Category: electronics

LabVIEW: Sending an email to a gmail account

GregPayne
Logging to a database in a LabVIEW application has its uses, however sending test results as an email can also be very useful. Sending an email to a Google (gmail) account is relatively simple using .NET constructors.

By using the various constructors, an email can be sent using an existing gmail account. (Click here to get a gmail account.) The email can be sent to a recipient, carbon copied to a recipient and even have an attachment added. 
By using the VI as part of an application, any string can be written and sent as an email. I used this VI to email results for an automated test so that I could monitor its progress after each test was completed. Logging to a database is also very effective but sometimes it’s easier to access an email account over accessing a results database.
To download the example VI, use this link.
Greg

LabVIEW: Reinitialise all indicators

GregPayne
There are times in a LabVIEW program that where you need to reinitialise all the front panel indicators and controls to their respective default values. I like to do this as the first step before the VI is run so that I know that everything is in a default state.

This can be done by using a property node for each indicator or control. With large programs this can become very tedious and add a significant amount of unwanted clutter.

There is another, easy way to accomplish this and that is to use a reference to the current vi and an invoke node. 

By adding this VI at the start of your program, all the indicators and controls are initialised to their default values. 

To download the example VI, use this link.

Greg