The current scroll bars used to move the block diagram and front panel origin around have a few problems (and there are several other proposed solutions to them on this board):
- They always show a bit more of the area than actually exists. This allows you to scroll off the edge of the currently used window (good) but does not give you any visual feedback on where your code actually is / the actual "size" of the window.
- When using multiple contexts, the context indicator on the bottom left of the window will completely eliminate, or make unusable, the horizontal scrollbar when you have a small block diagram. Since I usually use object-oriented designs in my code, this type of small VI is common (e.g. accessors).
- Large block diagrams or front panels are difficult to navigate, as the scrollbar becomes very sensitive to motion. Yes, I know you should not have large diagrams, but it happens, especially if you are cleaning up someone else' (or your own old) spaghetti code. This is also a common side effect of large scripting operations, such as a complex DAQ Wizard of SignalExpress code generation.
To solve these issues, I propose we replace the scroll bar with a nudge bar, similar to the nudge bar used to move between image libraries in Picasa. The bar would always be in the center of its track. Moving it away from center would cause the window to scroll in the direction of movement. Rate of movement would be related to the distance moved. I have found a exponential scaling to work well, but linear or logarithmic may be better (support all three?). The location of code or controls could be indicated by a background shading of the nudge bar track. The track could also be reduced in size normally, but expand when used. Ubuntu Linux uses a variant of this for their Unity desktop.
The background shading solves the "where is my code" issue. The nudge bar would continue to work, even if small, unlike the scroll bar, so would function on small windows. The exponential behavior gives you rapid traversal over large diagrams, but fine control when you need it, similar to acceleration on a mouse.
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