Saveable Views for Block Diagrams

[JoshT185]

It would be great if Labview had saveable views. I sometimes find myself looking at one part of a block diagram, and then switching back to another part of it to do some work. It would be great if I could just save both views (maybe with shift-F1, shift-F2 etc..) and then recall them (maybe with ctr-F1, ctr-F2 etc..). Sometimes it's annoying to have to keep scrolling through case structures or across my block diagram to get back to the code I want to look at. If I could just find it once, save the view, and then go back to it with a shortcut key combo, it would save me a lot of time.

I got this idea from RTS games (specifically Startcraft 2). In that they let you quickly jump to different places of the map with shortcut keys. I find myself wishing Labview had the same functionality. (for an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKuqC1FpGuU Watch from 1:00 to 1:36 or so.)

Thanks!

[elset191]

Duplicate of Bookmarks and ...anchors and shortcuts...  See comments for yet more related ideas.

[JoshT185]

They're similar, but not quite the same. The main point is to use shortcut keys to do it. That's much faster than if you have to look up a bookmark or find wherever you commented something. Also, I wouldn't think you would save them with the VI. They'd just be active for your session.

[MPCC]

Haha As a fellow SC2 player, I applaud the idea!

As a LabVIEW programmer, I'm not sure that it's a great idea. I don't like it for the same reason that NI has refused to put zoom functionality on the block diagram. Basically, if you have a giant block diagram, there is likely an issue with your style or architecture.

[JoshT185]

I think my SC2 APM helps me program labview faster, hahaa. Anyways, I guess it could be used for making poorly made block diagram navigation easier, but I was thinking about also having it able to switch between different VIs quickly. I know a lot of times I'm trying to do something close to what I did in another block diagram, but can't just copy and paste it, so I'd use it that way too.

[MPCC]

Haha I tell people all the time that SC2 is helping me to be better with my job. I still can't convince the GF of that though! 😛

[Jeffrey_Zola]

Not a gamer. But I have called myself a power user of Excel.....

What if LabVIEW allowed splitting the screen to view different portions of the Block Diagram? I know that BDs are supposed to not be large enough to require scrolling, but during development, layouts can swell in size before they can be cleaned up and compressed to fit into a single screen view.