What's New in LabVIEW SignalExpress

What's New in LabVIEW SignalExpress 3.0

LabVIEW SignalExpress 3.0 includes the following changes from LabVIEW SignalExpress 2.5.

Environment Enhancements

LabVIEW SignalExpress 3.0 includes the following environment enhancements.

General Environment Enhancements

The LabVIEW SignalExpress environment includes the following general enhancements:

• Drag-and-drop layout arrangement—You can use drag-and-drop functionality to customize the appearance of LabVIEW SignalExpress by moving views, including the Project View, Channel View, context help, and tabs.
• Auto hide functionality—You can specify to hide views when you move the cursor out of the view.

Data View Tab Enhancements

The Data View tab includes the following enhancements:

• Display properties—You can use the Display Properties dialog box to configure properties for all types of displays. This dialog box replaces the Waveform Graph Properties dialog box in LabVIEW SignalExpress 2.5 and earlier. The display properties you can configure depend on the format of the display and can include titles, format and precision, plots, scales, cursors, signal order, and advanced settings. Click the Properties button on the Data View tab or right-click a display and select Properties from the shortcut menu to display the Display Properties dialog box.
• Display titles—Displays appear with titles by default. You can use the Title page of the Display Properties dialog box to edit or hide display titles.
• Graph palette—The graph palette replaces the zoom buttons on graph displays. The graph palette also appears with graphs you add to the Project Documentation tab.
• Cursor enhancements—You can link cursors on the same display or between displays, export measurement values from the cursor legend to the Project View so you can use the value as a step input, and bind cursor measurement values to step parameters so the parameter to which you bind a cursor measurement updates to use that value. You also can define a peak threshold and width for each cursor on a display. Use the Cursors page of the Display Properties dialog box to configure cursors.

Project View Enhancements

In LabVIEW SignalExpress 3.0, the Project View displays steps enclosed in execution loops. An execution loop encloses the steps in an execution group, which is a group of steps that send signals to and receive signals from each other. If you add a step that does not receive a signal from previous steps, the new step appears enclosed in a new execution loop. Steps in separate execution groups do not send signals to or receive signals from each other when you run the project. Execution loops replace the execution separators that appear in LabVIEW SignalExpress 2.5 and earlier.

Channel View Enhancements

The Channel View includes the following enhancements:

• Shared Variables mode—You can use the Channel View to view shared variables on the local machine or the local network. Select Shared Variables from the View pull-down menu at the top of the Channel View to display the available shared variables. When you place a checkmark in the Acquire checkbox for a shared variable, LabVIEW SignalExpress automatically configures a Read Shared Variables step and adds the step to the Project View.
• Import Channel View from Excel—If you export the contents of the Channel View to Microsoft Excel, you can import the contents of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet back into the Channel View. Use this feature to share Channel View configurations across projects or to update the Channel View if you modify the information in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Project Documentation Tab Enhancements

The Project Documentation tab includes the following enhancements:

• The following toolbar buttons appear on the tab: Print Documentation, Select Font, Left, Centered, and Right. Use these buttons to print the contents of the tab, configure font settings, and set paragraph alignment.
• You can undo or redo operations on the tab using the Edit menu or keyboard shortcuts.
• Objects you place on the tab appear with handles you can use to resize the object.
• You can select to view the contents of the tab as they appear on a printed page or a Web page using the Documentation menu.

Run Mode Enhancements

You can configure LabVIEW SignalExpress to run a project for a number of iterations you specify or for an amount of time you specify. By default, LabVIEW SignalExpress runs projects continuously when you click the Run button. Click the down arrow on the Run button and select Run Continuously, Run Once, or Configure Run to specify the run mode you want to use. You also can access run mode configuration options from the Operate menu.

When you select Configure Run, the Configure Run dialog box appears. Use this dialog box to specify a number of iterations or a time in seconds for which you want to run the project. You also can specify whether to create a snapshot of all the signals in the project when the project finishes running. When you save a project, LabVIEW SignalExpress also saves the run mode configuration.

