LabVIEW Idea Exchange

A long time ago LabVIEW used to have a great set user interface design tools, and the buttons and objects looked great. Since then it seems that Visual Studio and other text based languages have surpassed LabVIEW in user interface design. I would like LabVIEW to once again become one of the greats for user interface design. For instance resizing of the application window during runtime is not the easiest thing in LabVIEW.

In the probe window it if you look at "value" it is just the 2D array flattened to a 1D array, which makes it very difficult to tell where one row stops and the other begins. I suggest making this work similar to how visual studio lets you expand teh elements of the array.

I also suggest the probe display array to have scroll bars on arrays so you can see elements a lot easier than clicking or typing in an index.  Also showing more than one element would be beneficial.

It would be nice to be able to configure the File Dialog view. I would like to be able to set the default to show details and sort the files in descending order.

Whenever I built something (executable, installer) I want to go to the output location to change some filenames for distribution (e.g. I change "volume" folder of the installer to contain the name and version in the program name), zip things up to post on the server, etc.

On the final progress screen, where it tells me that the built has finished, I would like an additional button to open the target folder location(s) in explorer (similar to e.g. when downloading a file using IE) while dismissing the dialog.

Right now it says:

"The build is complete. you can locate the built at <very long and hard to remember path spread over 3-4 lines and that cannot be coped/pasted from this dialog anyway>."

Well, if the builder is smart enough to know where things are, why can't it just directly take me there as an option? 😄

Simply put, you should be able to put a URL hyperlink in a floating comment to link out to some site.

Imagine being able to add a hyperlink to the mathematical description of a VI that you used. Perhaps you have an internal server of IP Documentation. You could add a hyperlink to that in depth information directly in your VI. Perhaps you want to put your logo along with a link to your website at the top level of your source code. Whatever the reason, you need to be able to add a normal comment to the block diagram and populate that comment with text and hyperlinks.

As a extension, this new comment field could even take simple html tags for more formatting, embedding images, or maybe even an embedded video.

Currently, the Initializer Terminal on Feedback Nodes is always under the Feedback Arrow. I propose that a right-click menu item should allow you to choose whether the terminal is on top or bottom (the menu item would be next to "Change Direction").

CURRENTLY - (only bottom is an option)

PROPOSED - (both top and bottom are options)

I like the concept of the probe watch window in LV 2009.  It is equivalent to using watch windows in other languages like Visual Basic.  However, I haven't used LV 2009 enough yet to get a feel for how I would use it.

With LV 8.6 and earlier, the probe windows are separate entities and detached.  This is good if you need to quickly jump to the front panel to hit a button or change a value and see the changes that are occuring the block diagram.  However, there are some issues with viewing them on the block diagram.

I'm watching a control loop subVI.  I've opened up a dozen probes to look at the values on the wires at different parts of the block diagram  (I'm not using highlight execution as I want things to run at full speed).  I scatter the probes around so that they are near the wires they represent.  That way at a glance I can see the path of data and how the decision structures are working.  However, if I need to scroll the block diagram, or move the whole window to look at something else, the probe windows stay where they are and obstruct the view of the other things.  Then it is difficult to relocate the window or scroll bars so that the probes line up with their wires again.  If I am doing this with a couple of subVI's, then all the probes intermingle and it is impossible to tell whether a value is from the visible subVI or a subVI that is hidden underneath a few other windows.

What I propose is an attached probe.  Once you place it on the block diagram, it stays associated with that location/wire.  move the window, it moves.  Scroll the diagram, it scrolls.  Hide the window, it hides as well.  Also make the window slightly smaller so you don't need all the space for the title bar, X button.

Go one step farther and instead of making it a probe, let it be what is essentially a front panel object on the block diagram.  So that it looks like a basic indicator, or a boolean LED, or even an array or graph.  You drop it on the BD and wire it up.  When you are done, you delete it.  Scroll the BD, move the window, things stay where you want.

See BD indicators.png for the proposed way and Current Way.png for the problems with the current way.  I did put the images in the message, but they filled the screen and overlapped other parts of the web page.