LabVIEW Idea Exchange

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In .NET each of the integer data types provides two constant fields, named MinValue and MaxValue. These constants return the minimum and maximum values that can be stored in that data type. For example, for Int32 MinValue would return -2147483648 and MaxValue would return 2147483647.

1 C# min and max values.png

It would be nice if there would be similar constants in LabVIEW for all eight integer data types. These constants would be similar to the DBL constants that already exist: +Inf, -Inf, Machine Epsilon and NaN, and would be similar in concept to string constants such as Space Constant and End Of Line Constant.

The new constants could be placed in the Numeric palette, or in a new sub palette of the Numeric palette, as shown in the image below. I would be happy with any location.

3 Where to place the constants in LabVIEW (edited).png

I am aware that I can easily create constant VIs to implement this functionality, which would be very similar to how Space Constant.vi is implemented, but it would be nice if the constants were built-in.

My current workaround when I need the min or max values of an integer data type is to drop a numeric constant and type something like -9999999999999999 or 9999999999999999, which after Enter is pressed LabVIEW correctly coerces to the min or max value.

Thanks

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Support Relative Paths in Build Specs

At present, build paths in build specs are stored as absolute paths, unless the path happens to be in the same folder as the project. Relative paths that are a level or more up from the project folder are not supported. Modifying the XML directly does not support relative paths either.

_carl_0-1711030809967.png

When working on multi-developer projects, where source control root folders may be different, this can be a serious annoyance. One of the better workarounds at the moment is to build to a non-desired relative path (within the project folder) and then to run a post-build action to move the generated files to the desired location.

But it shouldn't have to be this way -- relative paths should just work. (They are supported elsewhere in projects, such as with dependencies.)

(Note: this is the follow-up to a post on the LabVIEW forum about the same issue.)

Suppose a front panel contains the three elements seen below, with the first one being selected.

1 (edited).png

In the situation above currently pressing Tab does nothing. It would be useful if, instead, pressing Tab would cycle the element selection to the next element in the tabbing order, as seen below.

2 (edited).png

If Tab was pressed again, it would cycle to the next element in the tabbing order, as seen below. And so on.

3 (edited).png

Notes

This idea would speed up development by enabling us to cycle through element selection without using the mouse.
When used in conjunction with the F2 idea, this would enable us to use Tab + F2 combinations to quickly cycle through elements and rename their labels and/or captions.
This idea could be extended to terminals on the block diagram. Suppose a terminal is selected on the block diagram, pressing tab would navigate to another terminal on the block diagram.
I'm aware that currently it is possible to use Tab or Shift+Tab to cycle between elements forwards or backwards when the VI is in Run Mode (Ctrl + M). While that is useful, this idea asks for more.

Thanks!

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Putting a comment next to a shift register item is something that I frequently do, and is frequently done in NI sample code. (See Quadrature Decoder with Position & Velocity - NI 9505 (FPGA).vi as an example of this.) The trouble is that when you move the shift register, the label doesn't go with it. I would like a right-click option to add a label to a shift register. The label should have a default position on the inside of the loop above the shift register, but options to locate it on the left or right, and inside or outside the loop. It should also be able to be moved around like any label in labVIEW. But is should stay in the same relative position to the shift register when the shift register is moved. And if a labeled shift register is duplilcated, the label should also duplicate with an added extension number to make them distinct, just like duplicating a control or indicator.

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Simple idea is to make the icons found in the palettes, the block diagram and help all match.

MissMatchedIcons(larger).png

The icons in the columns are all the same function, however, there are some significant differences. It is reasonable to expect the help menu icons are expanded to show additional functionality, but there is no reason why the palette and BD icons should be different. The core of the icon in the help menus should be the same too.

These icons screen shots are from LabVIEW 2018.

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It would be nice to add another dimension to the system exec.vi that gives the user the option to open up the “Run as Administrator” command prompt in Windows 7. This would enable a system administrator to use LabVIEW to make certain, currently restricted, changes to the computer. I don’t believe it would create a security risk because you have to be logged in as an administrator anyway to have the access rights

As far as I’ve seen, there really is no string that you can enter into the command line that will instruct an elevated command prompt to open. With this added functionality in the system exec vi, however, you will be given more flexibility with what you can do through your LabVIEW program.

With the advent of the IoT and the growing need to synchronize automation applications and other TSN (Time Sensitive Networking) use cases UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is becoming more and more problematic. Currently, there are 37 seconds not accounted for in the TimeStamp Which is stored in UTC. The current I64 portion of the timestamp datatype that holds number of seconds elapsed since 0:00:00 Dec 31, 1900 GMT is simply ignoring Leap Seconds. This is consistent with most modern programming languages and is not a flaw of LabVIEW per se but isn't quite good enough for where the future is heading In fact, there is a joint IERS/IEEE working group on TSN

Enter TAI or International Atomic Time: TAI has the advantage of being contiguous and is based on the SI second making it ideal for IA applications. Unfortunately, a LabVIEW Timestamp cannot be formated in TAI. Entering a time of 23:59:60 31 Dec 2016, a real second that did ocurr, is not allowed. Currently IERS Bulletin C is published to Give the current UTC-TAI offset but, required extensive code to implement the lookup and well, the text.text just won't display properly in a %<>T or %^<>T (local abs time container and UTC Abs time container) We need a %#<>T TAI time container format specifier. (Or soon will!)

