Toggle selection of entire array with the spacebar

[ajbradford]

When drawing a selection rectangle that covers part of a cluster, structure, or wire, you can toggle selection of the entire thing by hitting the spacebar. (https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/selecting-objects.html)

I propose the same functionality with arrays. It's odd to me that this handy feature works with clusters and not arrays.

[fefepeto_kb]

I like things when they are consistent, but have some questions for a corner case regarding this idea:

What should happen, when an array of clusters, or for that matter a similar nested structure, is being selected? How could a developer select between highlighting a cluster element, the cluster and the array? Should the space bar cycle between all the nested containers and then the individual elements? What would be the maximum level of nesting supported?

[crossrulz]

I'm giving you a kudo just for the spacebar nugget when selecting a cluster. That will save me a lot of frustration.

Now on the idea itself, I agree. Consistency is important. In this case, the documentation states "you select any objects that the selection rectangle touches". Based on this, I would argue you actually found a bug.

[ajbradford]

I like things when they are consistent, but have some questions for a corner case regarding this idea:

What should happen, when an array of clusters, or for that matter a similar nested structure, is being selected? How could a developer select between highlighting a cluster element, the cluster and the array? Should the space bar cycle between all the nested containers and then the individual elements? What would be the maximum level of nesting supported?

You bring up a good point. My recommendation is only for single-level nesting (numeric arrays, string arrays, etc).

I actually like how LabVIEW currently handles selections within arrays of clusters:

- Select the array by clicking on any whitespace within a cluster

- Select the cluster by dragging a selection rectangle from outside the array and hitting the spacebar*

- Select the cluster element either by clicking on it, or by dragging a selection rectangle from outside the array*

*A caveat on these rules: The selection rectangle only seems to work on the cluster most recently edited or clicked on. Try it yourself: click on cluster 2, then drag the selection rectangle from outside the array to cluster 1, and you won't be able to select anything inside, even after pressing space. This behavior doesn't make sense, but it's outside the scope of my proposed change.

Now if you were to go deeper than that (array of clusters of arrays..., etc), in some cases a level can only be selected by clicking on its border. I could see the benefit of having the spacebar toggle between nesting levels - but for the simplicity of my proposed change, I'm okay occasionally managing more tedium when I need to select elements of a rare and complex structure.

[ajbradford]

I'm giving you a kudo just for the spacebar nugget when selecting a cluster. That will save me a lot of frustration.

Now on the idea itself, I agree. Consistency is important. In this case, the documentation states "you select any objects that the selection rectangle touches". Based on this, I would argue you actually found a bug.

This might be a bug. In any case, I just found something somewhat related that I think is definitely a bug:

If you keep the Index Display visible, the whole array can be easily selected by dragging the selection rectangle to include either:

1) No elements and any part of the Index Display

2) Any elements and the entire Index Display

3) All elements

Now if you hide the Index Display, you'll notice that you can still select the whole array using method 2, even though the Index Display is invisible. (I'm using 2024 Q3, in case it's been corrected in 2025)

 

I don't think this is stemming from the same issue as the spacebar thing, but I could be wrong. 

[fefepeto_kb]

For the array selection, LabVIEW defaults to selecting the whole array when the index display is in the selection area. Otherwise it selects array elements.

I can accept the full selection and elements selection toggle without handling the nesting. I just wanted to make sure that we are covering the corner cases in the specification phase, so when developers start they get a better idea what we would need.