedge]

thanks everybody, I think I have it figured out.

[tetonedge]

One more question. Is there a good way to have when a user clicks on a say a numeric control and will pop up another vi based on that mouse click? Thanks