LabVIEW Idea Exchange

Unless I'm missing something Linked Tunnels will not work with a Case Structure's selector terminal. The only reason I can see for this is that it might be considered poor programming style.

I was trying to find where the Network Stream Endpoint controls were located.  I originally thought they were Refnums (I mis-interpreted a LabVIEW Help description), but didn't find them on the Refnum Palette (along with other "missing" Refnums, as noted in a previous Idea Exchange).  I then realized they were I/O Controls, so looked on the I/O Palette, where they are also "missing".

Can we please get all the Refnums on the Refnum Palette, and all of the I/O Controls on the I/O Palette?  If there are "too many" to fit comfortably, create sub-Palettes ("Advanced", "Obscure", "Seldom Used") for them.

BS

One customer came up with code to programmatically scale front panel. Attached are the VIs that show what he came up with.  ResizeMe.vi is the front panel that resizes as the window is resized. It would be nice if the Scale all Objects to Pane feature worked more this way.

I'm having trouble posting a picture on here for some reason but here is what I mean:

http://i.imgur.com/ihhn7gm.png

When right clicking on a class to generate a new VI, say with dynamic dispatch, have LabVIEW automatically place some large text at the top of the front panel.  I do this with just about all parent and child classes to make sure I don't end up getting confused due to their similar layout or appearance.  It doesn't take for ever to double click and type, and then select again and do 'ctrl+' a bunch of times, but I know I would find it extremely helpful if there was some large text there to begin with.

Does anyone agree?  Does anyone do this already?

Thanks

-Pat

PS- it would also be nice if there was a better way for me select an Idea Label (I typed in LVOOP and it didn't like it, So now I've just put UI and usablity...)

When closing a remote debugging connection, LabVIEW asks if a changed class should be saved. This is nonsense becausenothing can be saved inside the executable. (There also is an error dialog when clicking save. I can save the class in a different place on the local computer, but this does not make any sense.)

This is annoying especially because the dialog is shown for several classes (but not all). Please do not show the dialog in this case.

A brief digression.  I am doing some Real-Time programming with LabVIEW 2012, and decided to check out the very complete Real Time Control sample project.  As NI intended, I started modifying it to suit my particular Real-Time task.  This Project uses Network-Published Shared Variables to send "Monitoring Data" from the RT Target to the Host.  I changed the type of one of the Shared Variables from Array of Double to Array of UInt8, but noticed that on the Host UI, the output was still a Double.

This project uses a cluster of Shared Variable References, passed from the RT Target to the Host.  I decided to simply "change" the Shared Variable Reference that was returning the "wrong" type with a new Reference that I could (so I thought) bind to the redefined Shared Variable.

I spent well over an hour (more like 2-3) looking for the Shared Variable Reference (or Refnum) on the Control Palette.  One logical place for it to be would be on the Refnum sub-Palette, but it is not there!  I noticed that the reference was of type "Variable Object", so I tried to create a Control Refnum and change its Server Class to Variable Object -- can't be done.  On the I/O sub-Palette, there is a Shared Variable Control, but this is something different -- it is not a Shared Variable Reference.  Finally, I tried copying my Shared Variable to the Block Diagram and right-clicking and doing a "Create Reference", but this option does not exist.

I tried doing a search to learn how to do what I wanted to do, namely to change the Shared Variable Reference so that it "referenced" an Array of UInt8.  Naturally, because I didn't already know the Answer to my Problem, I didn't search for Shared Variable Reference (and even if I had, the information out there is scant).

Here are several recommendations to Prevent Frustration in Users Trying to Use the NI Sample Projects (with specific reference to Shared Variable References).

1)  Put a Shared Variable entry on the Refnum sub-Palette.  This is the logical place to look to create a Front Panel Refnum.

2)  Allow the user to right-click a Shared Variable on the Block Diagram and have, as an option, Create Reference.

3)  If you leave the Shared Variable Control on the I/O page, consider also putting the Shared Variable Reference there (granted, it might not belong, but it's better to be in the Wrong Place than in No Place).

4)  Put a Shared Variable Reference Control on the Shared Variable sub-Palette on the Data Communications Palette.

Note that Point 4 is almost already done, but I just didn't realize it!  You do have the option on this sub-Palette to put a "Local Variable Object Reference" on the Block Diagram (how that for an obscure description?), and if you change this to a Control, presto, you have a Shared Variable Refnum control.

So what seems to be the "solution" to my problem?  I called a colleague on the phone and we noodled this together, and came up with two "insights".  First, the existing Shared Variable Reference that was returning (on the UI Main Block Diagram) an Array of Double could be changed to return an Array of UInt8 by right-clicking, choosing Properties, then opening the right-hand Configuration tab (which I hadn't noticed).

How about creating a Reference Control specific to a chosen Shared Variable?  Put an instance of the Shared Variable on the Block Diagram, right-click, and select "Replace with Programmatic Access" (also not so intuitive!).  This changes the Shared Variable into a Shared Variable Reference Constant, so if you want a Control, just right-click and "Change to Control".  You also will need to delete the Read Variable function that gets put on the Block Diagram.

It really doesn't need to be this difficult, nor this obscure, particularly if it involves a Sample Project!

BS

The context menu for a file in the project window always contains the entry "properties" - but the dialog that stays behind is different between LabView-Files and non-LabView-Files. e.g. for a VI the VI property dialog opens, for a TXT-file the windows file-property opens. With other words: I can't open the windows file-property-dialog for LabView files.

I would suggest to have an menu entry "file properties" that opens always the windows file-property dialog. The current "property" entry can disappear for non-LabView files.

Remark: I'm using LV2011SP1

Allow for zoomable block-diagram view, e.g. with Ctrl + Mouse middle button scroll.

Right-Click to a single file in the LabView project folder (LV 2011SP1) opens the windows file property dialog.

Trying the same with several selected files or a folder (file view) does not work because the property entry is not there. Please also add it for multi-selections.

Alternatively (for my purposes) it would be sufficient to have the possibility to add or remove the read-only flag for all selected files or folders (and sub folders).

Several LabView functions return a -1 to indicate not-found/failure.  I often find myself creating boolean code snippets with the "equal to ----" or "unequal to ----" functions comparing things to a "-1" constant with the T/F output going to a case structure.  I thought it might be nice to have pre-made "=-1?" and/or "<>-1?" functions (similar to the "=0?" and "<>0?" ones) on the "Comparison" function palette to at least clean up the code a bit,

I would like to suggest having a "reverse bytes" option for each parameter within the Call Library Function.

There would be both "Reverse Before call" and "Reverse After call" options.

As the CLF's purpose is to interface two [potentially] different environments, it seems the correct place for a translation to occur, if needed.

Cheers!