Whenever I'm working on let's say a state machine I find that I need to resize the case structure now and then. Mostly make it larger, then I clean up my code and want to make it smaller again. Often when I do this, the constants (usually) pointing out the next case either get longer wires since they get further away from the border (when making the structure larger), become hidden (structure made smaller and no auto-grow) or prevent the resize (auto-grow enabled).

A solution to this would be to be able to lock BD objects with respect to the nearest corner of an owning structure, in the same way the loop index terminal is locked wrt to the corner of a for or while loop.

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Enum Datatypes

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Silver Boolean False State

Viewing this suggestion requires a bit of setup

Forget you know what Silver controls look like
Think about it from a user point of view
Imagine a set of indicators including a sole boolean indicator show up on the screen. You have no comparison to other states of the boolean indicator.

Is it True or False?

My opinion is that the gradient and lighter shade of green makes the state a little ambiguous. Not too much ambiguity, but enough to give me pause. Decreasing the gradient and darking the shade a little should help.

Yes, I realize this is a property you can set. This is more of a suggestion for setting the standard.

(this suggestion aside, my compliments to the designer of the Silver controls)

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Traditionally LabVIEW has treated Strings and Unsigned Byte Arrays as being the same. This is nowadays a little unfortunate as all UI systems use some kind of encoding so Strings are not generally interchangeable with Byte Arrays anymore.

In trying to stay for binary data as much as possible with Byte Arrays instead of Strings, since that would be the sensible thing to do, the Unflatten from String (which should rather be called Unflatten from Stream) puts a totally unnecessary wrench into this.

I always had hoped that LabVIEW would change the default binary data stream format to a Byte Array at some point but this while it would be possible, is a fairly pervasive change that would require many backwards compatibility decisions that I unfortunately don't see NI going to spend time on anymore. This change however would be a very small change that has zero backwards compatibility concerns and almost no work to add to the existing LabVIEW software.

This same change has been for instance made to the TCP Write node some versions back already and could be also applied to the VISA Write!

Format Into String like Formula Node

Format Into String can become very complicated when you have multiple inputs. I think implementing it in a way similar to the Formula Node could make it much better.

Ideally,

naming of the inputs should be allowed
the input fields in the string should be color highlighted
when hovering or clicking over any of the input or the format string fields, the matching ones should be highlighted in bold or with different background for example.

FJR0_0-1697721252785.png

As a side note, the Formula Node itself could also benefit from the same color and hover highlighting.

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Situation:

You want to show a coworker or customer something "real quick" in the LabVIEW. So you open a new VI, open the block diagram, and open the quick drop accidentally because you thought the palettes were already loaded.

DANGIT you forgot that you haven't accessed the palettes since you started LabVIEW. Now you have to resort to awkward conversation defending LabVIEW about how awesome it is, even though it can sometimes be slow, etc, etc. If you decide to skip the awkward conversation and instead try clicking out of the window you see this awful image:

Oh No! Did LabVIEW crash? Is it broken? How long will this take?

Solution:

Cancel button on the windows in question that allows you to stop loading the palettes (or switch it to loading in the background) so that you can go back to work and find your function the old fashion way. Save you time. Save you annoyance. Save LabVIEW some street cred.

The world is a happier place...

Swap Array Elements Primitive

Is it immediately obvious to you what the following code does?

This rats nest simply swaps two elements in an array, a very common operation when trying to operate on a large array in-place. The In Place Element Structure helps the looks a little, but I find the performance to lag when used in a tight loop, you know, the kind you encounter when you are trying to operate on large arrays.

I would like a simple primitive (sorry too lazy for a picture) which simply swaps two elements in an array. It should be similar to the Replace Array Subset function, except for two sets of index inputs and no subset input. If you want to really make my day be sure to allow disabled inputs to swap rows and columns in one shot for 2D arrays, or pages or volumes or whatever in higher dimensional arrays.

LabVIEW Idea Exchange

Close Zip File should return the file path

Use numeric sorting rather than literal sorting

MinValue and MaxValue constants for integer types

Property Node Style Bundle and Unbundle Element

Have All Clones included in AllVIsInMemory property

Support Relative Paths in Build Specs

Tabbing between front panel elements should be possible at Edit Time

Attached Label option for Shift Registers.

Make icons match between the different location where they are fou

Better explanation of installed components (on Splash screen and About screen)

Run as Administrator Option for System Exec VI

New Absolute Time Format Specifier TAI %#<>T

Make Trim Whitespace polymorphic and handle an array of strings

Lock BD object position wrt structure corner

Enum Datatypes

Silver Boolean False State

Allow Unflatten from String to also accept an Unsigned Byte Array as input

Format Into String like Formula Node

Cancel load for Quick Drop, Palette Search, etc

Swap Array Elements Primitive