Pre-Release: Icon Editor (green-default theme) supporting LabVIEW 2021–2025
- Overview
- Key Components
- Getting Started & Contributing
- Feature & Experiment Workflows
- Documentation
- Technical Steering Committee
- License & CLA
- Contact & Discord
This repository hosts the open-source LabVIEW Icon Editor under an MIT license. Whenever LabVIEW is built for an official release, it automatically pulls the latest Icon Editor from this repo’s main branch. This means that your contributions—whether features, bug fixes, or documentation—can become part of official LabVIEW distributions (currently focusing on LabVIEW 2021–2025).
- Green default theme for testing (feel free to revert/customize!)
- LabVIEW 2021–2025 version specificity is important for technical reasons within this editor’s packaging approach.
NI is eager to see community collaboration drive improvements, ensuring the Icon Editor remains robust and innovative.
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Source Files
- Entirely VI-based, enabling customizations and enhancements to the Icon Editor’s UI and functionality.
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PowerShell Automation
- Built on G-CLI.
- Handles build, packaging, and release tasks.
- Easily integrated into DevOps (GitHub Actions, self-hosted runners).
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CI/CD Workflows
These pipelines produce .vip artifacts so anyone can install and test changes in their LabVIEW 2021–2025 environment.
We welcome code and non-code contributions—everything from bug fixes and performance tweaks to testing .vip files or improving documentation.
- Must sign a CLA: For external contributors, we require a Contributor License Agreement before we can merge your pull requests.
- Steering Committee: A group of NI staff + community experts steers features. If an issue is labeled "
Workflow: Open to contribution," it’s ready for external work. - Fork or Clone: Start by forking (or cloning) this repo. Then pick an issue or propose a feature.
- Experiments: If you have a long-lived or large-scale feature (spanning weeks or months), see EXPERIMENTS.md. Experimental branches might require special approval before
.vipdistribution is enabled.
For more details on the standard process, see our CONTRIBUTING.md.
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Check or Create an Issue
- If you have an idea, discuss it on Discord or open a GitHub Discussion.
- Once it’s approved, the Steering Committee labels it "Workflow: Open to contribution."
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Assignment
- Comment on the issue expressing interest in developing the feature.
- The Steering Committee (or a maintainer) assigns you.
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Branch Setup
- A feature branch is created.
- Fork + clone the repo, checkout the feature branch, implement changes.
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Build & Test
- Decide between Manual Setup or PowerShell Scripts.
- Our CI pipeline generates a
.vipso others can confirm your feature works in LabVIEW 2021–2025.
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Pull Request
- Open a PR referencing the issue.
- Sign the CLA if needed.
- The Steering Committee + maintainers review, test, and iterate.
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Merge & Release
- Once approved, your changes merge into
developor a typical short-lived branch. - Eventually, everything merges to
main, ready for the official LabVIEW build cycle.
- Once approved, your changes merge into
For long-running or complex features, see EXPERIMENTS.md.
- Docker VI Analyzer & CodeQL run automatically on experimental branches, but distributing
.vipartifacts requires NI’s manual approval (“approve-experiment” event). - Alpha/Beta/RC sub-branches are optional for staging within the experiment.
- Final merges also go through the Steering Committee.
Check out our docs folder for detailed guides:
- Build VI Package – Automate release processes for LabVIEW-based projects (2021–2025).
- Development Mode Toggle – Enable/disable dev mode on a self-hosted runner.
- Multichannel Release Workflow – Handle alpha, beta, RC channels, plus final versions.
- Runner Setup Guide – Steps for self-hosted runners with GitHub Actions.
- Injecting Owner/Repo Into VI Package – Add unique repo/org metadata to .vip.
- Troubleshooting & FAQ – Common issues, solutions, frequently asked questions.
- Experiments.md – Detailed instructions for the GitFlow-like model for long-lived experimental features.
- Maintainers_Guide.md – Admin tasks for “approve-experiment” workflow dispatch, BDFL overrides, final merges.
- Troubleshooting_Experiments.md – Common pitfalls specific to experimental branches.
- Governance.md – Steering Committee, BDFL, and membership structure.
- @JayKayAce
- @crossrulz
- @neilpate
- @j-medland
- @markballa
- @RobustoSystems
NI Open Source Program Manager: @svelderrainruiz – [email protected]
They review incoming PRs, decide on feature readiness, and merge changes once they pass testing. For long-lived experiment branches, see EXPERIMENTS.md for how they approve final merges or partial merges.
- MIT License: The Icon Editor code is available under MIT.
- Contributor License Agreement (CLA): Before merging external pull requests, we’ll ask you to sign a CLA to confirm we can distribute your code as part of LabVIEW.
By contributing, you agree to license your work under these terms so NI and the LabVIEW community can incorporate improvements into future distributions.
Have questions or want to discuss an idea in real-time?
- Discord Server: Join here. You can brainstorm features, ask about the labeling workflow, or get quick help from fellow contributors.
- GitHub: Use Issues, Discussions, or open a Pull Request directly.
Your submissions—whether bug fixes, docs, or experimental features—directly shape the LabVIEW Icon Editor for LabVIEW 2021–2025 and beyond. We appreciate your collaboration and look forward to your ideas!