Multiple Selections in Quick Drop

[Malcolm_Myers]

So after years of using the palettes I am starting to use Quick Drop.

Most of my VIs have Error In and Error Out so I start typing "Error" and they pop up in the list. It would be great if I could use Shift or Ctrl to select more than one item at a time.

I could also see this working if you using other palettes, e.g. perhaps you are working with TDMS files, you might want to drop three or four primitives in one go.

Thanks

Malcolm Myers

CLA

[AristosQueue (NI)]

Refine this idea, please.

How would the items be arranged under your mouse cursor? Just a straight line? Would they be in alphabetical order, the order you clicked, something else?

How much space would LV put between items by default? The error in and error out are typically the width of a front panel, but a series of nodes is separated by about 20 to 30 pixels typically.

How often would you use this? If the 90% use case of this feature is error in and error out, we could solve that just by putting a merge VI in the palettes (or you could solve it for yourself).

[Malcolm_Myers]

I don't think it would matter that much. If all items were dropped in a straight line a few pixels apart then it would be quicker to move them using the mouse than to start typing again. Or perhaps with time and practice I will find that I can type faster than I can move with a mouse.

I'm not sure how much I would use it, although if I were using DAQ or TDMS or something similar I could see a use for it. It just struck me as odd that crtl and shift didn't do anything when they normally do when selecting in Windows.

I'd have to look into using merge VIs.

Thanks for your comments AQ, I hope that clarifies my point a bit better.

Malcolm

[AristosQueue (NI)]

It does. The reason for not allowing multiple select is that it wouldn't be clear what multiple select even means -- thus my questions. We don't know how to build a nest of selected things, and, honestly, I have never seen a particular desire for such outside of some very narrow bands (similar to the one you suggested of dropping both error in and error out together). That's why I asked my questions.

We'll leave the idea open and see what kudos it attracts.

[crossrulz]

For the error cluster, I just made a VI that is nothing but the error in and error out.  I then put that VI into my user.lib and edited the palettes to "Place VI Contents".  That works for the block diagram palette.  For the front panel, you need to "Add a control" and in the dialog set the search contents to *.* and select the error cluster VI.  This will do the "Place VI Contents" automatically for the front panel.  And then I set my QD shortcut to be "ec" for this VI.

Yes, I brought this idea up to Darren years ago at a CLA Summit and this was the solution we came up with.  If you run into something you do a lot, using the Place VI Contents is the way to do it.

[Malcolm_Myers]

Thanks to both of you for your responses 🙂

Malcolm

[Darren]

Any idea that has not received any kudos within a year after posting will be automatically declined.