Note  In a Playback work area, you only can run projects continuously.

Logging Enhancements

LabVIEW SignalExpress 3.0 includes the following data logging enhancements.

Event Detection

Use the Events page of the Recording Options tab to configure events that you want LabVIEW SignalExpress to acknowledge during logging. You can configure keystroke events or signal-based events. LabVIEW SignalExpress saves events in the log file, and you can specify an annotation to appear where the event occurs on the graph of the logged signal. You also can specify to prompt the user to enter an annotation when a keystroke event occurs.

Right-click a signal in the Logged Data window and select Show Alarms and Events from the shortcut menu to display a record of all the events and alarms that occurred during logging.

Start and Stop Condition Enhancements

Use the Start Conditions and Stop Conditions pages of the Recording Options tab to configure start and stop conditions. The Start Conditions and Stop Conditions pages include the following new or enhanced options:

• Condition type—You can specify Software trigger as a start or stop condition.
• Condition logic—If you specify multiple start or stop conditions, you also can specify the logic LabVIEW SignalExpress uses to process the conditions. You can acknowledge the start or stop conditions when all conditions occur, when one condition occurs, or when all the conditions occur in a specific order.
• Count—You can specify the number of times a start or stop condition must occur before LabVIEW SignalExpress acknowledges the start or stop condition.
• Schedule start time—You can configure repeating Date/Time start conditions. You can schedule LabVIEW SignalExpress to start logging weekly, daily, hourly, in smaller time increments, or on a custom schedule you specify.
• Restart behavior—You can configure how many times LabVIEW SignalExpress restarts logging after start and stop conditions occur. You can configure logging to restart a number of times you specify or until a time and date you specify. You also can specify whether to save logged data in the same log file or in a new file after a restart occurs.
• Holdoff—You can specify an amount of time that LabVIEW SignalExpress waits after a start or stop condition occurs before acknowledging a new start or stop condition.
• Post-stop condition duration—You can specify a number of seconds of data to include in a log file after a stop condition occurs.

Alarm Enhancements

Use the Alarms page of the Recording Options tab to configure alarms. In addition to actions such as displaying a message or producing a sound when an alarm occurs, you now can generate a software trigger, create a snapshot, or run a program.

Logging Frequency-Domain Signals

You can log the last known value of a frequency-domain signal and view the log on the Data View tab. The last known value of the signal is the value of the signal when the project stops running. In the Project View, right-click a frequency-domain output signal and select Record last value from the shortcut menu to log the last known value of the signal. LabVIEW SignalExpress saves logs of frequency-domain signals in the .tdms file format to the default location you specify on the Logging page of the Options dialog box.

Note  Because LabVIEW SignalExpress records a frequency-domain signal as a single value, you cannot play back a log of a frequency-domain signal.

Operator Mode

Operator mode provides a way to disable editing capabilities for LabVIEW SignalExpress projects. Disabling editing capabilities can be useful if you want to distribute a project to other users. For example, if you create a project that generates a signal, you can configure the project so that in operator mode a user only can adjust the frequency of the signal. You also can set a password on a project so that a user must enter the password to disable operator mode. If you save a project in operator mode, the project always opens in operator mode unless you save the project again with operator mode disabled.

Use the Operator Interface view and the Toolbox and Properties windows to configure the controls a user can access when a project is in operator mode. Use the Operate menu or the toolbar buttons on the Operator Interface view to enable or disable operator mode and to set a password on a project.

Shared Variables

You can write signals to shared variables, which are application-independent software items that enable you to send data across projects or across a network. Right-click a step input or output signal and select Write to Shared Variable from the shortcut menu to write the signal to a shared variable. You also can use the Channel View to see the shared variables that exist on the local machine or the local network.

Exporting Project Settings

You can export the configuration settings of a LabVIEW SignalExpress project to an XML file. You can use the XML file as a record of the project configuration at the time you export the settings. The XML file displays all the steps in the project, the values of every parameter in those steps, and lists any environment elements, such as tabs, work areas, and active logs, that LabVIEW SignalExpress has loaded at the time you export the project settings. Use the File menu to export project settings to XML. You can view the file in any text or XML editor.

