LabVIEW Shortcut Provider

LabVIEW Project Explorer

The LabVIEW Project Explorer window was introduce in LabVIEW 8.0 to provide a way to group and organize VIs and libraries, hardware and I/O, multiple targets, create build specifications, and deploy or download files to targets.

The Project Explorer window includes the following items by default:

• Project root—Contains all other items in the Project Explorer window. This label on the project root includes the filename for the project.
  • My Computer: Represents the local computer as a target in the project.
    • Dependencies: Includes items that VIs under a target require, such as other VIs, shared libraries, and LabVIEW project libraries.
    • Build Specifications: Includes build configurations for source distributions and other types of builds available in LabVIEW toolkits and modules,such as:
      • Stand-alone applications.
      • Installers.
      • .NET interop assemblies.
      • Packed libraries.
      • Shared libraries.
      • Source distributions.
      • Web services.
      • Zip files.

Refer to the following link to know more about the

• Managing a Project in LabVIEW
• LabVIEW Wiki - Project Explorer

LabVIEW Project Explorer Anatomy

Project Item

A Project Item is an individual element in a LabVIEW Project, LabVIEW Project Library, LabVIEW Class, or XControl. Each element has its own name and an icon based on the item types. Each item can have a status and properties that can be saved into the project file on disk or stored in memory only.

Overlays are smaller icons that appear on the Project Item's icon that show status or other properties.

• For LabIEW Project Libraries and LabVIEW Classes colored key icons show the access scope of the item.
• For LabVIEW Classes and XControls a lock icon appears when the class or XControl is locked and won't allow editing.

The actions that occur when an item is double clicked on can differ depending on its type , e.g., it can expand or collapse all sub-items, open or edit it, call an external application.

An item in the tree can be the source or the target for a drag-and-drop operation, e.g., drag and drop the Project Items to re-order them in the project tree, drag and drop Project Items onto another one to add it as nested Project Items. Drop any file, or multiple files and folders, into the Project Explorer to add it to the project.

Menu items

There are two basic types of menu items:

• the global menu items, which appear in the menu bar of the project window. These menu items appear independent of the item selected in the tree.
• the item-specific menu items which apply to items of specific type in the project tree.

Popup menu items

The popup menu items appears when an item is right-clicked. The menu can be different depending on the item selected and the state of the item.

Toolbar buttons

The Project toolbar on the Project Explorer window contains buttons, with a different icon, for instance:

• Open Project: displays the file dialog box from which you can select a LabVIEW project to open.
• Save Project: saves the project.
• Filter Project View: allows you to specify which nodes are visible in the Project Explorer window.
• Project Properties: displays the Project Properties dialog box.
• Resolve Conflicts: displays the Resolve Project Conflicts dialog box.

The toolbar buttons can act globally or specifically to an item type. Global toolbar buttons are available regardless of which item is selected in the project tree. Item-specific toolbar buttons only show when an item of a specific type is selected in the tree.

The Toolbar buttons can be removed from the toolbar by right clicking on the project toolbar and deselecting the appropriate provider. You can also

LabVIEW Project Provider Framework

The LabVIEW project window has a plug-in architecture to allow for easy extension of the project window features and capabilities. A Provider is code that plugs into this framework to provide additional set of functionality to a project that will apply:

• globally (to all items in the project).
• item-specifically (to specific item types).

You have 2 kinds of plug-ins:

• Primary: responsible for putting one or more new item types into the project tree.
• Secondary Provider: adds additional functionality to existing items.

LabVIEW Project Provider Anatomy

A project provider is comprised of an INI file and a set of VIs. The INI file contains configuration information for the project. The VIs implement a set of interfaces that provide all the functionality of the provider.

INI File

Each provider contains an INI file that describes the supported item type as well as the "interfaces VI's", that provide the locations of the plugin's functionality VIs.

The Project Provider INI File is located in the following directory:

• On Windows, <LabVIEW install directory>\resource\Framework\Providers\GProviders.
• On Mac OS, /Applications/National Instruments/<LabVIEW XXXX 64-bit>/resource/Framework/Providers/GProviders.

