User manual

UniversitàdegliStudidiCatania
IntroductiontoNILabVIEW
 IntroductiontoVirtualInstruments:FrontPanel
LabVIEW programs are called virtual instruments (VI) because their appearance and operation imitate physical instruments, such as
oscilloscopes and multimeters. Every VI uses functions that manipulate input from the user interface or other sources and display that
infromation or move to other file or other computers.
LabVIEW User Manual
AVIcontains thefollowing three components:
• Frontpanel– Serves as theuser interface
• Blockdiagram – Contains thegraphical sourcecode(Glanguage)that defines thefunctionality of theVI
• Icon andconnector panel– Identifies theVIsothat you canusetheVIinanother VI.AVIwithin another VI
is called subVI.AsubVI corresponds to asubroutineintext‐based programming languages.
You build thefront panel with controls
andindicators,which arethe
interactive inputandoutputterminals
of theVI,respectively.Controls are
knobs,push buttons,dials,andother
inputdevices.Indicators aregraphs,
LEDs,andother displays.Controls
simulateinstruments inputdevices
andsupply datato theblockdiagram of
theVI.Indicators simulateinstrument
outputdevices anddisplaydatathe
blockdiagram acquires orgenerates.
DIEEI