Quick Drop

[tbob]

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for(imstuck) wrote:

, it is worth it to try it for a few weeks at least until it becomes a bit more second nature.

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I have tried it.  What I don't like is to have one hand on my mouse and the other on my keyboard.  Just feels very uncomfortable to me.  I like to do as much as I can with my mouse.  I don't ever use any shortcut keys, like Ctrl E to bring up the BD.  I click instead.  That is why I use the automatic tool selection.  Those that don't use this must have one hand on the keyboard to press Tab and Space and such.  I just find that uncomfortable.  I'm not in hurry to get VIs done as quickly as possible.  A few extra seconds and a few extra mouse clicks don't bother me.  I usually have one hand free and I like it.

I told you I was very different.

[Darin.K]

I somehow manage to land squarely in both camps with my love/hate relationship with QD. As evidenced by my repeated requests for new right-click functionality, I am a RC-junkie and can find most functions without engaging more than a couple of brain cells. In fact I probably could not tell you what palette a certain function is on, but my hand knows what motion to make. So as far as dropping functions with QD, I am a hater and it isn't worth the wait. If you think loading the palettes on startup is the answer, you do not crash and restart LV as often as I do.

As a delivery method for homemade shortcuts that save me a lot of time, I really like QD. Not ideal, but still very very good. I have a lot of shortcuts, and it takes more than a .ini file to take them with me.

In short, I really like everything about QD, except, well, Quick Drop.

[tst]

You can try the attached file (which should work for any version from 7.0 and up). The readme file has installation instructions.

The main differences between this and QD are:

1. You don't get the list of functions automatically (that was only added in 8.6), so they have to be in files. I've added a list of files you can use.
2. The shortcut editing GUI isn't really finished.
3. You open it using Ctrl+N, which will probably take some getting used to. You could probably override it by placing it in the menu with a shortcut key.
4. Your focus is mostly on the listbox, not the combobox. IMO this is better and I'm actually still using a modified version which does it the same way.

If you want the entire story of this, you can read it here. The attachments there were lost, which is why I'm putting this here.

Message Edited by tst on 16.06.2010 10:06 AM

[Intaris]

Being able to access your personal QD shortcuts all over the globe would be a nice benefit of THIS idea being implemented.  Care to spread some Kudos?

Shane.

[GregFreeman]

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tst wrote:

You can try the attached file (which should work for any version from 7.0 and up). The readme file has installation instructions.

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I'll take a look at it. I actually started creating my own because I am bored and figured I would expand my LabVIEW knowledge. That said, why reinvent the wheel? I'm sure I will end up using someone elses because mine won't quite have the functionality of ones others have already created.

[Darren]

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Darin.K wrote:

So as far as dropping functions with QD, I am a hater and it isn't worth the wait. If you think loading the palettes on startup is the answer, you do not crash and restart LV as often as I do.

As a delivery method for homemade shortcuts that save me a lot of time, I really like QD...

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I don't quite understand this line of reasoning.  The only "wait" you experience when dropping items with Quick Drop is the initial palette loading that takes place on the first use of Quick Drop during a LabVIEW session (assuming you haven't configured palettes to load during launch).  This wait is going to happen regardless of whether you're using Quick Drop to drop palette items or execute Quick Drop Keyboard Shortcuts.  And once it has happened once, it won't happen again until you restart LabVIEW.  So if you're using Quick Drop Keyboard Shortcuts, then you're getting that initial wait anyway.  So why exactly do you eschew dropping items with Quick Drop?  I guarantee that once you've configured some shortcuts, adopted the techniques I describe in the link I gave above, and used it for a few days, there's really no possible way that Ctrl-Space -> type a shortcut -> click is slower than right-click -> dig down into several palettes -> click.  🙂

[Ben]

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Darren wrote:

...  I guarantee that once you've configured some shortcuts, adopted the techniques I describe in the link I gave above, and used it for a few days, there's really no possible way that Ctrl-Space -> type a shortcut -> click is slower than right-click -> dig down into several palettes -> click.  🙂

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When QD first came out I used it a lot and ever wrote a QD tutor and established short-cut standards for use on all of our machines. I was dropping operators left and right and was very productive until...

I step to the machine and hiy ctrl-space and wait.

I do it again and wait and still nothing happened.

Silly Ben, forgot he was now standing in a customers lab running a pre-QD version of LV. It only takes a day or two too loose tha habit and fall back to what always works.

Maybe when LV gets to about LV 2012, enough of my installed apps will be running a QD enabled version and I will pcik it up again.

Ben

[Darin.K]

My line of reasoning is quite simple: when I hit Ctrl-space I have time to get a cup of coffee before it is activated. I find this so annoying that if the only ROI for this was to drop things on the BD or FP I would not bother and never did. Loading on startup is an option but also annoying since I start LV fairly often.

With plug-ins the equation is altered. I still have the bloody wait, but I at least get more in return. I just do not find that a lot of typing goes with the flow of my G programming. In an ideal world it would be all done with clicking, I can live with shortcuts, but I thought the point of G was to leave the keyboard behind.

[tbob]

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Darren wrote:

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... there's really no possible way that Ctrl-Space -> type a shortcut -> click is slower than right-click -> dig down into several palettes -> click.  🙂

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You people live way too much in the fast lane.  Try slowing down a bit.  Enjoy life while you are young. 

[tbob]

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Darin.K wrote:

. In an ideal world it would be all done with clicking, I can live with shortcuts, but I thought the point of G was to leave the keyboard behind.

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I agree 100%.  I could live with shortcuts but I choose not to because I have to use a keyboard and an extra hand to use them.  I like having one hand free.  Keyboard use for typing text is OK though because both my hands are in one place.