Open File Dialog with VI-symbols

[lv4ever]

Labview is a graphical programming language. I try to decore my VIs with meaningful icons. If I place sub-VIs I miss that I can see the icon of VIs/typedefs etc. when selected.

Why not to improve the file dialog with showing the icon (or even a icon list)?

[RavensFan]

I don't think this is possible.  The dialog box you get for the file open is a product of the operating system not LabVIEW.  The icons you see in that window are based on the program assigned to that file extension.  So for any .VI, it will show the LabVIEW icon since that is what is associated with the .VI icon in the operating system.

While it would be nice to see the particular custom designed icon, that icon data is proprietary to the .vi file format, and the OS has no way of knowing how to decode that to show it instead of the generic icon that is associated with it.

[X.]

If we could trick Windows to think .vi (and other LV file types) are images, then a "thumbnail" preview may do the trick.

A possible workaround would be to have LV ship with its own "Open VI/Ctrl" file dialog. I'd vote for that from within the palettes for instance.

[Darin.K]

I have rolled my own using custom snippets as well as my own quick drop replacement. In this way I see control images and VI icons when browsing. At any rate this is a duplicate http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/VI-Control-Icon-is-File-Browser-Icon/idi-p/1688584

[Mr.Mike]

I think we duplicate the file dialog and can control it.  I forgot why.

I also think it's possible to register an application that gets the icon for a file.  I don't think this is a duplicate of the idea Darin.K suggested because this idea is for a special area in the file open dialog, whereas the one he linked to is for custom icons in Windows Explorer.  I do think it is a duplicate of this idea though (linked from the one Darin.K linked)

[Darin.K]

Ah the old embedded link to a picture, c'mon people embed those images. I prefer Damien's idea, all it takes is a little shell script to work (sounds simple when it is someone else's job). This idea I would put in fallback position.

[Darren]

Duplicate of http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/VI-Control-Icon-is-File-Browser-Icon/idi-p/1688584