"View As Color Box" option on numerics?

[SteenSchmidt]

Hi,

There are numerous ideas floating around about where the color box constant and control should be located in the palettes. How about if there wasn't a distinction between a color box and its numeric representation? Like the "View As Icon" option on terminals and clusters, I suggest a "View As Color Box" on numeric constants and controls/indicators:

 

I'm undecided on if this options should be available for all numeric data types, integers only, or U32 only, and what should happen to the Representation options when the numeric is a color box. I see at least these options (ordered after my preference - I prefer 1) the most):

1) The "View As Color Box" option is available for all numeric data types, but when selected the data type changes into U32. If you change Representation to anything else but U32, the "View As Color Box" option is automatically deselected.

2) The "View As Color Box" option is available only when the numeric is U32.

3) The "View As Color Box" option is available for all numeric data types, and coercion happens between the selected "color value" (U32) and the true Representation of the numeric.

Several ideas would be fixed by this, for instance this and this.

Cheers,

Steen

[AristosQueue (NI)]

> It is obviously a stretch of what radix actually means

a) Changing that ring would completely change the visualization of the control, a very strange UI interaction.

b) It would require us to put a radix ring selector on the color box so you could change it back.

Overall, not a solution I like.

[gerh]

I stick closely to altenbach's ideas.

A change of the view must not result into a data change or worse into a change in representation.

Also the color box is not compatible with the definition of the radix.

So, in my opinion, the only clean solution is to replace it. Would be great to have the features, that altenbach suggested.

[Darren]

FYI, there is a LabVIEW 2015 shortcut menu plugin that provides this functionality. See here:

Convert Color Box

[Darren]

Available in LabVIEW 2016 and later. Right-click on a U32 Numeric control/indicator/constant and select 'Replace with Color Box'. Right-click on a color box control/indicator/constant and select 'Replace with U32 Numeric'.