Pin items to Block Diagram for exemption from Block Diagram Cleanup tool

[CyberTazer]

I think the idea of a learning algorithm for the Block Diagram Cleanup tool has promise, but I understand the difficulties involved as well. The algorithms for learning something of this nature would be evil... in the Dr. Evil sense of the word...

There is a way this could be simplified, however. Looking over some of the other Block Diagram Cleanup suggestions with a few tweaks of my own I came up with this. First my references...

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Tell-Block-Diagram-Cleanup-What-quot-Clean-quot-VIs-Lo...

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Select-area-to-be-excluded-from-code-cleanup/idi-p/235...

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/BD-Cleanup-Option-to-only-clean-up-wires-and-leave-ter...

What if they made a selectable right click option to "pin" certain items to the BD?

So for instance, you grab a line of data vi's such as for UDP transmit and receive. You use the normal block diagram tools to line them all up nice a pretty. You then right click the bunch of them and select "Pin to Diagram." These items would then be exempt from the BD Cleanup tool, and should simplify some of the algorithms by providing a "base point" to work from.

Even if the user did not pin some item to the diagram, you could choose some innocuous item such as a control and use it as a base point. This changes the problem from a infinite map routing problem to a connect the dots problem. Likely they do something similar already, but you get the general idea of what I am talking about.

In order for this to be an effective and time saving feature it would have 2 major requirements. 

1) It must be available in right click, not the properties box of any item (or not just in the properties box.)

2) You must be able to set this option on multiple items at the same time.

The overall effect would be better diagrams with less time spent, which is the whole point of the BD Cleanup.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

CyberTazer: I like your idea. I do want to make sure that you are aware of the ability to right-click on any structure node and select "exclude from diagram cleanup". Are you aware of that option? If not, does it change the nature of your suggestion? If so, would you add your suggestion in addition to that kind of exclude or would your suggestion replace the existing exclusion functionality?

[CyberTazer]

Actually, when I wrote this I had forgotten the fact that they had made that possible. What I am proposing is the same functionality, but applied to any discrete item on the block diagram (BD) except for wires. You could then use the standard alignment tools to get the key parts of your diagram they way you want them, then use cleanup to neaten up the rest.This would be an additional functionality. In addition to this, there could be a "nudge" tolerance global setting that would define a maximum number of pixels the BD cleanup tool could move items in order to remove unnecessary bends in wires?

[CyberTazer]

You might also make a vi level setting to clear pinned items. This would be handy when you are reworking a diagram so you don't have to go to each pinned item and "unpin" it. I tried to think of an effective way of marking pinned items, so you know they are pinned at a glance. The best I came up with was to outline the item with either a thicker outline, or possibly an outline of a contrasting color? They do this already for setting breakpoints, making the stop item outlined in red.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

At the point that you start talking about individual nudges, you're already in my opinion above the effort threshold of just cleaning the diagram manually... at that level, I'd be looking toward the "teach LV what a clean diagram looks like" idea.

[CyberTazer]

What I mean by nudges is some global setting that gives the cleanup tool some leeway to slightly move pinned items. There are 2 ways to look at this and one way I can see it making the algorithm easier to configure for the developer and in another more complicated. It was just a related thought that I thought I would add. Just to be clear, by no means do I refer to an ability to set a nudge distance individually on each item.

[Darren]

Any idea that has received less than 5 kudos within 5 years after posting will be automatically declined.