LabVIEW programs are called virtual instruments, or
VIs, because their appearance and operation imitate
physical instruments, such as oscilloscopes and
multimeters. LabVIEW contains a comprehensive set of tools for
acquiring analyzing, displaying, and storing data, as well as
tools to help you troubleshoot your code.
LabVIEW VIs contain three components-the
front
panel, the
block diagram, and the
icon and
connector pane. This lesson
describes the front panel and the block diagram; refer to
Modular Programming for more information
about the icon and the connector pane.
In LabVIEW, you build a user interface, or front panel, with controls
and indicators. Controls are knobs, push buttons, dials, and
other input devices. Indicators are graphs, LEDs, and other
displays. After you build the user interface, you add code using
VIs and structures to control the front panel objects. The block
diagram contains this code. In some ways, the block diagram
resembles a flowchart.
Use LabVIEW to communicate with hardware such as data
acquisition, vision, and motion control devices, and GPIB, PXI,
VXI, RS-232, and RS-484 devices. LabVIEW also has built-in
features for connecting your application to the Web using the
LabVIEW Web Server and software standards such as TCP/IP
networking and ActiveX.
Using LabVIEW, you can create test and measurement, data
acquisitions, instrument control, datalogging, measurement
analysis, and report generation applications. You also can
create stand-alone executables and shared libraries, like DLLs,
because LabVIEW is a true 32-bit compiler.
"A full introductory course on programming with LabVIEW."