Here Project Provider INI File token list:

Project Provider INI File token List

Token	Description
SupportedInterface	Indicates which interfaces are supported by the provider.
SupportedType	Specifies a GUID that represents the type of project item. Must be formatted as following: {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}.
Alias	Is a unique string that like the GUID, is used to identify the type of a project item (applies to Primary providers only). The SupportedType token in a secondary provider can point to the Alias of the item type it wants to attach to instead of the GUID.
IsPrimary	1 – Primary provider (defines a new item type in the project). 0 – Secondary provider (adds functionality to existing item(s) in the project).
ItemInterfaceVI	Defines the VI that enumerates the “Item” interface.
ProviderInterfaceVI	Defines the VI that enumerates the “Provider” interface.
GlobalItemInterfaceVI	Defines the VI that enumerates the ”Global” item interface.
CreateNewWizardInterfaceVI	Defines the VI that enumerates the “CreateNewWizard” interface.
SourceControlInterfaceVI	Defines the VI that enumerates the “SourceControl” interface.
DeployInterfaceVI	Defines the VI that enumerates the “Deploy” interface.
BuildInterfaceVI	Defines the VI that enumerates the “Build” interface.
CreateNewWizardHost	(Primary providers only) Defines which “New” menu to add to e.g., Source, Build.
InterfaceVersion	Specifies the interface version used by the provider. Currently, this must be set to 1.0.
Signature	Digital signature – generated by NI.

GUID and Type strings identify items of a specific type. GUIDs can be used as supported types to build a provider for item of a specific type. Here is a list of important GUIDs and Type strings:

GUIDs and Type strings List

Item type	Type String	GUID String
Virtual Folder	Folder	{D60740D6-F254-4BBC-5675-8858F35B820E}
Auto Populating Folder	Folder	{D60740D6-F254-4BBC-5675-8858F35B820E}
VI	VI	{D60740D6-F254-4BBC-5675-8858F35B810E}
Control	VI	{D60740D6-F254-4BBC-5675-8858F35B810E}
(Non-LabVIEW) file	Document	{D60740D6-F255-4BBC-5675-8858F35B820E}
LLB-file	Folder	{D60740D6-F254-4BBC-5675-8858F35B820E}
Lvlib file	Library	{ABC740D6-F254-4BBC-5675-8858F35B820E}
LabVIEW class	LVClass	{EFD740D6-F254-4BBC-5675-8858F35B820E}
Class datatype	Class Private Data	{64A9BF48-4C55-45DB-8F18-9C796DA0C113}
Property Definition Folder	Property Definition	{81C68620-8BE3-4643-B04A-4E83AA6363D2}
LabVIEW XControl	XControl	{2E4BD3AC-4E04-45C9-B6C5-AD138962C435}
XControl Method	Method VI	{DAABD3DC-4F44-4C3D-8BA3-E5D035A4F27A}
XControl Property	Property Folder	{93C4A07A-46E9-442F-AF0F-D6C6039546D1}
XControl Property Read VI	Property VI	{DAABD3DB-4F44-4C3D-8BA3-E5D035A4F27A}
XControl Property Write VI	Property VI	{DAABD3DB-4F44-4C3D-8BA3-E5D035A4F27A}
XControl ability VI	Ability VI	{DAABD3DA-4F44-4C3D-8BA3-E5D035A4F27A}
DAQmx Task	NI-DAQmx Task	{0A806145-1BF3-3A50-0B5E-F969F56C8E2A}
DAQmx Virtual Channel	NI-DAQmx Channel	{B5F05770-7C71-3A03-C9FB-F73F35629FC1}
DAQmx Scale	NI-DAQmx Scale	{BC977C97-1833-3D51-4EF6-D82E6838A8F3}
Shared Network Variable	Variable	{9BA597C5-4996-4622-B9BB-444431834D0D}
Hyperlink	Hyperlink	{CC472C20-0441-48DC-AF25-3E82ECC9376F}
Dependencies	Dependencies	{0D75D917-83D7-9871-AA09-A0FFD6A8099B}
Build Specifications	Build	{0C750917-83D7-9871-8908-BB4ED6A8099B}
Application exe	EXE	{9A75366A-79D3-4BFD-9532-E3070185C1E8}
DLL	DLL	{20A41099-3F2C-42C3-9544-7ABCC1E6CB0D}
Zip	Build Specifications	{51F0E16F-7FA4-4E9F-AE30-C81D9D0444B0}
My Computer	My Computer	{CEFE1B10-1732-4678-A70A-299293455410}
Source Distribution	Source Distribution	{15DA4F9E-0591-4AB1-A339-C3B4D54902D8}
Packed Library	Packed Library	{E4492117-CED3-4F31-9F8D-E2118AE04F12}

:memo: The INI file needs to be signed.

