Don't like the look of the LabVIEW dashboard? Frustrated with dashboard examples not working how you want? Confused on how to pack packets for the provided dashboard? Want to customize the dashboard to better fit your needs and strategy or show more relevant information without having to mess around with the LabVIEW one?
I'm developing my own dashboard software that I plan to release to all FIRST teams once I have a stable beta out. My goal is to have it out in a few weeks from now in time for the last third of build season or so. Current features include:
- Written in C++ with optional DirectX support. That means it runs fast, and it runs with a small footprint on your computer.
- Customization made easy. For those of you who have ever worked with Microsoft Publisher, Visual Studio, or any other drag-and-drop designer, imagine this: Select a control type. Drag it onto your screen. Move it, resize it, and drag it just like you might with an image or text box in Word or Publisher. Set properties like appearance and behaviors. Then just drag and drop the control's data source onto a visual representation of the packet to tell the control where in incoming packets to get its data from.
- A plethora of built-in controls. Meters, gauges, on/off lights, numeric printouts, video feed (using the webcam), direction indicators, battery power meters, and the list continues. Everything you see on the LabVIEW dashboard and a little more. Each control will have multiple appearances the user can select from, and while they will come with default color values, all colors in any control will be changeable by the user.
- Fast swap. Want multiple dashboards, such as one for debugging and one for competition? Every dashboard you make can be saved to a file and loaded back, settings and all.
- Fullscreen mode for maximum readability.
- Full networking support. The dashboard receives data exactly like the official LabVIEW one. You don't have to change a thing in your robot code.
- Full video support from the provided webcam system. Again, no changes to your robot code. Additionally, you can add controls over the top of the video with transparent backgrounds to act as overlays and show data such as a distance readout provided by an ultrasonic sensor.
I'm wondering how many teams out there would be interested in something like this, and what additional features they want to see. Feedback is greatly appreciated.