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We know that LabVIEW has some magic that it uses for automatic error handling. What if LabVIEW could use such sorcery to enrich the error string flowing on the wire, with information about the originating source of the error -- specifically the VI Reference and GObject UID of the node where the error was introduced. Then a "fancy error dialog of the future" (TM) could utilize those UIDs to navigate directly to the node and highlight it (a visual effect to show which node it is). This behavior could be added to the Simple Error Handler and General Error Handler VIs, and maybe ever there could be a "LabVIEW Gems" vi.lib utility that can extract the VI Reference and GObject UID for use in other, 3rd party tools.

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Especially when I use setting windows I normally transfer the actual settings from a setting-cluster or from global variables to multiple local variables and display the current settings in the front panel. After the user edited the settings of course the settings need to be transferred again to global variables or in a setting-cluster. So if multiple global or local variables are used, each variable need to be changed from read to write 1 by 1 by right click and selecting the action from the menu.

So I suggest to implement a function to change it at the same time for all marked variables, similar to property nodes.

The suggested procedure would be:

Mark variables with the mouse by holding "Shift" on the keyboard or drawing a frame
Right click to context menue
Change all to read / write

The feature would be consistent, because it is for example possible to create local variables of multiple controls at once with a similar procedure. (I just don't get in mind why the order is always upside down when I do this)

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Problem

I would like to create HTML report of my unit tests run together with information about project code coverage. This can be achieved if the "Generate HTML report" option is checked in Project>>Properties>>Unit Test Framework and when the tests are run via toolbar operation "Run Unit Tests". However, I want to create same HTML report with PROJECT CODE COVERAGE programmatically via "Create Report.VI" or CLI, but the report generated in this way doesn't contain the code coverage information.

Run via Create Report.vi

Run via toolbar

Why This Matters

This functionality can be useful for running unit tests and report creating via custom CLI operation for CI. My scenario is to use the report as an CI artifact with informative value about code coverage.

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Problem

I find myself wanting to Ctrl+Drag to add/remove diagram space INSIDE of a structure without actually resizing the structure itself AND without modifying any other frames – I just want to clean up the visible diagram that I am working on.

However, this is not how LabVIEW currently works – the structure itself is also resized, and the space within other frames of the structure are resized as well (outward/inward from the same point as the Ctrl+Drag action), which can mess up both the code in other frames as well as the code outside the structure.

Proposed Solutions

Option 1: Lock Structure Size Add the ability to lock the size of structures (or perhaps only lock them from growing during creating/removing space), so that I can use Ctrl+Drag to create/remove space without impacting the structure and the code around it. This would be similar to "Auto Grow" but would perhaps be an "Allow Grow" or "Lock Size" setting.

Option 2: Modifier Key Use the Shift modifier during Ctrl+Drag and Ctrl+Alt+Drag to NOT resize the containing structure. This would maintain backward compatibility while adding the new functionality.

Why This Matters

When working on complex VIs with multiple frames in structures, it's frustrating to have simple diagram space cleanup operations affect the entire structure and surrounding code. This feature would allow developers to better organize/tidy the code within individual frames without the ripple effect of resizing everything (in other frames and outside the structure).

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Starting from LV 2023 Q1, the terminals height of some nodes was harmonized to 16 pixels to improve diagram readability by reducing the amount of needed wire bends.

Some candidates for this harmonization were omitted though:

- Data nodes of timed structures (timed loop, timed sequence).

- I think pretty much all of FPGA nodes (IO nodes / methods / properties, FIFO / memory / register / handshake methods, IP integration, high-troughput math nodes, ...).

Example with a Timed Loop:

The idea is to also allow RT and FPGA developments to benefit from this harmonization.

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Format to string

Currently, new sublasses require the user to find the correct parent class in the class tree. In larger projects, this can be really painfull.

I suggest two simple things to improve this very common task:

1. Make the class tree searchable: Put a filter string input above where you can filter the tree by name

2. Add a "Create New Sub-Class from this Class" Item to the context menu in project explorer. This could simpy open the class tree with the matching class already selected. Something like this would also be great for interfaces.

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Property node for push button LED color

I want to be able to programmatically change the color of the LEDs on push buttons.

The colors[4] property will change the color of the housing, but not the LED itself.

This push button is one of the controls that is both a control and an indicator rolled into one.

In my particular case, I want to represent a third state. I have a valve that can be open, closed, or in transit.

There are two actuation states of open and close, but three indicator states.

I think making it a property I can control is a powerful solution. Not only will it solve my use case, but I can have all different colors of Booleans without needing to use Customize Control and the Control Editor to modify the colors.

