State of the art OO and UML support for LabVIEW - now further improved!

If you haven't tried this tool, give it a (free) trial. You will be amazed at how fast you can create and manage object oriented LabVIEW code from the project environment. And when you have tried that, open the integrated UML tool and generate classes directly from UML, or generate class diagrams from your LabVIEW code (don't miss the state diagram which can be generated from state machine VIs). Classes and methods are created from customizable templates, VI icons are managed by the tool.
And as before you can choose to work with the native lvclass, or the by reference models - GOOP 3 and OpenG. The tool, including UML, has the same features for all three class models.

Some of the news in this release:
- Upgrade support for GOOP1 to GOOP 3 applications
- Support for autopopulating folders
- Classes can be placed in llb files
- Undo-redo in the UML diagrams (after the "do" feature we always want the undo...)
- We have also made a huge effort on stability of the tool - we had some challenges with the integration into the LabVIEW proj environment, but it is worth the effort (thanks again to NI for opening and supporting this door!)

Here is a list of all new features and fixes:
http://www.endevo.se/toolsdownload/GOOP_De..._Suite_v2_5.pdf

Read about the tool editions, pricing and trials here:
http://www.endevo.se/index.php/en/GOOP-Dev-Suite/

The upgrade from v2.0 to v2.5 is free.

Thanks from
Jan and Mike
Endevo
www.endevo.se

I want to add my weight behind this product too* - if you're into OO (or even just want to dabble in it a little), this tool combines both by-val (native LVOOP) and by-ref (GOOP3.0 and OpenGOOP) into your project explorer. I strongly encourgae everyone to download and install at least the community edition - it's fully functional (no support and limited number of classes) and is IMHO a must for anyone working OO in LabVIEW...

* and not just because V I Engineering, Inc is the North American distributor

I'll offer my support for the UML design aspects of GOOP Developer Suite. If you're trying for large-scale, state-of-the-art software design, you need a way to blueprint your design and ensure that your code follows that blueprint. The UML tool gives you this power. Imagine a VI Hierarchy window where you can just draw connections between little icons, then hit a button and have the VIs all be generated for you. That's the idea, but on a broader scale -- generating classes, VIs, icons, etc, to ensure that your application actually is the one you planned it to be. Sure, you still have to fill in the details for each VI's behavior, but you know which VIs call which subVIs and you don't have to take time managing each individual file's creation. The tool can also analyze an existing class hierarchy and generate the UML from that, which will help you when you walk into a foreign, undocumented tangle of VIs to learn what connects to what. It is easy to use, with very smooth graphics and a straightforward user interface.

National Instruments recommends the GOOP Developer Suite for any LabVIEW developer who needs UML documentation for their projects.

GOOP Developer Suite also includes the GOOP Toolkit to create and manage by-reference classes. Anyone who is a long-time LAVA reader knows my thoughts about references. Try not to use them. Then, when that fails, use them sparingly. If you must use references (and there are some rare times when it is necessary), this is a fine tool for managing them.