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At the moment the quick change plugin leaves the cursor where the label was. In order to select the control type, you must move to the list and select the type manually. It would be nice if the window captured the mouse focus and moved the cursor through the items with the scroll wheel. This would make the operation much quicker. An alternative would be to allowing tabbing through the items and use the space bar to select the desired item. Both of these options eliminate the need to aim with the cursor. For the scroll wheel options, bonus points if it returns the cursor to the label position when finished. 

 

ConnerP_0-1753958984893.png

 

 

It would be really nice if double-clicking column header separators in tables, trees, and multicolumn listboxes automatically resized the columns based on their contents (like Microsoft Excel). This would be useful in these types of controls and indicators at both edit and run time. It would also be useful to have this capability interactively (initiated by the developer or user) and programmatically (through properties or methods).

At the moment, if I want to review my search results, I'm required to double click each item. This opens the diagram (usually) and the front panel. I then have to close them, or I might end up with dozens of open windows.

 

Of course I could use CTRL+G, but I'd still need to clean up the opened windows.

 

Another slowdown is that the highlighted item can popup anywhere on my screen(s). This "gaze time" adds up if you need to browse through dozens of results.


It would save me tons of time if the search results window had a preview of the result:

Search Results Preview.png

The found item should be in the center, preferably highlighted in some way.

 

It would allow me to give the listbox key focus, and use up\down to browse through all items very quickly, without any need to clean up!


Some additional thoughts:

 

Spoiler

 I'd be OK with an image, it doesn't need to be like the DD preview in LV2020. I'd prefer to see an image even if the diagram is already opened...

 

Scrollbars might be nice?

 

The proposed image is just a quick sketch. It would need a splitter bar, and perhaps the preview should be optional?

 

Online version of LabVIEW 2024 Q1 Help -> LabVIEW Help menu item only points to the LabVIEW Programming Reference and NOT to LabVIEW User Manual.  This means that searches for topics like: "LabVIEW Style Guide" or "Memory" or "Performance" inside LabVIEW do not point to these topics inside the LabVIEW User Manual.  Currently to access any of these topics it is necessary to do an internet search which yields results in the LabVIEW User Manual.

A malleable VI on a block diagram can be converted from an Instance VI to a Standard VI, which I've found useful to aid debugging. Unfortunately this modifies the calling code and requires the changes to be reverted to restore the original malleable VI.

 

This idea is to provide an additional right-click option for malleable VIs - View Instance VI. This would open the instance VI in memory, and allow read-only viewing of the block diagram.

instance-vi-1.png

This is useful when examining how the Type Specialization Structure cases are being evaluated given the currently wired inputs to a malleable VI. It also offers ability to quickly view the instance VI data types, helping determine which malleable input wires are *actually* broken. In the example below LabVIEW shows all of the inputs to Stall Data Flow.vim as broken, though viewing the instance VI shows only one input is actually broken.

 

instance-vi-2.png

 

When the Instance VI is opened for viewing, it wouldn't offer any runtime debugging, but means no changes need to be made to the calling VI when performing static code analysis at edit time.

 

The ability to view instance VIs already exists in LabVIEW through VI scripting (see example below), but would be nicer to have quick access to it when right-clicking a malleable VI.

 

instance-vi-3.png

Oftentimes, rearranging or reordering a Bundle by Name or Unbundle by Name for clusters can yield fewer wire crossings. For instance, below, wire crossings can be eliminated by moving "Timestamp" to the bottom of the Unbundle and "Value" second to bottom on the Bundle:

 

20985iEE7ABCE2AA5DD1B3

 

The current process of moving one of these elements:

  1. Increase the size of the node using the Resize Handles on top or bottom, or select "Add Element" from Context Menu (and hope you remember if it adds and element below or above the cell you are clicking on!
  2. Wire to the new element, and deal with deleting the old wire
  3. Delete the old accessor using either Resize Handles or "Remove Element" from Context Menu

This can be laborious. Instead, I would like a way to quickly reorder the elements. I have a few ideas how this can be accomplished:

  1. Context menu with a "Move Up" and "Move Down" action (not so elegant)
  2. A pop-up window that allowed rearrangement (think "Rearrange Cases..." on Event Handler or Case Structures)
  3. A native drag-and drop on the Unbundle/Bundle node itself. This could be realized given the current "click regions" on the node (hover your mouse and sweep horizontally over one of these nodes... you'll discover the 4 regions). The two "Arrow" regions currently move the node on the BD, but they could be used to rearrange the node (see below)

20991iC0D9F95AD3E82BBE 

 

Just throwing out some ideas, I'm not stuck on any one. So, the idea you are voting for: Provide a User Interface for quickly rearranging elements on a Bundle or Unbundle by Name.

Problem: When developing or inheriting a large code base it is helpful to know which VI has Automatic Error Handling (AEH) enabled and which has it disabled. Currently, the quickest way to get this information is to bring up the VI Properties window (pressing Ctrl + I) and navigate to the Execution page. This is tedious when done on large numbers of VIs.

 

Solution: LabVIEW should display whether AEH is enabled or disabled on the Block Diagram. For example, a grey triangle located in the bottom-right corner of the block diagram window could indicate that AEH is disabled, and an "error green" triangle could indicate that AEH is enabled, as seen in the screenshots below. This display method is just a suggestion - professional UX designers may well find a better method. I would be happy with any indication method that I could at a glance see on the block diagram window.

 

2 Screenshot (AEH off).png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 Screenshot (AEH on).png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Idea expansion:

  • Executing a single left click on the triangle (or any other indication method) would toggle the setting to its other value. For example, a single left click on the grey triangle would toggle the AEH to enabled and the triangle would become green.

