To be able to view the block diagram through the front panel

[Sivadas]

It will be nice to have a button on the front panel of a VI (may be in the top right corner, near the window-minimize / close buttons) that provides a quick, "X-Ray view" into it's block diagram. After opening a VI if you press this button down on the front panel, you would get a quick glimpse of the block diagram behind it  while the front panel becomes semi-transparent. When you release the button the "X-Ray view" disappears. This will help the developer to quickly check the code behind any panel (when not needing to edit anything) without having to do a Ctrl+E and later closing the diagram. Also by pressing down the button, the developer should be able to drag the semi-transparent front panel around, over large swaths of the block diagram (typically larger than the front panel) to inspect all parts of the diagram.

[crossrulz]

So it sounds like this idea would solve your problem: Allow ONLY the Block Diagram to be opened Without Front Panel

[Sivadas]

That would solve most of it! Also it will be great if the scroll/pan cursor comes on automatically (without needing to do a shift+Right Click) on the BD ....

[jcarmody]

Holding Shift+Ctrl (Windows) does that.

[Sivadas]

Thanks jcarmody. Hope  http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Allow-ONLY-the-Block-Diagram-to-be-opened-Without-Fron... gets implemented.

[tst]

There are some things you can do today which might help you to do the things you want:

If your primary use case is setting values before building an EXE, the conditional disable structure is your friend. You can configure it to output different values if you're in LV or in an EXE, or you configure it to output different values based on the value of a flag that you can set in the project. That way you don't have to go and change or review your code.

If you go with the second option, you'll then probably have another request, so here's a shortcut - http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Conditional-Disable-Symbols-settable-in-Application-Bu...

It is also possible to place the block diagram of a VI into a subpanel (I believe it's a method on the subpanel, and I don't think it's private. It might require scripting to be activated). That way you can have a single window which will show the BDs of multiple VIs.

How you actually obtain the references to those VIs is another matter. There are ways of interacting with the project to get the list of VIs there. Or you could list the VIs in a folder. If you search for "scripting springboard" you should find an example of a VI which knows what the currently active VI is and you can use that. In short, there are multiple options and choosing the right one depends on what kind of tool you want to build.

[Sivadas]

Going to try the "scripting springboard" right now. Thanks for all the suggestions tst..!

Also, a lot of times, it's not just a matter of setting values in various vis. It is the ability to 'see and verify' all parts of the BD, without having to open 'un-necessary' windows and making too many clicks. That's when it becomes useful to have a preview tool, I guess. 

[Darren]

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