Lessons learned applying software engineering principles to visual programming language application development

Visual programming languages make software design accessible even to untrained programmers, but basic software engineering practices must still be followed to create a usable product. This paper describes the process by which software was developed to control sophisticated laboratory equipment for a radio frequency interference monitoring system (RFIMS). Development of requirements and specifications is discussed. It is shown that the product was improved by the use of extensive planning and user testing. In addition, the steps required for designing a clear and intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) are discussed. The GUI interface specifications, user panel templates, menu system hierarchy, and programmatically guiding the user are some of the tools that were successfully employed in the project development.