Faster switching to/from debugging mode

[altenbach]

When developing, debugging, and optimizing code, I see myself constantly switching between debugging enabled and disabled. Most of my polished VIs have debugging disabled, but when developing a new project, I would like it enabled initially, e.g. to place a probe or use execution highlighting. This switching is currently tedious (VI properties...execution...allow debugging).

I would prefer if this configuration would be moved out of the "VI properties" and directly to the toolbar.

It could be implemented as a collapsible menu, similar to e.g. the current search bar. I assume that the switch involves a recompilation, but I've never seen any noticeable delay when switching between modes so I think it would be OK. (Of course switching over should not be possible when the VI is running.)

It is also less confusing to the new programmer who might receive a VI that has debugging disabled. Currently it might not be obvious why certain buttons are missing.

Here's a very rough draft how it could look like:

[Darin.K]

This needs to be weighted against further cluttering the interface, but I would probably use it occasionally.

However, it's not too important. During development, debugging is probably desired, and once the application is built, debugging is gone anyway.

Turnabout is fair play.

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Easy-Access-Button-to-Enable-Disable-Debugging/idi-p/1...

[altenbach]

Hey, my memoy is apparently like a sieve. 😮 Oh well, a 2 year retention is probably too much to expect. 😄

(I did a search before posting, but somehow I did not run across your old post .. :(.)

[RavensFan]

Oh man.  This idea and the "duplicate".  That is just amazing.  Almost 2 years apart.  I guess either things are forgotten or opinions shift a bit over time.

[altenbach]

To be fair, I kudoed the other idea long ago. It's a good one! 🙂

(The idea probably started to develop again during the recent coding challenge, but last weekend I had a marathon debugging session in one of my regular programs where I constantly stumbled over this inconvenience.)

Toolbar clutter is currently a problem because sometimes the window needs to be small by design (e.g. xcontrols), pushing toolbar buttons out of view. I hope that this idea will be implemented in some way to relieve that problem.

The ideas are not exact duplicates, but similar in spirit.

[Darin.K]

If not an exact duplicate, perhaps a homage. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwa... So if I could just change my username to altenbach when posting an idea... 🙂

[altenbach]

Eagerly awaiting your next idea that all knobs and dials should go to 11 by default. 😄