Extra credit request: Can we make just the LED blink? Right now, the blinking property blinks the entire control, but wouldn't it be cool if just the LED blinked? This is what those same two controls look like when blinking:

Maybe it's a new property just for LEDs that's separate from "Blinking". I'd be okay with that if you want to preserve current behavior.

Here are some related Idea Exchange posts related to a tri-state Boolean. They're not quite what I want, but I thought I'd link to them for reference:

https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Tri-State-Boolean/idi-p/1139952

https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Special-LED-control-with-three-states-Default-ON-OFF/idi-p/991307

What is a strictly-typed reference?

A strictly-typed reference is a kind of reference whose type descriptor contains an inner, user-specified data type.

For example, a queue is a strictly-typed reference because it contains the data type for its elements, specified when creating the queue.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of such reference types:

- Queue

- Notifier

- User event

- DVR

- Datalog file reference

- Strictly-typed control refnum

- Strictly-typed VI refnum

- Shared variable

- Network stream (reader/writer)

- RT FIFO

- FPGA IO / register / memory / FIFO / handshake

- ...

Idea:

Add a new primitive that would output the inner data type of any strictly-typed reference.

Here is a design example of the primitive, which could be named "Get Contained Data Type of Strictly-Typed Reference":

It would work for all the strictly-typed references mentioned above.

Motivations:

The implementation of malleable VIs is sometimes limited (or made complicated) by the fact that we miss some basic "type operators", such as getting the contained data type of a strictly-typed reference. While this missing function could be implemented using some tricks for most strictly-typed reference types, it is for example impossible for user events (See this thread for more details).

Typical application:

A malleable VI that takes a user event (for its type) and outputs a newly created refnum with the same contained data type:

This simple code is currently impossible in the general case due to the nature of user events.

Remarks:

1. The output terminal of this primitive will have to be named exactly as the contained data type, which is crucial for user events.

2. The output would have the LabVIEW default value for the data type (False for booleans, 0 for numerics, "" for strings, ...).

3. The primitive could be placed in a dedicated "Malleable VI Tools" palette.

4. In case the FPGA-specific implementation creates a dependency to the FPGA module, we could have a separate primitive just for FPGA (and also for RT if required).

What do you think?

Regards,

Raphaël.

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A very common task when operating with 2D pictures are mouse down/move events where we are interested which pixel was just clicked. While there is an event data node for the clicked coordinates these are relative to the front panel and translating them into image pixel coordinates is a chore and requires ~~jumping through flaming hoops~~ tweaks. (i.e. label yes/no? zoom factor? etc.)

However, there is a "Mouse" property for 2D images that has all the information directly in pixel coordinates and mouse button states. Currently, we need to read that property inside the mouse event to easily get the information we always (always!!!) want in such an event!

It would be cleaner if mouse events on pictures would output these mouse properties directly as an additional event data node.

Two clear advantages:

Cleaner code for those who know how to work with this property.
Stop sending newbies on a snipe hunt trying to figure out how to translate the current "coords" event data node into something useful for the intended task.

Here is an example where this idea would have helped

Here's a picture for the graphical thinkers!

Thanks for voting!

Hi all,

I' normally using one or multipe queued message handler with a clustered enum (which is saved as Type Def.) and a variant as a basic architecture of my programs. This makes sense and it is relatively easy to search forward and check a program step by step. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to go stepwise back in the program for debugging., especially if there are multiple callers of a function.
Therefore I wish I have a function, where I can search for a single item of this enum Type Def.
I know that there is a possibility to search a text and of course it will find these items, but is also finds all other kind of things labeled the same.

I had a small chat with a engineer of NI already and we had an idea to gerneralize this a little to give it more use cases.
In the current situation, we can search for a:
- Type Def. , but then it will find each item of the enum OR
- text, but then it will find all items labeled with this text.

So here is our idea:
Create a possibility in the search window to combine these 2 search formats with a boolean operator, in our special case, this would be AND. But in other cases it might be also useful to have some other operators.

You are welcome to share any thoughts about it.

Best Regards, Patrick

The Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit (DETT) collects hundreds to thousands of data points that indicate memory allocations, queue references, events, and more. The data is always available and often is overwhelming. The only way to make sense of data quickly is to create custom probes that create highlights in the data, however, that is only after you know which VI is worth probing further.

The idea:

Feed all the data normally collected by the DETT about a LabVIEW project directly into Nigel so that it can provide human-friendly suggestions explaining:

Level 1

How often a VI allocates memory in a repeated fashion

The time jitter between different events

VI's that could be good candidates for refactoring

Level 2

Improvements to the code within that VI based on best practices for optimal compiler operations.

This is based off a discussion at GDevCon #6 on September 10th, 2025.

