Measurement Studio Walkthrough: Creating a Measurement Studio Application with Windows Forms Controls and Analysis

Walkthrough: Creating a Measurement

Studio Application with Windows Forms

Controls and Analysis

Note To complete this walkthrough, you must have either the Measurement Studio

Professional or Measurement Studio Enterprise package installed for Visual Studio 2005

or later. This walkthrough will not work with the Measurement Studio Standard package.

Measurement Studio includes user interface controls, such as a waveform

graph control and a gauge control, and analysis functionality, such as signal

generation and mathematical functions. This walkthrough is designed to

help you learn how to add analysis and presentation functionality to a

Windows Forms application by taking you through the following steps:

• Setting up the project—Using the Measurement Studio Application

Wizard, you will create a new project that references the Measurement

Studio Analysis class library and Windows Forms controls.

• Adding user interface controls to the project—Using the Toolbox,

smart tags, and the Properties window, you will add and configure a

button, waveform graph, legend, gauge, and numeric edit user

interface control.

• Generating, plotting, and analyzing the data—Using

NationalInstruments.Analysis.SignalGeneration.White

NoiseSignal

and NationalInstruments.Analysis.Math.

Statistics.Mean

, you will generate data, plot the generated data on

a waveform graph, and calculate the mean of the data.

• Customizing the user interface—Using smart tags and the Collection

Editor and Auto Format dialog boxes, you will display the mean value

on the gauge and the numeric edit, as well as customize your user

interface.

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Before You Begin

The following components are required to complete this walkthrough:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio 2008

• Measurement Studio 8.0.1 or later (Professional or Enterprise

package) for Visual Studio 2005 or Measurement Studio 8.5 or later

(Professional or Enterprise package) for Visual Studio 2008

Setting Up the Project

1. Select Start»All Programs»Microsoft Visual Studio 2005»

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 or Start»All Programs»Microsoft

Visual Studio 2008»Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

2. Select File»New»Project. The New Project dialog box launches.

3. In the Project Types pane, select Measurement Studio under

Visual C# or Visual Basic, depending on which language you

want to create the project in.

4. In the Templates pane, select NI Windows Application. Specify

MyMeasurementStudioProject for Name and specify a Location

of your choice.

5. Click OK. The Measurement Studio Application Wizard launches.

6. Select Analysis Library and Windows Forms User Interface

Control Library.

Tip If you are working with an existing project, you can access the Add/Remove Class

Libraries dialog box by selecting Measurement Studio»View .NET Class Library

Wizard.

7. Click Finish to display

Form1 in the Windows Forms Designer.

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Adding User Interface Controls to the Project

1. Select View»Toolbox to display the Toolbox. The Toolbox contains

components and controls that you can add to your project.

2. Expand the All Windows Forms group. The All Windows Forms

group contains controls and components included in the

System.WindowsForms namespace.

3. Select the Button control and drag and drop it onto the form.

4. Right-click the button and select Properties to display the Properties

window. You configure the properties of the control in the Properties

window.

5. The Text property will be highlighted. Type

Start for the button text.

6. Expand the Measurement Studio group in the Toolbox.

7. Select the WaveformGraph control and drag and drop it onto the

form.

8. Right-click the waveform graph and select Edit Plots to display

the WaveformPlot Collection Editor dialog box. You use the

WaveformPlotCollection Editor dialog box to add or remove plots

and to configure plot properties.

Note You can also access the WaveformPlot Collection Editor dialog box by clicking the

waveform graph smart tag. To access the smart tag, left click on the control to select it and

then left click on the arrow button in the upper right corner of the control.

9. Type

Plot for the Name. Click OK.

10. Before you add the Measurement Studio legend, numeric edit, and

gauge controls, you need to resize the form to accommodate them.

Select the form and use the double-sided arrow to resize it.

11. Select the Legend control and drag and drop it onto the form.

12. Select the NumericEdit control and drag and drop it onto the form.

13. Select the Gauge control and drag and drop it onto the form.

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14. Click the gauge smart tag to display the Gauge Tasks.

15. Type

gauge for the name of the gauge.

The following screenshot shows

Form1 with the user controls.

Generating, Plotting, and Analyzing the Data

1. Double-click the button control to display the Form1 code, with the

cursor inside the click event handler of the button control.

2. Add the following code to generate random data, plot the data,

calculate the mean of the data, and display the mean on the gauge.

[VB.NET]

' Declare and initialize an instance of WhiteNoiseSignal.

Dim whiteNoise As New WhiteNoiseSignal()

' Store the generated data in a double array named data.

Dim data As Double() = whiteNoise.Generate(1000.0, 256)

' Use the PlotY method to plot the data.

Plot.PlotY(data)

' Use the Mean method to calculate the mean of the data.

Dim mean As Double = Statistics.Mean(data)

' Display the mean on the gauge.

gauge.Value = mean

[C#]

// Declare and initialize an instance of WhiteNoiseSignal.

WhiteNoiseSignal whiteNoise = new WhiteNoiseSignal();

// Store the generated data in a double array named data.

double[] data = whiteNoise.Generate(1000.0, 256);

// Use the PlotY method to plot the data.

Plot.PlotY(data);

// Use the Mean method to calculate the mean of the data.

double mean = Statistics.Mean(data);

// Display the mean on the gauge.

gauge.Value = mean;

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Customizing Your User Interface

1. Right-click the legend and select Edit Items to display the LegendItem

Collection Editor dialog box. You use the LegendItem Collection

Editor dialog box to add or remove legend items and to configure

legend item properties.

2. Select Plot in the Source drop-down list and enter

Signal in the Text

box. Click OK. Now that you have specified a legend item for the plot,

changes you make to the plot will be reflected on the legend.

3. Right-click the graph and select Auto Format to display the Auto

Format dialog box. The Auto Format dialog box provides a set of

pre-configured control styles. When you select a style and click OK,

the Auto Format feature configures the appropriate control properties

to reflect the style you chose.

4. Select Points Only. Click OK. Notice that the legend changed

automatically to match the formatting of the graph.

5. Click the gauge smart tag to display the Gauge Tasks.

6. Select Auto Format to display the Auto Format dialog box.

7. Select Dark and click OK.

8. Right-click the gauge and select Properties to display the Properties

window.

9. Set the Range property for the gauge with the drop-down Range type

editor. Type

-0.2 for the minimum value and type 0.2 for the

maximum value.

10. Click the numeric edit smart tag to display the Numeric Edit Tasks.

11. Select Gauge in the Source drop-down list. Setting the Source

property to the gauge allows two-way binding between the controls.

12. Deselect ArrowKeys, Buttons, and Text for the InteractionMode

property of the numeric edit control. Deselecting these interaction

modes makes the numeric edit an indicator. The numeric edit control

only displays the calculated mean.

13. Select the Format Mode property and in the Numeric Edit Format

Mode Editor dialog box, change the Precision to

4 to show four

decimal places of precision.

14. Select File»Save Form1.cs to save your application.

15. Select Debug»Start Without Debugging to run the application.

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16. After your program builds, click Start. Notice the graph shows the

data plot, and the gauge and the numeric edit display the mean of the

data.