Tutorial:ForLoopsandWhileLoops

PublishDate:Apr01,2015

Overview

ThistutorialexploressomeofthebasicfunctionsandusesofForLoopsandWhileLoops.
YouwilllearnhowtocreateForLoopsandWhileLoopsandwhentheappropriatetime
wouldbetousetheminyourprogram.
TableofContents

Awhileloopisacontrolflowstatementyouusetoexecuteablockofthesubdiagramcode
repeatedlyuntilagivenBooleanconditionismet.First,youexecutethecodewithinthe
subdiagram,andthentheconditionalterminalisevaluated.Unlikeaforloop,awhileloop
doesnothaveasetiterationcountthus,awhileloopexecutesindefinitelyifthecondition
neveroccurs.

Aforloopisacontrolflowstatementyouusetoexecuteablockofthesubdiagramcodea
setnumberoftimes,butawhileloopstopsexecutingthesubdiagramonlyifthevalueatthe
conditionalterminalexists.

BuildingaWhileLoop

1.OpenanewVI.YoucanopenablankVIbyselectingFileNewVI
2.IftheFunctionspaletteisnotvisible,rightclickanyblankspaceontheblockdiagramto
displayatemporaryversionofthepalette.Clickthethumbtackintheupperleftcornerofthe
Functionspalettetopinthepalettesoitisnolongertemporary.
3.SelectthewhileloopfromtheStructurespaletteundertheFunctionspalette.

4.Usethecursortodragaselectionrectanglearoundthesectionoftheblockdiagramyou
wanttorepeat.

5.Whenyoureleasethemousebutton,awhileloopboundaryenclosesthesectionyou
haveselected.

6.PlaceaStopbuttononthefrontpanel.YoucanfindthisunderControls
PaletteBooleanStop.

7.AddtheStopbuttonfromtheblockdiagramtothewhileloopbydragginganddroppingit
insidethewhileloop.

8.Theconditionalterminal,shownbelow,defineswhentheloopstops.Therearetwo
settingsfortheconditionalterminal:ContinueifTrueandStopifTrue.WhensettoContinue
ifTrue,thewhilelooprunsonlyifaBooleanvalueoftrueissenttotheterminal.Ifthe
conditionalterminalissettoStopifTrue,andaBooleanvalueoftrueissenttothe
conditionalterminal,theloophaltsexecution.
StopifTrue

ContinueifTrue

9.ToswitchtheconditionalterminalbetweenContinueifTrueandStopifTrue,rightclickon
theconditionalterminalandcheckthecorrespondingsetting.

10.WiretheStopbuttontotheconditionalterminalsothatyoucancontroltheexecutionof
thewhileloop.WhentheStopbuttonispressed,atruevalueispassedtotheconditional
terminalcausingthewhilelooptostopexecution.YoucanwireanyBooleandatatothe
conditionalterminaltocontroltheexecutionofawhileloop.

11.Theiterationterminalisanoutputterminalthatcontainsthenumberofcompleted
iterations.Theiterationcountalwaysstartsatzero.Duringthefirstiteration,theiteration
terminalreturns0.

12.Youhavejustcreatedasimplewhileloopthatgeneratesrandomnumbersanddisplays
themuntiltheStopbuttonispressed.

StructureTunnels

Usestructuretunnelstofeeddataintoandoutofstructureslikethewhileloop.Ifyouwantto
senddataintoyourwhileloop,youneedtocreatestructuretunnels.DatasentintotheWhile
Loopissentonlyonthefirstiteration,anddatasentoutofthewhileloopissentonlyafter
thelastiteration.Nowcreateastructuretunneltodisplaythenumberofiterationsexecuted.
1.Createanumericindicatoronthefrontpanel.

2.Dragadatawirefromtheiterationcounterintotheborderofthewhilelooptocreatea
structuretunnel.

3.Thetunnelappearsasasolidblockontheborderofthewhileloop.Theblockisthecolor
ofthedatatypewiredtothetunnel.Datapassoutofaloopaftertheloopterminates.When
atunnelpassesdataintoaloop,theloopexecutesonlyafterdataarriveatthetunnel.

4.Dragadatawirefromthestructuretunnelintothenumericindicatortopassthenumberof
iterationstoyourdisplay.

