LabVIEW Idea Exchange

Currently, the TDMS File api does not offer a way to get the TDMS file size.

Our use case is that we'd like to limit the size of the TDMS files and span them accross multiple individual files (and I've posted an idea suggestion for adding that as a native feature, too).  To do this, we need to be able to monitor the TDMS file size, so that we can save/close the current file and then create the next file in the span for continued use (until we hit the size limit again).

I started a discussion here

Although the suggestion about using a template is quite nice, I would still like to be able to create a new VI (or sub-VI) from within a project.  I never use the default icon provided by NI.  -- N-E-V-E-R --   That's a personal choice. 

So since I never use that icon, the fact that creating a new VI which auto-generates an icon that is never used, renders that feature useless.  Let's see how many users of LabVIEW also find the default icon useless....  (Kudos would be a way to take a poll).

A nice feature would be to allow the developer to create her / her own default icon.  The default icon is probably somewhere in the ini file (I have not checked).  One of the Options could be to select if the user wants to use their own default, and if so, browse to the icon or have an editor create one.

In my case, when creating a new VI, it ends up with a icon like this:

I would be happy to have a default icon that looks like this:

The idea I am proposing is that developers should be able to have the icon of their choice as a default icon.

And may plenty of kudos adorn this thread..  🙂

Excel displays the number of selected cells.

VS Code displays the number of selected characters.

LabVIEW should display the number of selected items in the Project Explorer.

LabVIEW should also display the number of selected items on the block diagram and the front panel.

Notes

• In the Project Explorer the functionality would be useful to count/monitor/audit the number of VIs and CTLs in a lvclass, lvlib, or in a virtual folder of these owners, etc. It would be nice to know at a glance "oh, there are 12 public VIs in this class".
• The block diagram count functionality can become more useful in large projects and VIs. For example, I recently edited the block diagram of a VI in a DQMH-based project. The project contains 16 DQMH modules at the moment (more to be added). I wanted to check that the VI I was editing was calling the Start Module.vi public VI of each of the 16 modules (wanted to check that the VI would launch all DQMH modules). The only way to do this was to "manually" count the VIs on the block diagram. Selecting them and LabVIEW displaying "Count: 16" would have been easier.
• In the block diagram the information displayed by LabVIEW could be more nuanced. For example, it could display the total number of items selected (subVIs, nodes, property nodes, etc), but also a breakdown based on item type: number of VIs, number of nodes, number of property nodes, etc. All these selection stats may occupy too much space for all to be displayed at once. Perhaps they could be displayed in an element that, when clicked, expands to present all the information.
• The block diagram and front panel count functionality would enable programmers to quickly estimate the complexity of a VI. Pressing Ctrl + A on a block diagram to select all items, then looking at the selection stats would reveal the relative complexity of that VI.
• If a whole structure is selected on the block diagram, then the count should return the count of all items contained in the diagram, not just the items displayed to the user. For example, if a case structure is selected, the number of items contained in all cases should be displayed.

Thanks

It can be difficult to go back to the Search Results window when searching for subVIs or text in a project with many open VIs.

It'd be great if the Search Results window had an "Always on top?" option. The screenshot below shows a possible implementation, using a tickbox.

I'd be happy for the default value of the tickbox to be false (unticked). The default behaviour would be identical to the current behaviour.

When the option is ticked the Search Results window would float on top of other VI windows, similar to how the Probe window floats on top.

This would make life easier when going back and forth between a few results, with many VIs already open, especially when so many VIs are open that all LabVIEW windows have collapsed into one tall list in the Windows taskbar.

This feature is not terribly impactful, but has a high benefit-to-effort ratio, due to the very small implementation effort.

Thanks

LabVIEW 2021 now has this pop-up, which lets you know if you still have VIs running in the background when you try to close a project: 

Great!  Because previously you were alerted that some VIs were still running, but not which ones. So this helps substantially with debugging.

However, I usually just want to abort these VIs without closing my project. There's still no (obvious) way to either open or abort these still-running VIs. That leaves me twiddling my thumbs (often for several minutes on large projects) while I close and re-open the project.

The request: Add the ability to either open or abort these running VIs from this window.  It could be as simple as adding an "Abort All" button...or even adding documentation on how these could be closed:

(And yes, obviously the correct solution here is for me as the developer to fix the bug that's leaving these VIs running... however, in the real world, sometimes this is either lower priority than other issues, or falls onto someone else's plate...and in the meantime you're left regularly waiting for your project to reload.)