I Find Your Lack of

Quick Drop LabVIEW

Programming Speed
Disturbing
Palettes StarWars.com

This presentation has lots of LabVIEW demos. Sit closer to the front if you can’t tell the difference between these:

Darren Nattinger
Principal Engineer, CLA
LabVIEW R&D

ni.com
Before we get started...
Download a copy of this presentation here:

bit.ly/labviewspeed
Before we get started...
Shout out to NI Discussion Forums users!

Thanks for helping me with my “binary search” coding challenge last year!

https://forums.ni.com/t5/BreakPoint/Mini-Coding-Challenge-Binary-Search-sort-of/td-p/3861555
Presentation Outline

ni.com
This presentation will NOT be:
 How to improve the runtime performance of your code
 I’m showing you how to write code faster (not write faster code)

 Cool plugins/tools/etc. that you can download

 Everything discussed in this presentation ships with LabVIEW
 Feel free to play along during my demos
 Quick, install LabVIEW 2019!

 How to implement your own efficiency features

 If you want to write your own features, see bit.ly/dnattlvhooks
This presentation will show you how to program faster by:
 Utilizing efficient Editing gestures

 Debugging more efficiently

 Using existing functionality that ships with LabVIEW

 Change your programming paradigms
 Don’t reinvent the wheel!

(New features in LabVIEW 2019 demonstrated throughout)

Editing

ni.com
Editing
 Making changes to a LabVIEW document
 VI, Project, Typedef, Library, Class, etc.
 Adding/removing/modifying/configuring things
 Three arenas in the LabVIEW environment where you make edits
Where do you make edits?
 Tree
 Project Explorer, Libraries, Classes
 Mouse actions in a hierarchy, primarily 1D movement with left and right-clicks
 Dialog
 VI Properties, Class Properties
 Mouse actions on a finite list of objects in a 2D space
 Canvas
 VI Block Diagram and VI Front Panel
 Concerted mouse and keyboard actions in an arbitrary 2D space

There’s not much we can do to make Tree and Dialog interactions more efficient.
Canvas, on the other hand...
 Canvas Edits - Demo
(there are summary slides after the demo)

ni.com
Demo Summary
 Super Quick Drop – click to drop!
 QD object shortcuts – Installed by default in LabVIEW 2016 and later
 Press Ctrl-Space, then...
 Ctrl-B – Set property/invoke node class
 Ctrl-Shift-B – Set property/invoke node property/method
 Including dotted properties in LabVIEW 2019
 Ctrl-W – wire multiple objects together
 Ctrl-Shift-W will also clean up the wired code
 Ctrl-I – insert an object on one or more wires
 Ctrl-Shift-I – smart insert a single object on multiple wires
 Ctrl-R – remove selected object(s) and rewire pass-through types
 Ctrl-P – replace one or more selected objects
 Ctrl-D – create controls/indicators (type ‘req’ for creation of required inputs only)
2019 Editing Enhancements - Demo

ni.com
Demo Summary
 Clean Up Front Panel (Ctrl-U) in LabVIEW 2019
 Ctrl-Click to swap conpane connections (then Ctrl-U to update panel again)
 Create options at the top of all terminal and wire right-clicks in LabVIEW 2019
 Instant access to constant/control/indicator for any data type on your diagram
 Might take some getting used to
 Give it some time (like you did with Auto Tool, Quick Drop, etc.)
 Give it more time
 Escape hatch for curmudgeons: PopupMenus.ElevateCreation=FALSE

Istockphoto.com
Debugging

ni.com
Debugging
 Most common debugging tools are Probes and Breakpoints

 These are temporary objects in our block diagrams

 Once debugging is complete, probes and breakpoints should go away

 We tend to get bogged down in right-click menus managing probes and

breakpoints

 There are more efficient editing gestures to deal with probes and breakpoints
Debugging - Demo

ni.com
Demo Summary
 Shift-Right-Click to bring up Tools Palette
 Shift-Tab to switch back to Auto Tool
 Edit > Remove Breakpoints from Hierarchy
 Ctrl-Shift-W to manage windows
 New debugging features in LabVIEW 2019
 History Probes
 Partial Execution Highlighting
Know your Tool Box!

ni.com
 There’s a lot to know about LabVIEW
 Every release includes new:
 VIs
 Functions
 Language Enhancements
 Editor Enhancements
 Read the Upgrade Notes when you install the latest version

2012 – Conditional Tunnels 2013 - #Bookmarks 2014 – Replace Case Selector 2015 – Remove Space

2016 – QD Obj Shortcuts 2017 – Stall Data Flow.vim 2018 – Ctrl-B/I/U

Demo – Good/better/best with new features

ni.com
Demo Summary
 Read the Upgrade Notes
 Sets and Maps in LabVIEW 2019
 New types for managing collections of data
 New Utility VIs in LabVIEW 2019
 Remove Duplicates from 1D Array.vim
 1D String Array to Delimited String.vi
 Delimited String to 1D String Array.vi
 Random Number (Range) VI
 I64, U64, DBL
 Create Directory Recursive.vi
 Create File and Containing Folders.vi
 Wait for Configured Network.vi
 Synchronize Data Flow.vim
Learn More about Sets and Maps tomorrow!

 “From Variant Attributes to Sets and Maps (New in 2019)”

 Tuesday, May 21st
 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
 Room 13B
 Christian Altenbach
Hidden Gems
 ni.com/hiddengems
 Unsupported (but useful) VIs that ship with LabVIEW
 Tools Network download to add hidden gems to Quick Drop/palettes
 Online discussion of new hidden gems in every LabVIEW release
 Don’t reinvent the wheel!
 Thanks for attending!
Quick Drop
Palettes

bit.ly/labviewspeed

StarWars.com

Use Quick Drop. Read the Upgrade Notes. Use more efficient programming techniques.

ni.com