5.Inthefollowingblockdiagram,theiterationterminalisconnectedtoatunnel.Thevaluein
thetunneldoesnotgetpassedtotheiterationindicatoruntilthewhileloopfinishes
executing.

ManipulatingtheConditionalTerminal

ByusingBooleanfunctions,youcanimplementmultipleconditionstoaffectyourwhileloop
conditionalterminal.YoucanuseanorfunctiontocompareanerrorwirestatusandaStop
buttoncontrolsothatifeitherisTRUE,theconditionalterminalreceivesaTRUEsignal,and
thewhileloopstops.
1.Createawhileloopasoutlinedpreviously.

2.PlaceanErrorIn3D.ctlcontrolonthefrontpanel.YoucanfindthisunderControls
PaletteArray,Matrix&ClusterErrorIn3D.ctl.

3.RemovetheconnectionwirebetweentheStopbuttonandtheconditionalterminal.
4.MakesuretheErrorIn3D.ctlisoutsideofthewhileloop.
5.PlaceaSimpleErrorHandleroutsideofthewhileloop.YoucanfindthisunderFunctions
PaletteDialog&UserInterfaceSimpleErrorHandler.vi.Thisfunctionreportsanyerrors
encounteredwhencalled.

6.LinktheerrorincontrolwiththeSimpleErrorHandlerthroughthewhileloopviastructure
tunnels.Dragawirefromtheoutputoftheerrorincontroltotheborderofthewhileloop,
andthendragtheerrorwirefromthetunnelcreatedtotheoppositeborderofthewhileloop
andintotheinputoftheSimpleErrorHandler.

7.PlaceanUnbundleByNamefunctioninsideofthewhileloop.Youcanfindthisunder
FunctionsPaletteProgrammingCluster,Class,&Variant.Thisfunctionseparatesthe
Booleanportionoftheerrordatawire.

8.Placeanorfunctioninsideofthewhileloop.YoucanfindthisunderFunctions

PaletteProgrammingBoolean.

9.Linkthedatawiresasshownbelow.ThissimpleVIstopsexecutionofthewhileloopif
eithertheStopbuttonispressedoranerrorisdetectedinsideofthewhileloop.

BuildingaForLoop

1.OpenanewVI.YoucanopenablankVIbyselectingFileNewVI.
2.IftheFunctionspaletteisnotvisible,rightclickanyblankspaceontheblockdiagramto
displayatemporaryversionoftheFunctionspalette.Clickthethumbtackintheupperleft
corneroftheFunctionspalettetopinthepalettesoitisnolongertemporary.
3.SelecttheforloopfromtheStructurespaletteundertheFunctionspalette.

4.Youalsocanplaceawhileloopontheblockdiagram.Rightclicktheborderofthewhile
loopandselectReplacewithForLoopfromtheshortcutmenutochangeawhilelooptoa
forloop.

5.Aforloopcontainsacountterminal.Thecountterminaldictateshowmanytimesthe
subdiagramisexecuted.
6.RightclickonthecountterminalandCreateConstanttolinkthecountterminalwitha
numericvalue.

7.Byinserting100intothenumericconstant,theforloopexecutes100timesbefore
stopping.

8.Theiterationterminal,shownasfollows,isanoutputterminalthatcontainsthenumberof
completediterations.Theexamplebelowwouldupdateanindicatoronthefrontpanelwith
thecurrentiterationnumber.

AddingaConditionalTerminaltoaForLoop

Ifnecessary,youcanaddaconditionalterminaltoconfigureaforlooptostopwhena
Booleanconditionoranerroroccurs.
1.RightclickontheedgeoftheforloopandselectConditionalTerminal.

2.Aforloopwithaconditionalterminalexecutesuntiltheconditionoccursoruntilall
iterationsarecomplete,whicheverhappensfirst.
3.Forloopsyouconfigureforaconditionalexithavearedglyphinthecountterminalaswell
asaconditionalterminalinthelowerrightcorner.

4.Afteryouconfiguretheforlooptoexitconditionally,theloopappearssimilartothefigure
below.Thefollowingforloopgeneratesarandomnumbereveryseconduntil100seconds
haspassedortheuserclickstheStopbutton.

Formoreinformationontheusesofforloopsandwhileloops,refertotheContextHelp.You
canaccessContextHelpfromHelpShowContextHelporusingtheshortcut<CtrlH>.

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