User's Manual

Chapter 2 Lookout Basics
© National Instruments Corporation 2-3 Lookout Operator’s Manual
Opening a Process File
1. If you have a Lookout process file available, select the File»Open
menu item from the Lookout menu bar.
2. In the File name data field, enter the name of a Lookout process file
(they have a
.l4p file extension), or choose a process file from the list
and select OK.
If you select a valid process file, Lookout opens the file and immediately
begins executing the process.
When a process file opens, Lookout makes additional menu selections
available and displays control panels and the alarm window.
You can open and run as many process files at one time as you want in
Lookout, and close them individually or all together. While there is no
theoretical upper limit to how many process files you can run on one
computer, in practical terms you may begin to see degraded performance
with a very large number of processes, depending on your computer’s
hardware resources and other variables. Running multiple instances of
Lookout on one computer, or distributing Lookout processes on networked
computers can increase performance.
The Lookout Screen
Lookout first appears on your screen maximized, taking up the entire
screen.
Lookout has both edit and run modes. As an operator, you will be using
Lookout in Run mode only. Figure 2-1 shows a Lookout screen with
process in place in run mode.