File Reader VI **new** 2004/06/22 09:56:23.054 GMT-5 2004/06/22 09:57:48.482 GMT-5 National Instruments certification@ni.com Malan Shiralkar mshiralkar05@hotmail.com Harika Basana ilsai@rice.edu Elizabeth Gregory lizzardg@rice.edu National Instruments certification@ni.com National Instruments LabVIEW exercise VI In this exercise, the objective is to build a VI that reads data from a file. Complete the following steps to build a VI that reads the file created previously and displays the information in a string indicator.

Front Panel Open a blank VI and build the front panel shown in using the file path control located on the Controls>>Text Controls palette and a string indicator located on the Controls>>Text Indicators palette.

Block Diagram Build the block diagram shown in .

Place the Open/Create/Replace File VI, located on the Functions>>All Functions>>File I/O palette, on the block diagram. This VI displays a dialog box that you use to open or create a file. Right-click the prompt input, select Create>>Constant from the shortcut menu, and type Select Filename in the constant. Right-click the function input, select Create>>Constant from the shortcut menu, and click the constant with the Operating tool to select open. Place the Read File function, located on the Functions>>All Functions>>File I/O palette, on the block diagram. This function reads count bytes of data from the file starting at the beginning of the file. Place the Close File function, located on the Functions>>All Functions>>File I/O palette, on the block diagram. This function closes the file. Place the Simple Error Handler VI, located on the Functions>>All Functions>>Time & Dialog palette, on the block diagram. This VI checks the error cluster and displays a dialog box if an error occurs. Complete the block diagram as shown in . Save the VI as File Reader.vi in the C:\Exercises\LabVIEW Basics I directory.

Run the VI Display the front panel and use the Operating tool to click the Browse button in the path control. Navigate to demofile.txt and click the Open or OK button. Run the VI. String Read from File displays the contents of the file. If time permits, complete the challenge step. Otherwise, save and close the VI.

Challenge Modify the VI so it parses the numeric value and displays the numeric value in a numeric indicator. After you finish, save and close the VI. Use the Match Pattern function to search for the first numeric character.