Library for Commonly Used VI's

[kilowatts]

Hello All,

I am currently collecting commonly used VI's for DAQ, display, data recording/formatting, etc...and wanting to put them into a library. My initial search lead me to using the standard .llb file format to do this. I created the .llb using the "Source Distribution" option under Build Specifications. I chose this over LabVIEW's packed library because documentation stated that the entire library would have to opened to access VI's in a packed library and since these VI's are not always used in all my main VI's, I thought it would be best to have them loaded individually. So I chose the .llb because of that reason. Once I built the .llb, I was surprised to see that the folder structure that I had created in my project (and added to the "Source Files" in the build specification options) did not carry over into the library. All of the VI's were just on one level making searching for a particular VI very difficult. Is there a way to create a folder hierarchy in libraries, or would I have to use another structure, such as a packed library.

Hopefully I was clear in my description, if not please ask questions. A preemptive thank you for the help.

Michael

[crossrulz]

An llb is a really old contruct.  It has a flat hierarchy.  And that is not going to be changed.

The Packed Project Library is actually a compiled library.  It is much like a DLL.

Are you trying to gather these VIs together for the purpose of reuse?  If so, I highly recommend separating the VIs into smaller groups and use VIPM to package the groups into packages.  You can then install only the packages you want for each version of LabVIEW.  And the VIs will then be in your palettes!  You won't have to copy the large library into each of your projects then.

[kilowatts]

You guess my application correctly. I have a lot of commonly used VI's that I am trying to group together for easier programming. I would say that unlike most LabVIEW programmers, I am the programmer and the end user. Also, all of my LabVIEW programs are run in the LabVIEW environment rather than on a distributed environment. So I am not necessarily looking for something for easy sharing, just easy reusability. Based on your comments regarding the VIPM, I have a few questions.

1. How do paletted VI's deal with Type Def controls? My guess that they would be considered dependencies in the project.
2. I will probably be adding to this library and changing things frequently. Is the VIPM/palette easy to maintain and upgrade or are there a lot of steps to get the changed VI's into an installable format?
3. Based on the brief description of my application, do you think the free version of VIPM will suffice for my application?

Sorry for the all the questions. I appreciate the response and letting my know about the VIPM. I have never heard about it.

[crossrulz · Accepted solution]

I  will admit I am not the know-it-all with WIPM.  It has served my purposes very well.  And those purposes are very in-line with what you are trying to do.

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Megawattz wrote:

1. How do paletted VI's deal with Type Def controls? My guess that they would be considered dependencies in the project.
2. I will probably be adding to this library and changing things frequently. Is the VIPM/palette easy to maintain and upgrade or are there a lot of steps to get the changed VI's into an installable format?
3. Based on the brief description of my application, do you think the free version of VIPM will suffice for my application?

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1.  You put the type defs in the same package.  Then they are just with the VIs that use them.

2.  The package editor is very easy to add to.

3.  The Free Community version will work just fine.  That's the version I currently use.

If you have more questions, I recommend visiting the JKI site.  They have a forum just for VIPM that you can get any and all of your questions answered about VIPM.