LabVIEW Idea Exchange

Hi,

when I have to rework a vi, i usually start by putting the existing code in a disable structure

and then start working in the disabled 'case'.

Quite often I end up trying to replace the disable structure with a case structure to test the new or reworked vi.

Now I have to copy everyting into a temporary vi, remove the disable structure, put a case structure in place, paste again and rewire iputs and outputs.

Please add the ability to replace the disable structure with a case structure.

With the three nodes aligned to Top, we get that annoying bend in the error wires. The spacing between Refnum and Error wires is one pixel greater on the Property Node than on To More Specific Class.

Thoughts?

I frequently see people posting messages about issues they have using the application builder.  They report an error number and the text of the error description.

Here are some recent examples:

Error 1 while building in 8.2

Build Error, Error 6 occurred at AB_Source_VI.lvclass:

Get Error 6 about 50% of time when building Application

Build installer error code -12 while copying distribution

The error description always has a long path through numerous VI's that make up the application builder package pointing to where the error occurred.  But the description never seems to give any detail about what actually caused the error.  It is often too long of a file name, or too deep of a path that gave too long of a path/filename which the app. builder VI's could not handle.

It would be helpful to both the people who are having the issue, and to the people trying to help on the forums when they post their message asking for help, to have some information as to where to look.

Maybe that information is already available and I just don't know where to find it.  Fortunately for me, I don't think I've come across this problem.  One, I haven't need to build a whole lot of executables.  Two, I keep my project folders at the root level of my hard drive, so the initial part of the path is always short.  (e.g.  c:\ProjectFolder\......)  I know if you stored projects in a My Documents directory, the initial path is ridiculously long because of the way Windows locates My Documents on your hard drive  (e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\My UserName\My Documents\ProjectFolder in XP) so you've already wasted 40-50 characters even before you give the directory name for you project folder.

My request:  Let's show some meaningful information in the error dialog box for Applicaiton Builder errors that can help people figure out how to fix it.

In the current implementation, charts increment along the x-axis and waveform graphs have the array index linked to the x-axis. The y axis is graphing the values.

There are many scenarios where this axis association should be swapped. However, we cannot do it without resorting to xy-graphs and jumping through flaming hoops, significantly complicating the data structures.

I propose a right-click option "swap axes" which would have the following effect, depending on the object:

Charts (waveform, intensity) would have the y-axis labeled "time" (by default), there would be an optional vertical scroll bar, and the data would run up (or down) with time (instead of left or right). Everything else would stay the same, same datatypes, data structures, same definition of chart history, etc.

Waveform graphs would have the y-axis tied to the array index of the data, while the value is tied to the x-axis.

Often, we want the data simplicity of a waveform graph, but swapped axes. One (of many) example application would be an intensity graph with a cursor flanked by a narrow vertical graph on the right and a narrow horizontal graph below (See image). These two additional graphs are used here to interactively show the intensity profile along the cursor lines.

Currently, it is not possible to use a waveform graph for the graph on the right. We need to use an xy-graph and do some data gymnastics. With this idea implemented, we could use a plain waveform graph with swapped axes and simply graph a plain 1D array sliced out with "index array". Wouldn't that be great?! 😄

Similarly, we could also allow this for xy graphs where it is not as important, but would simply swap the way the data is displayed (e.g. the imaginary part along X for complex data). This could be useful too.

The ability to swap axes should probably only be available at edit time...