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Custom Meter/Gauge Needles

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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!

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!)

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It's useful that we can open the Error List window via the Ctrl + L shortcut.

It would be great to have keyboard shortcuts that allowed us to navigate to the next and previous errors (broken run arrow locations). This would be similar to how Ctrl + G and Ctrl + Shift + G can be used to navigate to the next and previous result in the Search Results window.

I would be happy with any key combinations chosen for this purpose.

Thanks

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The Tree- Control and the Multicolumn Listbox support the presentation of a Symbols per row. But there are a lot of cases where there is needed more than one symbol per row. One very common scenario is the display of various states (Calculation completed: Checkmark; Results written to file: Checkmark; Assigned Application to open file: App-Icon...). NI does this already in the "Example Finder" window, so it is obvious there is a need for this feature.

I think it is a good practice to hold a pool of symbols, attached to the control, like NI does currently with the Trees and MCLBs. And for performance reasons there could still be the possibility to determine the columns to be capable to display symbols.

So from the LabVIEW programmers point of view there could be added the following properties / methods:

Symbol-Displayable Colums (property, read/write), (1D Array I32): Gets or Sets the indices of colums, which can show symbols and reserve space when the property "Visible Items->Symbols Visible" is set to true
Active Symbol- Column (property, read/write), (I32): Gets or Sets the Column-No which has focus for the next "Item Symbols"-property operation.
Set Column- Symbols (method, takes an I32 as Index for the Column, takes a 1D-Array of I32 as Symbol-pool indices): shortcut for setting the Property "Active Symbol- Column" followed by setting the Property "Item Symbols".
Get Column- Symbols (method, takes an I32 as Index for the Column, returns a 1D-Array of I32 as Symbol-pool indices): shortcut for setting the Property "Active Symbol- Column" followed by reading the Property "Item Symbols".

This should provide compatibility to the current handling of symbols since the property "Symbol-Displayable Colums" defaults to [0], so if "Item Symbols" is read or written to, it is meant to use the first column, which is status quo.

Tree Property: "Item Data"

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Formula Node Variable Name Centering

Formula Node output variable names should be shifted right 1 pixel within their borders. Currently, the names are left-justified. Since each character is also left-justified (i.e. the white-space to separate them from adjacent text is on the right of each), input variable names have a 0-pixel left margin and 3-pixel right margin within their 1-pixel border. Since the output variable two-pixel borders grow inward to match the outer dimensions of input variables, the text pixel is cropped with excess on the right. This is problematic for the 1-pixel wide lower-case letter L which is cropped in half by the left border but still has a 2-pixel right margin. If shifted, names would be centered, cropping would not be as apparent, and the letter L would be distinct. The image below is enlarged 200% so the issue is more obvious (but the name is easier to read).

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The Preferred Execution System setting of a VI allows for more explicit developer control of a VI's thread allocation. Currently there is no way to quickly view which VIs have been configured for which execution system. Furthermore it's not easy to see what execution system a VI configured with 'same as caller' will run under.

This idea is to add an optional color coded representation of each execution system to the VI Hierarchy window. When enabled, each of the execution systems is highlighted with a certain color around VIs, and applied to the lines between VIs.

For VIs with an explicitly configured execution system, the color around the VI would be solid. For VIs set to 'same as caller', the color around the VI would match that of parent in the call chain, but have a different appearance (shaded diagonal colored lines in this example). For VIs which are 'same as caller', but called from multiple different execution systems, the color around the VI would be shaded black.

Full resolution example:

Spoiler

Adding this option would allow the developer to quickly view what execution systems have been configured, which ones are not is use, and potential call chains of each execution system.

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If we type up a list in a text label we can now (since LabVIEW 2023) right-click on it, select quick change and convert it to a number of different objects (array, enum, boolean etc)...Once you have done however, right-clicking on the result does not offer the quick change option anymore.

It would be nice and feel more consistent if the same option was available when right-clicking on the supported objects as well; allowing us to convert those to any of the other options and/or even back to the original list (which would allow you to then edit that list efficiently and then reconvert it). Basically an label/object to object/label quick change, instead of just label to object.

PS. I know there are various quick drop plugins that do parts of this, but this would extend the now in-built function to cover those and more scenarios...

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Many times data is generated or transformed using a function or vi with a single output. In those cases the wire name is the one given by the function or VI terminal, but it would far more descriptive if the wire could have a proper name according to is usage in the block diagram. You can attach labels to wires but these are not propagated particularly when used in places like "bundle" or in structures (for, while, etc.). In large diagrams thus it can be difficult sometimes to now what a wire is for.

This idea proposes to enable the override of the default name of the wire connected to output terminal to that of the label of the function, in case the label is not empty, for single output function or VI. In a similar fashion to the propagation of labels of constants. This could be automatic (not empty label) or deliberate (for instance, using a tick box in the properties page)

This is different from idea Allow-Wire-Labels-to-Dictate-Name-Inheritance-in-Bundles in that it follows the current LabView behavior of the wire name being dependent on labels on constants, and avoids possible conflicts.

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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LabVIEW Idea Exchange

Getting Started window should try to Find My Files

Custom Meter/Gauge Needles

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

New Absolute Time Format Specifier TAI %#<>T

Scroll Position Change Event for String Controls

remove thick wire corners under Select block

Use numeric sorting rather than literal sorting

Keyboard shortcut to navigate to the next edit-time error (broken run arrow reason)

Multiple Symbols or Icons in a Tree- Control and Multicolumn Listbox

Tree Property: "Item Data"

The Border Nodes on the In Place Element Structure need a "Replace With" option

Formula Node Variable Name Centering

Visualize Preferred Execution System configuration in VI Hierarchy window

Property Node Style Bundle and Unbundle Element

Have All Clones included in AllVIsInMemory property

Label to Object (Quick Change) upgrade to Object/Label to Object/Label

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

Add "Text to UTF-8" and "UTF-8 to Text" to the standard palette

Allow single output function / VI label to override wire name

Attached Label option for Shift Registers.