Super Rookies

[MaxMax161]

This is an analogy that I was taught that I think will help you with understanding what the front panel and block diagram are if you don't already.

In a car the dashboard/driver's seat is like the front panel, it contains all your inputs in to the engine (wheel, gas peddle, knobs, ect) and all your outputs from the engine (speedometer, RPM, check engine, ect). That's what the front panel is, it (in addition to joysticks and stuff like that) is your interface with your program.

The block diagram is like a view under the hood. When you look under the hood you see various units and different types of wires and tubes connecting them. Each component (engine, radiator, oil pump, ect) is like a .vi and each wire or tube is like a wire.

Another important thing to know is that the type of things you can do and create on the front panel and block diagram are different. For example you can only create a light or switch on the front panel (a corresponding block will automatically appear on the block diagram), and can only create wires, or references to other .vis (like joystick get) on the block diagram.

After that if you want to learn more about labview dissect the examples of code that FIRST gives you and just click around a lot. Hopefully this was helpful and not overly long winded, good luck!