LabVIEW Learning Materials

See also: category:LabVIEW fundamentals

This page provides a recommended set of resources for LabVIEW programmers. It breaks the content across six phases of maturity and experience so that users may self-identify what content is most relevant for them based on their experience. Most of the content is crowd-sourced and freely available from ni.com and other sources like YouTube.

LabVIEW Programming Basics

Introduction to LabVIEW Environment

• NI Getting Started with LabVIEW
• LabVIEW Introduction Video

Data Types & Structures

• LabVIEW Data Types Overview
• Arrays and Clusters Tutorial

Basic Programming Concepts

• LabVIEW Basics White Paper
• LabVIEW Basics Tutorial Series

2. Working with LabVIEW Architectures

State Machines

• NI White Paper on State Machines
• State Machines Tutorial

Queued Message Handlers (QMH)

• Queued Message Handler Architecture Overview
• QMH Video Tutorial

Producer/Consumer Architecture

• Producer/Consumer Architecture White Paper
• Producer/Consumer Architecture Tutorial

Event-Driven Programming

• Event Structures in LabVIEW
• Event-Driven Programming Tutorial

3. Tooling and Development Processes

Using LabVIEW Toolkits

• LabVIEW Toolkits Overview
• MathScript Toolkit Video

Version Control and Source Code Management

• Setting up Git for LabVIEW
• Version Control in LabVIEW Tutorial

VI Analyzer

• VI Analyzer Overview
• VI Analyzer in Action

4. Software Design Patterns and Best Practices

Modular Programming and Code Reuse

• NI Guide to Reusing Code
• Modular Programming in LabVIEW

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in LabVIEW

• OOP Concepts in LabVIEW
• Object-Oriented Programming in LabVIEW Tutorial

Error Handling

• Best Practices for Error Handling
• Error Handling Techniques

5. Testing and Debugging

Debugging Tools

• Debugging Tools in LabVIEW
• Debugging Techniques in LabVIEW

Unit Testing with LabVIEW

• JKI VI Tester for Unit Testing
• Unit Testing in LabVIEW with Caraya

6. Integration with Hardware

DAQmx Basics

• DAQmx Fundamentals Guide
• DAQmx Basics Video Tutorial

Instrument Control

• LabVIEW Instrument Control Overview
• Communicating with Instruments in LabVIEW

Real-Time Systems

• Introduction to LabVIEW Real-Time
• Real-Time Systems Tutorial

7. Community and Best Practices

LabVIEW Style Guidelines

• LabVIEW Style Guidelines
• NI Forums

LabVIEW Community and User Groups

• LabVIEW User Groups and Community Events
• GCentral: Open-Source Community for LabVIEW

8. Advanced Topics

Advanced Data Structures

• Queues, Notifiers, and Semaphores
• Queues and Notifiers in LabVIEW

Interfacing with Databases

• Using LabVIEW with Databases
• Database Connectivity in LabVIEW

Deploying Applications

• Building Executables and Installers
• Deploying LabVIEW Applications

Topic	Concepts	Links
Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example

Formal Training

Formal training on LabVIEW is available from several providers. Offerings differ based on prior LabVIEW experience level and the preferred delivery method. Common delivery methods include:

• In-person instructor-led
• Remote instructor-led (usually through a web conference)
• Online self-paced (usually through a combination of pre-recorded lecture videos and exercise solution videos)
• Self-paced with a manual

National Instruments has a suite of courses ranging from beginner to advanced as well as several specialty topics such as LabVIEW Real-Time and LabVIEW Connectivity. National Instruments offers all common delivery methods mentioned above except online self-paced. Other LabVIEW training providers such as Sixclear provide this online self-paced environment. Sixclear's same curriculum is also delivered through in-person instructor-led training. Durability is another provider of in-person instructor-led training.

Recommended training courses for those with no knowledge of LabVIEW are the National Instruments Core 1 and Core 2 courses, the Sixclear LabVIEW Fundamentals I and II courses, or the Durability LabVIEW 101 and 102 courses. All sets of courses are geared to a user with little to no LabVIEW experience and teach the proficiencies outlined by the Certified LabVIEW Associate Developer (CLAD) exam as well as simple DAQ and instrument control.

Common arguments justifying formal training revolve around the idea that the sum cost of developers' time is greater than the cost of training because:

• the LabVIEW graphical programming paradigm is appreciably different than traditional text-based programming
• costly mistakes commonly occur when moving from simple LabVIEW applications to more complex applications, especially when developing parallel loop applications

Alternatives to Formal Training

National Instruments maintains a list of LabVIEW reference books as an alternative to formal training.

Another alternative to formal training are half-day "LabVIEW Hands-On" workshops offered by National Instruments. Recommended follow-ups are the "G Programmer's reference manual" and the LabVIEW "User Manual" found in the LabVIEW documentation.

External Links

Some online tutorials:

• VI High LabVIEW Video Tutorial Blog by Sixclear
• Some NI courses, including videos (requires an active support contract with NI)
• VI Shots LabVIEW Video Tutorials
• NI Tutorials (including videos and exercises) - http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/7466
• More links at NI's site - http://www.ni.com/training/labview.htm
• Software Engineering with LabVIEW (generally requires some LabVIEW knowledge) - http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/7117
• Connexions Tutorial (written by NI) - http://cnx.org/content/col10241/latest/
• LabVIEW Tutorials - http://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/GeneralInterest/LabView.html
• Videos of NI's LabVIEW Core 3 course (8 full lessons) - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3E1DD4C18D357331
• Tutorial videos (some are free) - http://www.fafiles.com/
• Learning LabVIEW - http://learnlabview.blogspot.com/
• LabVIEW Tutorial Basics (BEKA, German) - http://www.fu-net.de/lv/lv01/
• LabVIEW Tutorial Advanced Techniques (BEKA, German) - http://www.fu-net.de/lv/lv02/