Creating a LabVIEW Class or Interface

Complete the following steps to create a LabVIEW class or interface.

1. Create a new LabVIEW project or open an existing project.
2. Right-click My Computer in the Project Explorer window and select New»Class or New»Interfacefrom the shortcut menu.

   Note  You also can select File»New to display the New dialog box and select Other Files»Class or Other Files»Interface from the Create New list to create a new class or interface.

3. In the New Class/Interface dialog box, enter a name to identify the purpose of the class or interface.
   • For classes, name all classes as nouns. For example, name a class Waveform Reader.lvclass rather than Reads Waveform.lvclass.
   • For interfaces, refer to Best Practices for Naming Interfaces for naming guidelines.
4. In the Parent Class and Parent Interfaces sections, select the class and interfaces for the new class or interface to inherit from.
5. In the Save Options section, choose from the following options:
   • Select Save to Folder and specify the path to save the class or interface immediately.
   • Select Do Not Save if you do not want to save the class or interface.
6. Click OK. The LabVIEW class or interface appears in the Project Explorer window. For LabVIEW classes, a private data control (.ctl) with the same name as the class also appears.

You can complete the following actions:

• (Class only) Define the private data of the class.

  Note  You also can create a LabVIEW class from a control or type definition.

• Create member VIs.
• Edit the class or interface properties.

You can define data, create member VIs, or edit the class or interface properties in the order that you need. Some classes may not need private data, but may need member VIs so that you never define the private data control. You may change the wire appearance and other class or interface properties before developing the class or interface. You can develop aspects of the class or interface in the order that best suits the individual project and development plan.

Note  You can create a directory on disk named the same as the LabVIEW class or interface to save the class library file, class member VIs, and class custom default probes. You can include the files that the class library owns in the directory. If you include files for more than one class library in the same directory, conflicts might occur if you try to include VIs of the same name in different class libraries. Naming conflicts can occur in the development process when you override dynamic member VIs.