However, in LabVIEW 2009 this no longer works.  But, there’s still hope.  It turns out that LabVIEW 2009 EXEs are basically just ZIP archives.

And, you can list the contents of LabVIEW 2009 EXE files, programmatically, using the OpenG Zip Tools library, as shown below:

Note: The image above is a VI Snippet and you can just drag & drop it into a LabVIEW 2009 block diagram (but, make sure to install the OpenG Zip Tools first). Or, download the VI File, here: List LV2009 EXE File Contents.vi

Voilà! Problem solved

I definitely couldn’t live without these handy VIs.

Here’s a short, 5 minute video showing how to use this function:

If you want to give this VI a try, you can obtain it using VI Package Manager (VIPM). Simply select the OpenG LabVIEW Data Tools (oglib_lvdata) package from within VIPM. Once installed, this will add a new functions palette at OpenG>>OpenG LabVIEW Data Tools.  (See here for a quick guide on how to install OpenG on VIPM.)

The XML Parser VIs (shown below) can be found in the Functions Palette at Programming>>File I/O>>XML>>XML Parser .

One major drawback of these VI’s is that they still don’t make it easy to work with XML data.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that these VIs ship with LabVIEW.  In fact, they expose more people to XML and thus create more demand for an easier approach to working with XML in LabVIEW.

Quick Drop even works with OpenG VIs!
Now, that’s an unfair advantage.

In fact, I didn’t even bother to enter the coding speed challenge at NIWeek this year (which I won at NIWeek 2005), because I saw how fast Darren was coding during the NIWeek keynote (here is a video of it), and my LabVIEW skills were more than a little bit rusty at NIWeek 2008, as I hadn’t touched LabVIEW for 3 weeks (I was traveling for a wedding, and also visiting some of my European LabVIEW buddies, in France).  Ya, excuses, excuses…

So, instead of competing, I hid in the JKI booth and pretended to be too busy to enter the contest.  Of course, I didn’t want to loose my unofficial “fasted LabVIEW coder on the planet (or at least, NIWeek)” title in a head-to-head match up against Darren — the dude is fast!  I wanted to at least have some time to practice using the Quick Drop tool and try to level the playing field.  Then, I’d come back and challenge Darren to a fair match — pretty sneaky huh?

Speaking of fair competition, they weren’t even letting contestants use OpenG VIs in the coding speed contest, this year (I guess OpenG is an unfair advantage).  Like Darren didn’t have an unfair advantage

All joking aside, the Quick Drop tool is amazing.  It’s basically like auto-completion for text-based languages (so, it gives text-based programmers one less reason not to go graphical).  Just press Ctrl+Space and then type the name of the VI or function you want to place on the Block Diagram.  As the list of possible items appears, press Enter to select the top item in the list, or click on any other item, to place it on the Block Diagram.  It really lives up to it’s name by allowing you to quickly drop nodes onto the block diagram.  There’s no doubt it will become one of your favorite tools in LabVIEW, once you give it a try.

One the reasons that NIWeek 2007 was the Best NIWeek Ever was that during the NIWeek 2007 Alliance Day keynote, NI showed a slide called “The LabVIEW Community Online” (shown above) which included JKI’s logo! This slide displayed the logos of various LabVIEW community websites, including discussion forums, blogs, etc. I was extremely honored to see JKI’s logo included on the slide since we have long been focused on promoting and participating in the LabVIEW community.

What makes this somewhat interesting is that JKI is a company that provides consulting services around LabVIEW and other National Instruments hardware and software products. But, in addition to our work, we are extremely active in the LabVIEW blogosphere, discussion forums, open source community, and local LabVIEW user group meetings in the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, the LabVIEW community is a core part of JKI. Let me explain.

JKI was founded in 2002 when I started working as an independent LabVIEW consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area. One of JKI’s very first customers met me at a San Francisco Bay Area LAVA group meeting where I had been regularly presenting and participating. This contact evolved into one of JKI’s best long-term customers (we have worked with them on and off for over 5 years, now) and played a huge role in providing a solid foundation upon which JKI has been able to grow its business.

I got to know two of JKI’s senior engineers, Michael Aivaliotis and Philippe Guerit, through participation in OpenG and the LAVA discussion forums. After working with each other on various OpenG projects, we found an opportunity to work together at JKI. Philippe and Michael are an integral part of JKI’s team and a huge part of our ongoing success.

Additionally, in 2004, Jeffrey Travis contacted me and asked me if I was interested in co-authoring the 3rd edition of “LabVIEW for Everyone“. I met Jeffrey through our involvement in OpenG and Info-LabVIEW. If it were not for my involvement in the LabVIEW community, I would not have received this invitation.

JKI is actively working hard to find more ways to be involved with and promote the LabVIEW community. We do this because we enjoy being a part of this community and want to see it grow. Also, there are incredible opportunities that arise from participation in the LabVIEW community — you meet potential customers, colleagues, and build a professional network that enables business success.

I’m not telling you all of this to convince you that participation in the LabVIEW community is a guarantee for professional success, but rather to reinforce the fact that it has rewards which are varied but incredibly hard to quantify. In JKI’s case, it has contributed to attracting great customers, talented engineers, and book offers, as well as recognition during an NIWeek keynote. Yes, community participation takes a lot of time, but it is undoubtedly worth it — in addition to the satisfaction of making friends and helping others learn and use LabVIEW, you are establishing yourself in a professional community where opportunities abound.

One the reasons that NIWeek 2007 was the Best NIWeek Ever was that I got to present four times! I gave the following two presentations (I presented the latter at three different times):

• Using Free and Open Source LabVIEW Software
• Developing Commercial Software Applications in LabVIEW

The first presentation, “Using Free and Open Source LabVIEW Software“, was given on Alliance Day (Monday, Aug. 6th, 2007) and was not open to the general public. However, the material is not confidential and I’m happy to make available everyone. This presentation discussed the different flavors of open source software licensing, why open source is an important part of our lives, and how LabVIEW developers can leverage open source software.

The second presentation, “Developing Commercial Software Applications in LabVIEW“, outlines some key issues that LabVIEW software developers should consider if they are thinking about selling their software. These are things that JKI had to learn about from our experiences working on our own commercial software product, VI Package Manager. Certainly, this presentation doesn’t cover every aspect of commercial software development, but I only had 45 minutes — and this topic could easily fill a whole book.

Soon, JKI will be making Michael Aivaliotis’ presentation on XControls available as a video — that’ll be very exciting. Michael’s presentation was really good — I heard that someone comment to him that it was the best NIWeek presentation given by a non-NI presenter in the 10 years they have been coming to NIWeek. Hopefully I didn’t set your expectations too high (I’m really excited, too, because I didn’t get to see Michael’s presentation)