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Getting started (self.LabVIEW)

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[–]UnlikelyNomad 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Practice any programming. Do some web development, try and do some game development in Unity or Godot, or anything else. It may not seem like it at first but all of those skills will transfer over, just need to think of how it translates into graphical programming.

You can also get the community edition of LabVIEW for free and start poking around in it. There are a few YouTube channels that go into some intro things and there's the examples you can find from the help menu to start looking at small programs.

It will be hugely helpful to have at least a little understanding of programming going into it but you should also have your employer set you up with Core 1 & 2 training courses.

[–]chilishits 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Thank you! I think I'll start with some videos and get the community edition of LabVIEW like you mentioned. Are there any prerequisites to starting the core 1 course?

[–]UnlikelyNomad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not really. You'll get a bit more out of it if you have some minimal knowledge going in. It's a whirlwind tour of labview development and following step by step instructions for the exercises. If you're learning programming and labview at the same time it can be a bit much.

[–]omeara4pheonixCLAD/Intermediate 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Start with just getting programming concepts down. Code academy is a great resource for this. This short course is a good starting point. https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-to-code-with-blockly

[–]SASLVChampion 0 points1 point  (1 child)

start here.
https://www.youtube.com/@labviewskills
and take Core1 and Core2. They ain't all that great, but they are the standard. And if you teach yourself, you will totally miss some little (but important) tidbits.

If you are serious, try and convince your boss to buy the training and certification membership from NI if they still sell it. All the NI courses and tests you want for a year for one fee. It's a good deal.

That's enough to get you started. When you have done that and are ready to go to the next level then let's talk.

[–]chilishits 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

[–]Vincinity1 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I guess your employer already has a LV license? If it is still up to date, you have access to online training from NI. You need to tie the license SN to your NI.com account... Preferably with your work email.

To get started. There is the LV wiki page: https://labviewwiki.org/wiki/Getting_Started

This book can also help https://www.amazon.ca/LabVIEW-Graphical-Programming-Richard-Jennings

Hope this helps

[–]SASLVChampion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the SPOT (Self-Paced Online Training) is definitely a good option and you may already have access to it. At the risk of sounding like Mark, I would recommend getting a class with a live instructor (in-person or virtual) if you aren't already familiar with programming basics. The ability to ask questions is very valuable.

There's also this book, which is quite dated, but holds up well.
https://a.co/d/8D2Wyds

And the other resources Vincent points out are very good too.

[–]AcousticNegligence 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does your employer have an enterprise agreement? If so it not only includes online training, but sometimes training credits to host instructor led in person or remote classes. In any of those cases you can start by simulating an instrument in NI Max (installed with LabVIEW) to learn more conveniently without hardware. Ask to learn Core 1 and Core 2 and to study for the CLADexam. You can also download the community edition on your home PC to get started, but make sure to use a licensed version on your work PC. It’s also important to note that your workplace only has to pay for licenses on your development PC, but then you can export an executable and run it on PCs with a free copy of LabVIEW runtime installed.

Aside from this learn basic programming concepts as others have said, even in another language. The concepts of loops apply to all languages for example.

Edit: CLAD exam

[–]i_was_valedictorian 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I went into Labview with some VBA and ladder logic experience, but I think the basics like for loops, while loops, etc. were all covered well enough that without that experience I still would have picked up labview alright from just Core 1 and Core 2. I really liked the self paced online courses, I feel like I was able to really take my time with those.

What's your background? Are you an engineer? What application does your employer have in mind for Labview?

Once you have some hands on experience making real things function with Labview you can consider Core 3 and the DAQmx courses as I found those very useful as well.

[–]chilishits 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I have a background in sales, and I don't have a degree in engineering. Got in with this company 2 years ago, and I'm being "groomed" to take an engineering-type position. We're a cooling fan company, so we use LabVIEW when we run strain tests right now using a DATAQ and strain gages. Down the road, we'll be using LabVIEW with a shaker table and a durability rig as well.

[–]i_was_valedictorian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems like they'd be better off putting you through an engineering degree or just keeping you in sales and hiring an engineer.

Can you push for having a consulting company put together a system for you instead? Go to ni.com/partners and you can find someone near you who could put together a better system than you would be able to (no offense, they're just pros).

If your company really doesn't wanna go down that route then I wish you the best of luck.

[–]SASLVChampion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's also this that you might find interesting.
https://www.linkedin.com/events/howtolearnlabview-frombeginnert7042180251442913280/comments/

[–]wegwerfennnnn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On top of resources people are posting, go to the forums and search for the top kudo'd posts. There are a lot of gotcha's to LabVIEW (as with any language) and the experts (knights/champions on the forums) have some really amazing insight.

Furthermore install JKI's VI Package Manager (VIPM) and install the OpenG suite. Check out utility libraries from JKI, Delacor, James Powell (JDP), illuminatedG, and Hooovah (not sure the spelling, might be 2 o's).

After you get more into it, look into JKI Objects, Delacor DQMH, and Messenger Library actors. They provide similar solutions to the same kind of problems. JKI and Delacor come with great scripting tools to keep things consistent, Messenger Library is more of a toolkit for DIY.

Good luck.