assigning labels to terminals of functions in block diagram

[baseball07]

Hi, I was wondering if there was a way to assign terminals of names to connect them to each other, rather than wires.  That way there can be a "wireless" connetion between different elements.  You can do this in various circuit simulation programs, just wondering if this was possible in LabVIEW?  Thanks for the help.

[taper]

Yes, it's called Local Variables, and no, you shouldn't use them to make your diagram look better.  Showing the wired connection has a very good purpose.  There's lots of threads in these forums about coding styles, I'm a better programmer for reading through them, recommend them to anyone.

[smercurio_fc]

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@taper wrote:

There's lots of threads in these forums about coding styles...

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Like this one (specific to local variables): http://forums.ni.com/t5/BreakPoint/Why-some-people-say-Local-Variables-are-bad/td-p/711239

[baseball07]

Ok thanks.  I was interested in doing it to clean up my program a little bit.  I actually figured it was equally as confusing to read code that has wires going every which way.  Now that I know it is the standard around here, I will stay away.  Thanks.

[Mark_Yedinak]

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@baseball07 wrote:

Ok thanks.  I was interested in doing it to clean up my program a little bit.  I actually figured it was equally as confusing to read code that has wires going every which way.  Now that I know it is the standard around here, I will stay away.  Thanks.

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Stay away from LabVIEW or local variables? Unfortunately there is no shortage of poorly written LabVIEW code (as well as most other programming languages) that is a pain to look at. However with good programming practices and good style LabVIEW code can be very clean and easy to read. If your diagram is a mess of wires that generally indicates a poor design or the wrong architecture for the problem.

Now if you are saying you will stay away from local variables that is a good idea. As mentioned, there are volumes written about why overusing local variables is a bad thing. One of the biggest reasons is that they introduce race conditions.