For LabVIEW to load a Project Provider, its INI file must contain a valid "signature" consisting of an enciphered MD5 hash of certain other values in the INI file.

It is a 5 step algorithm that is used to sign tokens: 1- Retrieve the values (not the keys) as strings from the INI file and concatenate them with no delimiters. 2- Compute MD5 message-digest. 3- Replace the 0123456789ABCDEF's within the MD5 message-dogest by the T3C5K7W9SBNRJLX2's 4- Switch each pair of two consecutive digits 5- Set the calculated signature to the proper token in the INI file.

To read/write the INI file we can't use the classic INI File VIs because we can have the same token multiple times, such as supportedtype.

INI File example:

Interface VIs

The interface VIs tells the framework which VI's need to be run when a Project Item event occurs. They consist of a list of VI paths that point to each of the required methods that the providers must implement. You can completely customize these VIs event if you must conform to the particular connector pane.

The following interfaces are available for a provider:

• Build (Primary providers only): defines events that apply to builds, i.e. items under Build Specifications, in the project tree. Interface Method VIs:
  • Invoke
  • Preview
  • IsRunnable
  • Run
  • OnDuplicate

---

• CreateNewWizard (Primary providers only): defines events that occur while adding items of new types to the project tree. Interface Method VIs:
  • Init
  • Invoke
  • Finalize
  • GetNewItemInfo
  • GetCreateNewWeight
  • IncludeItem

---

• Global : defines global-level events that are not tied into a specific item type.Interface Method VIs:
  • Init
  • Exit
  • OnCommand
  • OnUpdateCommand

---

• Item : defines events that occur to individual items in the project tree. Interface Method VIs:
  • Init
  • Exit
  • OnCommand
  • OnUpdateCommand

---

• ProjectDeployItem : defines events that support deploying of an item in the project tree. Interface Method VIs:
  • GetSupportedCommands
  • GetDeployState
  • NotifyCommandCompleted

---

• Provider : defines events that occur to multiple items in the project tree.Interface Method VIs:
  • InitItems
  • OnSaveProject
  • LoadComplete
  • OnCommand
  • OnSaveForPrevious
  • LoadCompleteWithWarnings
  • Startup
  • OnSaveForPreviousEx
  • OnUpdateCommandBegin
  • Shutdown
  • OnSaveForPreviousWithWarnings
  • OnUpdateCommandEnd
  • OnPopUpMenu
  • NotifyChanged

---

• SourceControl : defines events that apply to source code control functionality. Interface Method VIs:
  • GetRequiredFiles
  • GetDependents
  • GetCaller

Directory Structure

All the VI-based providers and provider APIs can be found at:

• On Windows:<LabVIEW install directory>/resource/Framework/Providers/.
• On Mac OS: /Applications/National Instruments/<LabVIEW XXXX 64-bit>/resource/Framework/Providers/.

This directory further contains following directories:

• API : this directory contains type-definition controls defining the specifications for the various interface VIs. It also contains several helpful VIs that can be used from within the provider framework to perform frequent provider tasks, e.g., getting or setting project item properties.

• Common : this directory also contains reusable VIs that are useful to writing providers. They are simple VIs and unlike the API VIs do not call into the provider framework.

• GProviders : this directory was introduced in LabVIEW 2011. It is mandatory to have all the INI files in this directory for LabVIEW versions post-2010 for the providers to be loaded. This change is backward-compatible: a provider with its INI in the GProviders directory behaves the same way in a previous version of LabVIEW. It is highly recommended to follow this standard while building providers with any version of LabVIEW.

• Icons : this is the recommended location for all your provider icons. You can place icons at other locations as well but remember to specify the path with respect to the INI file location when setting the icons in provider VIs.

• <Provider> : each provider should be located in a separate directory under:

  • On Windows: - On Windows:<LabVIEW install directory>/resource/Framework/Providers/.
  • On Mac OS: /Applications/National Instruments/<LabVIEW XXXX 64-bit>/resource/Framework/Providers/.

        :bulb: This is not strictly enforced but is highly recommended.

API VIs

The VIs in the API directory call into the provider framework to implement their functionality. A descriptive list of these VIs can be found in the dedicated “API VIs” page.

Context

The VIs under provider framework run in the NI.LV.MxLvProvider context. This can be observed on the front panel of a VI running the provider framework, as shown below:

This can make the VIs behave differently than VIs that run under the <ProjectName>/My Computer context. Also, the front panels of VIs to be executed under provider framework