Video: Arrays and Clusters

This video examines array and cluster data types and gives you an introduction to creating and manipulating arrays and clusters.

An array, which consists of elements and dimensions, is either a control or an indicator – it cannot contain a mixture of controls and indicators. Elements are the data or values contained in the array. A dimension is the length, height, or depth of an array. Arrays are very helpful when you are working with a collection of similar data and when you want to store a history of repetitive computations.

Array elements are ordered. Each element in an array has a corresponding index value, and you can use the array index to access a specific element in that array. In NI LabVIEW software, the array index is zero-based. This means that if a one-dimensional (1D) array contains n elements, the index range is from 0 to n – 1, where index 0 points to the first element in the array and index n – 1 points to the last element in the array.

Clusters group data elements of mixed types. An example of a cluster is the LabVIEW error cluster, which combines a Boolean value, a numeric value, and a string. A cluster is similar to a record or a struct in text-based programming languages.

Similar to arrays, a cluster is either a control or an indicator and cannot contain a mixture of controls and indicators. The difference between clusters and arrays is that a particular cluster has a fixed size, where a particular array can vary in size. Also, a cluster can contain mixed data types, but an array can contain only one data type.

Video: Array

Video: Clusters

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