LabPack: A LabVIEW™ library for encoding/decoding MessagePack data

LabPack is a LabVIEW™ library for encoding and decoding MessagePack data.

This LabVIEW library uses the LabPack shared library for encoding and decoding MessagePack data. Pre-compiled Windows (DLL), macOS (dylib), Linux (so), and NI Linux RT (so) shared libraries are distributed with the LabPack LabVIEW library. The LabPack shared library and source code is maintained as a separate project and repository, respectively.

Table of Contents

• Example Usage
• Dependencies
  • Installation
  • Development
• Installation
• Build
  • Packaging using VIPM Pro (recommended)
  • Packaging using VIPM Free
• Documentation
• Tests
• License

Example Usage

A VI snippet of encoding a cluster to a MessagePack binary data:

A VI snippet of decoding a cluster from MessagePack binary data:

Dependencies

Installation

• LabVIEW 2009 or newer (All systems)

Development

• Caraya
• HTML Help Workshop (for compiling the help documentation)
• JKI State Machine
• LabVIEW 2009 or newer (for building)
• LabVIEW 2018 or newer
• Labricator (only for automated builds, private package available upon request)
• OpenG Array Library
• OpenG File Library
• VIPM Pro (only for automated builds)
• VIPM API (only for automated builds)

Installation

A VI Package (VIP) is available at VIPM.io. The recommended installation instructions are to:

1. Navigate to the LabPack package at VIPM.io.
2. Click on the Install button to the right. The VI Package Manager (VIPM) (freely available from JKI) will start automatically.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Alternatively, the toolkit can be installed by: (i) downloading the source code and building the VIP, (ii) downloading a VIP from the releases section of this project, or (iii) manually copying the VIs from the source code into a project.

Build

Each component in the LabPack-LabVIEW project has a Source Distribution build specification. The destination of each source distribution build is the builds folder relative to the project root, i.e. same folder as the LabPack.lvproj file. Additionally, the output for the compiled help documentation is also the builds folder. The builds folder should not be included in the version control repository. A Build.vi script is available in the Scripts.lvlib project library that will build all of the components and the help documentation automatically (VIPM Pro is not needed, but the HTML Help Workshop is needed).

The VI Package Build (.vipb) specification, located in the configs folder relative to the project root, is configured for the package source to be the builds folder. Thus, the Source Distribution for each component must be built before opening the LabPack.vipb file in the VIPM; otherwise, the package configuration will be lost.

Packaging using VIPM Pro (recommended)

Important, if creating a package for LabVIEW 2009 from LabVIEW 2018, the VI Server TCP/IP ports must be different for each version of LabVIEW and verified with the VIPM application before proceeding. An error will occur when the VIPM is started if both LabVIEW 2009 and 2018 are running at the same time. Basically, VIPM will not know which VI server to use if both versions of LabVIEW are using the same TCP/IP port.

If VIPM Pro is available, then open the LabPack.lvproj file in any version of LabVIEW newer than 2009 and run the Package.vi located in the Scripts.lvlib project library of the Project Explorer window. Ensure all dependencies are installed before running the Package.vi script.

Note, the version number for the package is set in the configs\LabPack.vipb file. The version number in the VIP build specification file should be modified and saved before running the Package.vi script.

Packaging using VIPM Free

If VIPM Pro is not available, then the following steps can be executed to do essentially the same thing as the Package.vi script. Ensure all dependencies, except VIPM Pro and the VIPM API, are installed before completing these steps.

1. Start LabVIEW 2018 or newer and open the LabPack.lvproj file.
2. From the Project Explorer window, File>>Save for Previous Version..., a new dialog will appear.
3. Select 9.0 from the drop down menu.
4. Click Save.... A new dialog will open.
5. Create the target\9.0 folder hierarchy in the project root, i.e. the same folder as the LabPack.lvproj file, if it does not already exists.
6. Click Save.
7. Close LabVIEW 2018 or newer and the LabPack.lvproj file.
8. Navigate to <project root>\src.
9. Copy the Help folder to <project root>\target\9.0\src.
10. Start LabVIEW 2009.
11. Open the <project root>\target\9.0\LabPack.lvproj file. Do NOT open the project in any other version of LabVIEW.
12. Open each Source Distribution build specification under the "Build Specifications" tree item in the Project Explorer and change the Output Destination to <project root>\target\9.0\builds. Save and close each build specification.
13. Run the Build.vi in the Scripts project library to build each Source Distribution under the "Build Specifications" tree item and the compiled help documentation file (LabPack.chm). The output of each build will be available in <project root>\target\9.0\builds.
14. Open the <project root>\target\9.0\configs\LabPack.vipb file in VIPM.
15. Build the VI package with VIPM. The output will be available at <project root>\target\9.0\packages. Do NOT modify anything in the package build specification, but ensure the "2009" version of LabVIEW is selected in the upper, right-hand corner of the VIPM application window.
16. Close VIPM.
17. Close LabVIEW 2009 and the <project root>\target\9.0\LabPack.lvproj file.

Documentation

See the in-app LabVIEW Help system for more information and documentation about using the library after it has been installed, or visit the web-based documentation. Examples are also available within the LabVIEW development environment using the Help->Find Examples... menu item.

Tests

Tests are written in LabVIEW using the Caraya unit testing framework and included in the project via the Tests project library (.lvlib) and the tests on-disk folder. To run the tests, open the LabPack.lvproj file found in the root folder of the source code distribution in the LabVIEW Development Environment (32-bit or 64-bit) and run the Run All VI that is found in the Tests project library. The tests are organized in a hierarchy based on their relationship to the source code. There is a Run All VI within each child project library (.lvlib) to run all of the tests for a specific portion of the project.

License

LabPack-LabVIEW is licensed under either the BSD-3-Clause, and it contains statically compiled code from the mpack project, which is licensed under the MIT license. See the docs folder for more information about licensing and copyright.