3/7/2016

ApplicationDesignPatterns:StateMachinesNationalInstruments

ApplicationDesignPatterns:StateMachines
PublishDate:sep08,2011

Overview

TheStateMachineisoneofthefundamentalarchitecturesLabVIEWdevelopersfrequently
usetobuildapplicationsquickly.StateMachinearchitecturecanbeusedtoimplement
complexdecisionmakingalgorithmsrepresentedbystatediagramsorflowcharts.More
precisely,astatemachineimplementsanyalgorithmdescribedbyaMooremachine,which
performsaspecificactionforeachstateinthediagram.
StateMachinesareusedinapplicationswheredistinguishablestatesexist.Eachstatecan
leadtooneormultiplestates,andcanalsoendtheprocessflow.AStateMachinerelieson
userinputorinstatecalculationtodeterminewhichstatetogotonext.Manyapplications
requireaninitializestate,followedbyadefaultstatewheremanydifferentactionscanbe
performed.Theactionsperformedcandependonpreviousandcurrentinputsaswellas
states.Ashutdownstatecanthenbeusedtoperformcleanupactions.
StateMachinesaremostcommonlyusedwhenprogramminguserinterfaces.Whencreating
auserinterface,differentuseractionssendtheuserinterfaceintodifferentprocessing
segments.EachofthesesegmentswillactasstatesintheStateMachine.Thesesegments
caneitherleadtoanothersegmentforfurtherprocessingorwaitforanotheruserevent.In
thisexample,theStateMachineconstantlymonitorstheuserforthenextactiontotake.
Thereisanotherdesignpatternthatcanbeusedtoimplementauserinterface,theQueued
MessageHandler.AQueuedMessageHandlerisamoresophisticatedversionoftheState
Machineandoffersadditionalflexibility,butitalsoaddsadditionalcomplexity.Queued
MessageHandlerswillbecoveredatanothertime.
ProcesstestingisanothercommonapplicationofStateMachines.Inthisexample,each
segmentoftheprocessisrepresentedbyastate.Dependingontheresultofeachstates
test,adifferentstatemaybecalled.Thiscanhappencontinually,performingindepth
analysisoftheprocessbeingtested.

TableofContents

1.WhyUseaStateMachine?
2.BuildaStateMachine
3.ExampleCokeMachine
4.IMPORTANTNOTES
1.WhyUseaStateMachine?

Besidesitspowerfulabilitytoimplementdecisionmakingalgorithms,statemachinesare
alsofunctionalformsofapplicationplanning.Asthecomplexityofapplicationsgrow,sodoes
theneedforadequatedesign.Statediagramsandflowchartsareusefulandsometimes
essentialforthedesignprocess.NotonlyareStateMachinesadvantageousinapplication
planning,theyarealsoeasytocreate.CreatinganeffectiveStateMachinerequiresthe
designertomakeatableofpossiblestates.Withthistablethedesignercanplanhoweach
stateisrelatedtoanother.ThedesignprocessinvolvedincreatinganoperativeState
Machinewillalsoimprovetheoveralldesignoftheapplication.
2.BuildaStateMachine

Wewanttogenerateanapplicationthatfiresacannoncontinuouslywithoutallowingittoget
dangerouslyhot.Tobegin,wewillrepresentthislogicwithastatediagram(Fig.1).Notice
thatinthisdiagram,thestates(ovalnodes)describetheactionsthatareperformedwhen
thecontrolprocessisinthatstate,whereasthetransitions(arrows)simplydescribewhen
andhowtheprocesscanmovefromonestatetoanother.

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ApplicationDesignPatterns:StateMachinesNationalInstruments

Figure1:StateDiagram

EachstateinaStateMachinedoessomethinguniqueandcallsotherstates.State
communicationdependsonsomeconditionorsequence.Totranslatethestatediagraminto
aLabVIEWdiagram,youneedthefollowinginfrastructure:
Whileloopcontinuallyexecutesthevariousstates
Casestructureeachcasecontainscodetobeexecutedforeachstate
Shiftregistercontainsstatetransitioninformation
Transitioncodedeterminesthenextstateinthesequence(seebelowforexamples)
Theflowofthestatediagram(Fig.1)isimplementedbytheloop,whiletheindividualstates
arereplacedbycasesinthecasestructure.Ashiftregisteronthewhileloopkeepstrackof
thecurrentstate,whichisfedintothecasestructureinput.

Figure2:StateMachine

Therearedifferentmethodstodeterminewhichstatetotransitiontonext.Fourcommon
methodsarediscussedbelow(Noteinthefollowingmethodexamples,Initcould
transitiontoanystate):
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ApplicationDesignPatterns:StateMachinesNationalInstruments

Figure3a
Figure3ademonstratesanInitstatethathasonlyonepossibletransition.

