How do Dashboard Projects Work

[ElectricNoodle]

So we're planning on using a dashboard project for the first time this year, and there's one small problem. I have no idea how they work. Do you load them on your c-Rio? Do they have to relate to your robot project in some way? How do you get them to run when you're using the drive station and running robot code simultaneously?

[Owen Makin]

Once you have your dashboard coded, you build it like you would a crio project, then once its built you right click and select explore to find the location of the file, and you transfer it to where your original dashboard program is located. All of this can be found by going to the tutorial on the side of the start up screen. It really helps to go through all of it. It should answer all of your questions

[wt200999]

To be a little more clear about what the separation is between the two:

The dashboard project is a normal LabVIEW project, where you build and run it with windows as its target machine. When you build it, it is compiled into an .exe file, which you use on your driver station. This program talks to the driver station, and can also talk to the robot.

The robot project is a real-time LabVIEW project, where you build and run it on the cRio. When you build it, it is compiled specifically to run on the cRio target. This program also talks to the driver station.

[gnunes]

You might find Chapter 8 of this book helpful:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1308755&postcount=18

It has not been revised for the 2014 code yet, but there are not huge changes. You should be able to sort it out. (Revisions to match 2014 should be posted in less than a week.)

[Greg McKaskle]

You are getting good advice from the above posts. If they don't address your questions, please follow up with more specific questions.

For a high level description. The templates have the targets properties and build scripts set for you. The robot project runs on the robot or in some situations on a simulated robot. The dashboard always runs on a laptop.

The driver station, which also runs on the laptop, will attempt to run your dashboard. It has selectors for Default, LV, Java, etc. These simply choose different paths and EXE names to launch and again match the templates.

Communication between DS and dashboard and robot and dashboard is supported, and the templates include some of it already. For example, the DS sends robot mode and voltage via the UDP protocol. Additionally, the robot and dashboard are both running SmartDashboard client/server code and share named variables with the icons in the SD palette.

Greg McKaskle

[Invictus3593]

The dashboard does not go on the crio, it is simply a customizable control interface that can display sensor feedback and set values to your robot without a controller. You can also use it to do your vision processing, since the crio can be easily bogged down by it.

When you open a dashboard project, the main difference you'll see is that the only .vi you should edit is Dashboard Main.vi. It contains everything you need to run the program, unlike the robot project.

Like gnunes said, chapter 8 of The Secret Book of FRC LabVIEW is a great learning tool and the dashboard is one of the most important components of your operator console. My advice is to use it as much as possible!