A string is a sequence of displayable or non-displayable ASCII characters. Strings provide a platform-independent format for information and data. Some of the more common applications of strings include the following:

• Creating simple text messages.
• Controlling instruments by sending text commands to the instrument and returning data values in the form of either ASCII or binary strings which you then convert to numeric values.
• Storing numeric data to disk. To store numeric data in an ASCII file, you must first convert numeric data to strings before writing the data to a disk file.
• Instructing or prompting the user with dialog boxes.

On the front panel, strings appear as tables, text entry boxes, and labels. LabVIEW includes built-in VIs and functions you can use to manipulate strings, including formatting strings, parsing strings, and other editing.

Refer to the ASCII Codes topic for more information about ASCII codes and conversion functions.

Strings on the Front Panel

Use the string controls and indicators as text entry boxes and labels.

String Display Types

Right-click a string control or indicator on the front panel to select from the display types shown in the following table. You also can right-click a string control or indicator and select Visible Items»Display Style from the shortcut menu to display a glyph on the object that indicates the display type. The table also shows an example message in each display type.