Figure3b
Figure3bdemonstratesanInitstatewithtwopossibletransitions,ShutDownorPower
Up.

Figure3c
Figure3cdemonstratesanInitstateusingabooleanarrayalongwithanarrayofenum
constants.ThereisabooleaninthebooleanarraycorrespondingtoeachtransitionInitcan
make.Thearrayofenumconstantsrepresentseachtransitionname.Theindexofthefirst
Truebooleaninthebooleanarraycorrespondstotheindexofthenewstateinthearrayof
enums.

Figure3d
Figure3ddemonstratesanInitstateusinganinnerloopandcasestructuretotransitionto
thenextstate.Theinnercasestructurecontainsonediagramforeachtransitionthatleaves
thecurrentstate.Eachofthecasesintheinnercasestructurehastwooutputsaboolean
value,whichspecifieswhetherornotthetransitionshouldbetaken,andanenumerated
constant,whichspecifiesthestatetowhichthetransitiongoes.Byusingtheloopindexas
aninputtothecasestructure,thiscodeeffectivelyrunsthrougheachtransitioncaseoneby
one,untilitfindsadiagramwithaTruebooleanoutput.AftertheTruebooleanoutputis
found,thecaseoutputsthenewstatetowhichthetransitiongoes.Thoughthismethodmay
Estesitioutilizacookiesparaofrecerleunamejorexperienciadebsqueda.Conozcanuestrapolticadeprivacidad.
appearslightlymorecomplicatedthanthepreviousmethods,itdoesoffertheabilitytoadd
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namestotransitionsbycastingtheoutputoftheloopindextoanenumeratedtype.This
benefitallowsyoutoaddautomaticdocumentationtoyourtransitioncode.
3.ExampleCokeMachine

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ApplicationDesignPatterns:StateMachinesNationalInstruments

Thisapplicationhasthefollowingrequirements:
AllCokeproductsaresoldfor50cents.
Themachineonlyacceptsnickels,dimes,andquarters.
Exactchangeisnotneeded.
Changecanbereturnedatanytimeduringtheprocessofenteringcoins.
Ourfirststepwillbetocreateastatediagram.Therearequiteafewwaysthiscanbedone,
butrememberthatmorestatesequalslessefficiency.Forthisexample,ourstatediagram
willhaveeightstates.Thestateswewillbeusingare:
1.)INITinitializeourCokeMachine
2.)WAITFOREVENTwherethemachinewaitsforcoins
3.)RETURNCHANGEwherethemachinereturnschange
4.)COKEPRODUCTwhenthemachinehasreceived50ormorecentsitwilldispensethe
beverage
5.)QUARTERwhenthecustomerentersaquarter
6.)DIMEwhenthecustomerentersadime
7.)NICKLEwhenthecustomerentersanickel
8.)EXITafterthechangeisreturnedand/orbeveragedispensed,themachinewillpower
down(applicationwillterminate)

Figure4

Withthestatediagramcomplete,wearenowreadytobeginourLabVIEWStateMachine
application.ToviewthefinalStateMachine,pleaseopentheattachedVI.

4.IMPORTANTNOTES

TherearesomecaveatstobeawareofwhencreatingaStateMachine,i.e.code
redundancyanduseofEnum.
Coderedundancy
Problem:ThehardestpartofcreatingaStateMachineistodifferentiatebetweenpossible
statesinthestatediagram.Forexample,intheCokeMachinestatediagram(Fig.4),we
couldhavehad0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50centstatesratherthanhavingawait
forresponsestatethatgoesfromonestatetoanotherdependingonwhichtypeofcoinis
dropped.Thatwouldcreate11differentstateswiththeexactsamecasediagram.
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Redundantcodecancreateabigprobleminalargerapplication.
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Solution:Ifdifferentstateshavethesamecasediagram,trytocombinethemintoonestate.
Forexample,thewaitforresponsestateiscreatedinordertoavoidcoderedundancy.
Enumuse
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ApplicationDesignPatterns:StateMachinesNationalInstruments

Problem:EnumsarewidelyusedascaseselectorsinStateMachines.Iftheuserattempts
toaddordeleteastatefromthisenum,theremainingconnectedwirestothecopiesofthis
enumwillbreak.ThisisoneofthemostcommonobstacleswhenimplementingState
Machineswithenums.
Solution:Twopossiblesolutionstothisproblemare:
1.Ifalltheenumsarecopiedfromthechangedenum,thebreakswilldisappear.
2.Createanewcontrolwiththeenum,andselecttypedeffromthesubmenu.Byselecting
typedef,alloftheenumcopieswillbeautomaticallyupdatedifuseraddsorremovesastate.

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