LabVIEW 2010 Scripting Changes

[TrevorChristman]

A number of people have asked me for specifics of what was changed for scripting's public release in LabVIEW 2010.  I'm reposting my comments from the LabVIEW 2010 beta forum here.

The following improvements were made to VI Scripting in LabVIEW 2010:

• VI  Scripting is now activated by an entry in Tools->Options->VI  Server->VI Scripting instead of by running a downloadable installer.
• The  context help window can be instructed to show terminal index and  connector pane pattern information for many block diagram objects.  This  behavior is activated by an entry in Tools->Options->VI  Server->VI Scripting.
• The 'Move' method now accepts a  'duplicate?' parameter, allowing you to copy an object rather than move  it.  This allows you to place any VI objects you can obtain a reference  to, even if it has not been saved to disk.
• VI Scripting now  contains a 'Move Selection' method, allowing you to copy or move a group  of objects without modifying the contents of the clipboard with the  Cut, Copy and Paste methods.
• Property Nodes and Invoke Nodes  can now have their property or method specified by an ID String, which  is guaranteed to remain stable across localizations and revisions of  LabVIEW.  Previous editions of LabVIEW only accepted the string  displayed to the user, which could change based on the users language  and version of LabVIEW.
• The text in the 'New VI Object' style  enum was changed to be less confusing.
• Growable Nodes can now  be resized by segment count, eliminating the need to calculate the  desired size in pixels.
• The 'Replace (No Attributes)' method  now accepts correctly typed parameters.
• The connector pane of a  newly created VI is now the default shape (usually 4x2x2x4) at the  moment of creation.  In previous versions of LabVIEW the connector pane  of a newly created VI contained a single terminal until displayed in the  editing environment.
• If the Open VI Object Reference is unable  to find an item specified by an array of label names the resulting  error message specifies the entry in the array which could not be  found.  Earlier editions of LabVIEW returned a non-detailed error  message, making it difficult to know which array elements could and  could not be found.
• The New VI Object function did not  communicate that it accepted multiple ways to specify the location of  the created object.  Typedefs for each acceptable format have been added  to the VI Scripting palette.
• Many VI Scripting methods and  properties which could crash LabVIEW now work correctly or return a  meaningful error.

[Thoric]

Sorry if I missed it, but have NI now decided that they will accept support requests regarding Scripting? I know that in 2009 they were not willing to support us with our endeavours in scripting, but now that it seems to be an integral part of LabVIEW, have they changed their stance?

[chris.b]

Hey Thoric! There's probably two ways to answer this:

1. NI fully supports Scripting in LabVIEW 2010. It is just as much a part of the product as any other component.
2. If you are using Scripting in a LabVIEW 2009 or 8.6, the support team will probably be able to help you, but this was not a fully supported part of the product. In other words, there will definitely be limits to what they can do, as this was an NI Labs release. You can definitely still come to this community group if you have questions the support team can't cover in 8.6 or 2009 (or 2010 for that matter).