Real-Time Heartbeat for VIs & Executables

[Chris V]

Overview

This simple example shows that a basic heartbeat VI can assist greatly in troubleshooting startup executable and headless VIs. 

Description

This VI must not be placed as a subVI inside of a loop.  It contains an infinite loop and will therefore never return, blocking higher level loops from running. This VI must be located under a Real-Time target, or the RT Utility VIs will not be found by LabVIEW and the VI will appear broken.One of the most challenging aspects of programming in Real-Time is determining if your program is in fact running on the target.

Requirements

• LabVIEW 2012 (or compatible)

Steps to Implement or Execute Code

There are two ways to use this VI:

Approach 1 (for VIs or Executables):  The RT Startup Heartbeat.vi can be placed as a subVI on the top level target VI to indicate when that VI is running on the target.  It should not be placed inside of a loop; the VI contains its own infinite loop and will therefore never return.

Approach 2 (for Executables Only):  The RT Startup Heartbeat.vi can be selected as a Startup VI in the Build Specifications of a Real-Time Executable.

In either setup, this VI will blink the User LED on the Real-Time target and write out CPU usage to the console.

Additional Information or References

VI Snippet 

**This document has been updated to meet the current required format for the NI Code Exchange.** 

[davidadamson]

Tried using the LabVIEW v11.0 file.  But it's looking for "RT Get CPU Loads.vi." Where do I get that VI?

[davidadamson]

Sounds, looks awesome but it doesn't come with the following subVIs:

RT Get CP Loads.vi

RT Debug String.vi