LabView Programming - Do we still need Watchdog?

[Mark McLeod]

Don't worry James, there is a Watchdog...

It's implemented differently this year though, so Austin, you will not be doing what you did or saw done last year.


The old Watchdog vi's are still in the palette, but I would not use them.
They are there to maintain compatibility with last year's code.

This year NI has incorporated Safety VI's that are relatively invisible to you. They are optional, but enabled on the Open Drive Motors by default (not the generic Open Motor). The implementation is better than last year's generic Watchdog.

You will see the Safety VI enable if you double-click on the Drive Open in Begin.vi.
You can enable/disable it there.

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P.S. I'm a wee bit behind Eric, but have one note to add.

Warning:
These Safety vi's force a particular style of coding and old code may no longer work correctly.
You can no longer set and leave a motor until the next change, for instance, in an autonomous flat sequence structure.
It needs to be set and reset at a fairly rapid pace, even if you're setting it to the same value over and over again.

I'm undecided myself how or if we will use these. It can make teaching autonomous needless complex to a beginning student.