Align objects should not align increment/decrement buttons

[David_L]

 When you align a control that has increment/decrement buttons to other objects on the front panel that do not have them, LabVIEW aligns the buttons with the edge of the other controls.  The align objects command should ignore the increment decrement buttons and align the border of the control with the borders of the other controls.

 

Workaround:  Hide Inc/Dec Buttons, align objects, Show Inc/Dec buttons.  However not as convenient.

[JKSH]

For the numeric controls, this issue could be made less prevalent by placing the arrows on the right, like all other spin boxes out there: http://www.google.com/search?q=spinbox&tbm=isch

While this doesn't cover all cases, it would make left-alignment much easier. Clusters of numeric+string controls would also look much better with "Arrange Vertically".

[AristosQueue (NI)]

JKSH: The problem I have with putting the inc/dec on the right is that you can no longer easily line up mathematical relationships between controls and and indicators. The numbers themselves are right aligned in the text boxes. Having the right edge clean means it is a lot simpler to line things up so that the decimal points are all in the same place.

For numerics and their math relationships, left alignment is a nice-to-have in my book but right alignment is critical. That's my personal take, not my position as a developer of LabVIEW -- I haven't broadly surveyed this issue among LV users. I have no perception of how common my viewpoint would be.

[JKSH]

AristosQueue: Very good point. Yes, I agree that the functional benefits of right-aligned numbers trumps the cosmetic benefits of aligned FP fields.

[Darren]

Available in LabVIEW NXG 1.0. The inc/dec buttons are now on the right side of numeric controls instead of the left.

[Christina_R]

Re-opening because LabVIEW NXG has been discontinued.

[Darren]

We were discussing this idea within NI today since it is currently (as of 2025-01-06) the highest-kudoed open idea on the Idea Exchange. I have a few thoughts:

1. The Fuse Design System numeric controls have the inc/dec on the right, so they don't have this issue.

In my opinion the Fuse Design System controls should be the default Controls palette because their aesthetic is the closest to current UI design guidelines (Microsoft, Google, etc.) out of all the palettes. (I recognize this opinion is not shared widely).

2. The Clean Up Panel feature (Ctrl-U), which matches your front panel arrangement to the connector pane arrangement, does exclude the inc/dec when performing an alignment:

I don't necessarily think either of these points justify closing the idea, I just wanted to share them for discussion.

[crossrulz]

1. I have been using the Fuse Design controls more and more this last year. I do generally like them. There are some things missing, such as a square LED. But it generally would be nice to have it be the default.

2. I have no comment on.

3. I generally don't like having the increment/decrement buttons visible.

With that said, I still want this idea implemented. With relation to this idea, all the Fuse Design controls do is move the issue from the left align to the right align.

[Darren]

> With relation to this idea, all the Fuse Design controls do is move the issue from the left align to the right align.

When do you right-align things? I can't remember the last time I right-aligned (on the front panel).

[wiebe@CARYA]

I always right align.

I have to: the increment\decrement buttons are on the left. Obviously this only works well if the controls have the same size...