Strategy for quick icon generation for labview?

Question

Labview programs become difficult to maintain when block diagrams get too big.

Usage of subvis is recommended to avoid this.

By default, every subvi's icon looks the same, except for a number.

I find that the time needed to creating meaningful icons for most subvis exceeds the coding time by far. Even if using existing images instead of that integrated icon editor - first find a suitable one, then I usually have to scale and adapt it.

Even when settling on using just text in the end, the time needed for icon creation still exceeds the time for programming the vi.

I can see the following strategies to avoid wasting time with icon design:

• All in one large vi
• Not creating relatively simple subvis with less than approx 20 blocks (adjust number with experience)
• Just have the default icon everywhere

I do not like any of these. They do not help with maintainability.

It seems there is a trade-off between maintainability and time required for icon design.

How do people with labview experience solve this?

Answer 1

The right way to create VIs anyway.

I would suggest adding all VIs into a single library then change the icon of the lib to one you like and click the Apply Icon To VIs. This will add the Library Icon to all library functions like a template.

Then you can use VI scripting to programmatically add text on VI icon (For ex. VI Name): http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/209110

I suggest you take a look on this: https://lavag.org/files/file/100-mark-ballas-icon-editor-v24-lv2010/

It will show you how you can write text on a VI's icon programmatically.

Answer 2

Install GOOP Development suite:

In the menu, click:

Tools->GOOP->Create VI Icon...

Then click 'accept'. 95% of the time, this is appropriate. The other 5% of the time is used to set up headers based on

library/class/folder

Then GDS offers to update the headers for the other member VI's.