Note  The XML file is for record-keeping purposes only. You cannot use the XML file to import project settings to LabVIEW SignalExpress.

New Step

The following new step appears in LabVIEW SignalExpress 3.0:

• Sequence step—Pauses and resumes execution of steps in a project based on the configuration you specify. The Sequence step can pause the execution of a step without stopping the execution of the entire project. Because the Sequence step can pause the execution of other steps, you can use the Sequence step to allow multiple steps in the same project to use the same hardware.

What's New in LabVIEW SignalExpress 2.5

LabVIEW SignalExpress 2.5 includes the following changes from LabVIEW SignalExpress 2.0.

Project Analyzer

The Project Analyzer is a tool that analyzes your LabVIEW SignalExpress project and returns any errors, warnings, incompatibilities, or other issues in the Error List window. The Project Analyzer determines the task you want to complete and returns potential issues with the current LabVIEW SignalExpress configuration that can prevent the project from executing properly.

New Step

The following step has been added:

• Create Digital Signal step

Step Changes

LabVIEW SignalExpress includes the following changes to existing steps:

• Create Signal—The Create Signal step is now called the Create Analog Signal step.
• Software Trigger—The Software Trigger step is now called the Trigger step.

What's New in LabVIEW SignalExpress 2.0

LabVIEW SignalExpress 2.0 included the following changes from LabVIEW SignalExpress 1.1.

Data Logging

Use the integrated data logging tool to record, save, and analyze your measurements. You can record any step output. You also can analyze and process logged data by playing it through analysis steps.

Work Areas

Use work areas to perform multiple LabVIEW SignalExpress operations from within the same project.

New Steps

The following steps have been added:

• Read Shared Variables step
• Statistics step
• Trigger step

Step Improvements

LabVIEW SignalExpress includes the following changes to existing steps:

• Time Averaging—The Time Averaging step now accepts scalar data as an input.
• Histogram—The Histogram step now accepts scalar data as an input.
• User step—The User step is now called the Run LabVIEW VI step. The Run LabVIEW VI step now supports LabVIEW 7.1 and later.
• Formula (Scalar)—The Formula (Scalar) step is now called the Formula step. The Formula step now accepts waveform data as an input.
• Limit Test—You now can perform actions on LabVIEW SignalExpress data depending on the result of the Limit Test step. Navigate to the Actions tab of the Limit Test configuration view to configure which actions LabVIEW SignalExpress takes when a signal fails or passes a limit test.

Step Removals

LabVIEW SignalExpress no longer contains the following steps:

• NI-DAQmx Acquire
• NI-DAQmx Generate

Note  LabVIEW SignalExpress still supports these steps for project files saved in a previous version of LabVIEW SignalExpress. Install the DAQ Assistant and use the DAQmx Acquire and DAQmx Generate steps to acquire and generate signals from DAQ devices.

Channel View

The Channel View provides an integrated environment for viewing and configuring hardware channel information.

DAQ Assistant Integration

LabVIEW SignalExpress now supports full DAQ Assistant integration. The DAQ Assistant dialog boxes are fully integrated in the LabVIEW SignalExpress environment. When you install the DAQ Assistant, use the DAQmx Acquire and DAQmx Generate steps to acquire and generate signals from DAQ devices.

Grouping

You can use data grouping to analyze multiple data channels at once.

New Data Viewers

Several new data viewers are available for viewing scalar and time-domain data. Right-click the Data View and select View As to choose the display to use for your data. LabVIEW SignalExpress only displays the data viewers available for the specified data type.

Project Documentation Tab

You can create project descriptions, display acquired data, or document your measurement results in the Project Documentation tab.

Options Dialog Box

Select Tools»Options to display the Options dialog box. Use the Options dialog box to configure various LabVIEW SignalExpress options.

Snapshots

Snapshots allow you to save a record of the current values of all step outputs in your project.