Better block diagram object selection tools

[X.]

Here is the example case:

Clearly a messy diagram, so I tried to remove the graph references and associated actions out of the diagram. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do so (that I know of) without selecting the underlying wires (note that they are automatically generated by LV (thanks NI!). When that's the case, I have to fine Ctrl-pick each unwanted wire to remove it from the selection, and half of the time I will have not selected the For Loop, but only its content. If I ever miss one of the wires of the following group:

I end up with broken wires to fix once I have moved the group out of the way and that's again lots of precision wiring/mending.

In a nutshell: object selection in the BD is not up to par for a GRAPHICAL programming language. We need better ways.

For instance:

1- provide a way to select all objects (including wires) connected to the selected object.

2- provide a way to define the selection "range": nearest-neighbors, next nearest neighbors, etc

3- ignore or include wires

4- select (or not) structure within which an object has been selected.

There are probably more desirable options, but you get the gist of it.

For (2), I would say that the scroll wheel would be a good approach: roll it one notch up and you expand the selection "radius". Roll it one notch down and you squeeze it.

For the others, a function key could be used. For instance, select an object and press "w" will select the connected wires. Select a wire and press "o" and the connected objects will be selected.

One may think of subtleties such as "down the data flow" or "up the data flow" etc, etc.

Obviously the added sophistication would be totally invisible and harmless for new users, but would definitely help power users.

I had already suggested something along these lines in another idea, but this is much more specific.

[yenknip]

Something like this?

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Selection-of-Items-on-BD-or-FP-needs-to-be-Easier/idi-...

[X.]

Similar but not quite, really. It's good that you reminded me of this idea, as I had seen it in the past and did not feel very compelled by it (essentially the purpose was to align wires, which is something I do not bother with too much).

My intent here is to ease much more drastic diagram modification/object manipulation. But as a corrolary, once you have selected all the objects you want, you can indeed request a "diagram cleanup" (at your own risk - you've been warned!).

[longbow]

The blender 3d utility had a similar concept for selecting vertices in complex drawings. Clicking a button, allowed a person to select another level of connected nodes.

This would be excellent, especially if there was a shortcut key to select more (also select anything connected to the leaf nodes) , or select less (crop the leaf nodes from the selection).

[X.]

@longbow: that's exactly the kind of things I have in mind even though I don't know about belnder 3d. The bottom line is: a graphical programming environment should provide much more powerful graphical design tools than currently (in this respect, the diagram cleanup tool is acting totally uncontrollably and I am wondering how much negative feedback NI needs to put real effort into doing it right).

[Darren]

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