There are several great ideas on this Idea Exchange that were marked as Completed because they were implemented in NXG.

Although arguments could probably have previously been made that this wasn't really "complete" for most requestors, it was reasonable given the idea that NXG would replace LabVIEW 202x.

 

Given the updated fate of NXG, can these posts all be reevaluated and marked as either New or In Development, as appropriate?

If the evaluation is too effort-intensive, can they all be marked as New again?

I would be surprised if this is not a duplicate but I was unsuccessful finding it.

 

The subject says it all. Simply add a scrollbar to free text labels. I sometimes use a string constant for free labels simply because they can have a scrollbar.

 

scrollbar.png

I've been doing a lot of string comparisons lately and I really hate having to drop To Upper/Lower Case function in front of my Equal? comparisons, as shown below:

 

 Case Insensitive Equal.png

 

It would be so much nicer if I could just have a special Case Insensitive mode for the Equal? node (and, it would be nice if the Equal? function changed its visual appearance, somehow, to signify that it is in a Case Insensitive mode):

 

 
Case Insensitive Equality Comparison.png

I wish there was a boolean text specifier for Format into String functions.

 

% followed by "?" would expect two possible strings like this. Why not?

 

boolean.png

Open the VI Properties dialog when the Control key is depressed and the VI's icon in the upper right is double-clicked.

 

Right-clicking the icon shows a pop-up menu with VI Properties, Edit Icon..., and Find All Instances. Double clicking it opens the icon editor.

Block diagram string constants have a useful feature "Size to text" which is accessible through the standard right click menu.  One way in which this is useful is to ensure that information in an array of constants is not hidden: Right click on an element of a string-constant array and select "Size to text" and it will expand to show the full length of all the strings it contains.

 

What's needed is an equivalent for numerics (including rings and enums).  When dropped singly, these constants expand and shrink around their contents.  But if you drop a numeric constant on an array constant, it takes the size of the numeric and can only be expanded manually.  If you then enter a constant that is longer, only the first part will be shown, and there is no indication that the values are truncated.  (see image)

 

I think that arrays of numeric constants should resize to show everything entered, automatically.

 

16985i3AA6C5F1591D73F6

The default Data Directory path is set to "%Userprofile%\Documents" under windows. 

This is fine regarding custom probes, settings etc, but problematic when it comes to the compile cache and other "runtime" files.

 

In our corporate setting, this folder is always synced with onedrive AND with the roaming profile. So one problem is, that it bloats the synced volume, which by it self is annoying. But it often leads to corrupt files when onedrive blocks them or writes them in the wrong moment. 

 

So our workaround is to set this path to %programdata%\LabView Data. This, however, brings new problems, since now all users need write access to this folder.

 

I think a better way would be to save the folder under %localappdata%, but this can not be done with a symblic path and must be defined static, so it works just for one user.

 

Solution:

Provide a symbolic link to the %useroprofile% or %localappdata% folders. Additionally it would be nice, if the cache target folder could be seperately defined.

GUIProgrammerDream.png

 

...the ability to bulk-create References, Local Variables, Property Nodes...

Resizing the front panel so it is correct when running the VI is still very tedious and can easily mess up during editing. The problem is even more severe for Xcontrols, because their runtime size is often very small so there is not even enough room to e.g. display all the tools in the tool bar during editing. Once the runtime size is correctly set, all it needs is a double-click on a terminal that has its FP item hidden outside the visible area and everything on the FP shifts and messes up.

 

We need three things:

  1. An "edit time" FP size that is "comfortably big" so we can see the entire toolbar and possibly also helper controls and even maybe some comment text intended for the programmer that are outside the operator area and only used for debugging and such.
  2. A "run time" FP size that matches exactly what the operator sees during running.
  3. A special decoration or other visual cue during editing that indicates the FP area that will be visible at runtime.

 We already have the crosshair in the upper left corner when showing the grid, so that could be defined as the upper left corner at runtime by default. All we need is define the upper left and lower right corner and the runtime FP area is uniquely defined. As a visual cue, everything outside the runtime area could be a shade darker or tinted differently than normal to indicate that fact. Running the VI would snap the FP boundaries to the bright area.

 

Then we also need handles to move any of the boundaries at single pixel increments. A control that scales with the front panel would simply scale to the bright area instead. Of course a legacy mode for older VIs that did not have this feature during their creation needs also to be supported.

 

The example image shows a reddish transparent area (just to throw out another idea, maybe a slightly darker grey would be better). This is one of my own subVIs that demonstrates the problem at hand. At runtime, only the progress bar should be visible, while at edit time, I want to see all controls, because I might need them e.g. to wire the connectors. It is not easy to switch between the two sizes.

 

(Of course we can currently program around all that by setting windows parameters via property nodes, but it is ugly, inefficient, and tedious.)

 

 

 

 

 

Problem:

I faced to delete multiple elements form the array which is having 20 steps.

 

solution:

if able to select multiple elements by holding the shift key we can delete selected items 1 time and can insert 1 time.

 

 

Array element.png

 

 

Since 1986, when LabVIEW first launched, there has been one constant.  Icons are 32x32 elements. 

 

That made sense on 17inch CRT monitors.  There have been improvements in displays since then but, no corresponding improvement to the Icon resolution. 

 

Isn't it time to change that?

It would be nice, if the different kind of LabVIEW windows would have slighty different icons within the windows taskbar. It would be easier to quickly identify BD / FP / project / Ctrl / etc. windows in the taskbar.

 

This suggestion has also been made at

http://www.labviewforum.de/unterschiedliche-Symbole-fuer-Frontpanel-und-Blockdiagramm-in-der-Taskleiste-t13546.html

Here you can find two suggestions for FP & BD-icons.