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The new debug window in LabVIEW 2025 Q3 automatically expands arrays to show all elements across multiple lines. While this full view can be helpful, it often becomes disruptive during debugging.

I have attached a video that shows a side-by-side comparison. The left side is LabVIEW 2025 Q3, and the right side is LabVIEW 2024 Q3.

As you can see, when an array contains many elements, the new multi-line display consumes a large amount of vertical space on the block diagram. This pushes other probes and data displays down, causing their positions to shift and making it difficult to monitor them. There are many cases where I only need to see that the array contains data, not every single element, and I would prefer the more compact, single-line view.

I propose adding a feature to allow users to select the display mode for arrays in the debug window. It would be ideal to have a toggle or option to switch between the new multi-line view and the classic single-line view, similar to how it worked in LabVIEW 2024 Q3 and older versions.

This would provide the flexibility to choose the most appropriate view for the situation, greatly improving the debugging workflow and the visibility of other data on the diagram.

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The zooming feature in LabVIEW was way past due, particularly with the advent of 4k displays (and the rapid degradation of my sight!), but was implemented very poorly. As mentioned in other idea exchanges, the font size handling is awful, and regardless does not address the ancient-looking pixelated block diagram interface. Also the zoom resolution has too many steps for how drastically the view contorts with each step.

The entire system should be overhauled as vector-based so it looks crisp at any zoom level and zooms smoothly between zoom levels. The shining light example of smooth-zooming is Miro which handles text sizes and detail-loading even better than Google Maps.

I am really looking forward to not squinting at pixels, and LabVIEW is literally the last offender I work with.

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Static File Reference

It's hard to believe that this is the first post to request something like this (pun intended), but I couldn't find it after a few queries.

The base idea would be that both the static and dynamic connectors used to connect the methods to the owning class shall be defaulting to the owner class, a.k.a. this object in text based languages. The main problem is the use case for refactoring. When moving around methods the class controls and indicators have to be replaced every time. It doesn't matter if I'm moving methods between classes or to interfaces it is the same pain: replace the connectors (with QuickDrop), then change the names to class names, then update the icon, finally move the VI to the new location.

I know that this could and maybe is already solved with scripting, but I think the development environment shall grant the option to change the control and indicator to this object that will always default to the owning class, without manual updates. Even the labels could be This in and This out, and replaced in real time with the actual class implementation on the block diagram of the calling VIs.

The proposed solution would also get rid of the error telling about the dynamic dispatch controls shall reference the owning class, since it would happen automatically.

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If we want a ring of a string type we can use a combo box and if undefined items are not to be allowed it *could* behave as a regular ring (integer type) with no text editing/input, but that is not an option in LabVIEW now. Having such an option would allow us the keep the behaviour of multiple ring controls identical (and hence more intuitive to the users) although their types behind the scene for programmatic convenience are different.

If you want to keep the ring as a string (to not have to deal with it indirectly though the ring/enum string array property, which would be the current workaround...) you are currently forced to accept that the this ring will behave differently than other ring controls or enums:

In Microsoft applications the suggested feature is available by setting the style of the combo box to DropDropDownList.

Clear Probe Watch Window

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For string controls and indicators please add a vertical alignment option. We have applications where we will programmatically change the font size, which requires a string control/indicator to be sized for the largest option. Since there isn't a vertical alignment option, the string is always aligned to the top and it can make the front panel layout look strange.

Other applications have long strings that may be a single line or may be a variable number of multiple lines, but we'd like to be able to center the text vertically. Again, this requires the control/indicator to be sized for the largest option, but all the text is always vertically aligned to the top of the front panel object.

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LabVIEW Idea Exchange

Automagically include GObject UID in error messages when running in the editor

Option Change all to read/write for multiple local / global variables

Get code coverage programmatically in Unit Test Framework toolkit

Problem

Why This Matters

Add/Remove Diagram Space Inside Structures Without Resizing the Structure

Problem

Proposed Solutions

Why This Matters

Normalize terminals height for timed structures and FPGA nodes

Format to string

Make creating subclasses less painfull

Property node for push button LED color

New primitive to get the contained data type of a strictly-typed reference

Mouse events on 2D pictures should have an event data node for mouse information

Extend the search function (Ctrl+F) to get more detailed search results / Search a single item of an enum Type Def.

Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit (DETT) insights provided by Nigel, the AI advisor

Add an Option to Display Arrays in a Single Line in the Debug Window

Make block diagram vector-based - for cleaner view on high res monitors, cleaner zooming

Static File Reference

Class controls and indicators shall default to "this" class

Add dropdownlist style option to LabVIEW combo boxes

Clear Probe Watch Window

The properties page of "boolean array to number" must include the "sign extension mode" setting.

Add vertical alignment property for string controls