Annoying BUG: Selecting VI Properties while editing a lebel causes font to be italic.

[billko]

The problem here is now that NI enabled ctrl + I as italics for text editing, when I select VI Properties, whose shortcut is ctrl + I, the label goes italic instead of opening VI Properties.  I suppose it exposes the fact that LabVIEW actually executes ctrl + I to get to the VI Properties, but I would like selecting VI Properties from the menu to go back to the way it was.  The reason is that a lot of times, I will copy the label of a control so that I can use it in the revision notes.

There are two workarounds, both of them rather clumsy:

1. You can expect the italics, press the Esc key to undo it (and take the focus away from the label) then re-select VI Properties, or
2. Click somewhere outside the label to take the focus off the label so you can select VI Properties.  (Pressing Esc doesn't seem to work here.)

As I said, both of the workarounds are clumsy.  Or should I just change my workflow?

[RavensFan]

I have never experienced that.

I'd say your choice is option #2.

I guess I have never needed to jump right from a label edit to VI properties.

[Frozen]

I can't say I have ever had this problem and I use ctrl I to access vi properties all the time (big fan of short-cuts). Of course, I am in a habit of clicking an empty spot on the front panel (or BD) before doing any shortcuts.

[billko]

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@Frozen wrote:

I can't say I have ever had this problem and I use ctrl I to access vi properties all the time (big fan of short-cuts). Of course, I am in a habit of clicking an empty spot on the front panel (or BD) before doing any shortcuts.

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So you go with option 2.  I've been doing the since the start of this behavior.

I just never thought that LabVIEW would emulate a shortcut key combo when selecting its menu equivalent.

[Frozen]

IIRC, Ctrl+I for italics was introduced with 2018, however the vi properties have been there forever. An unfortunate conflict in short cuts.

There is a similar conflict for bold (ctrl+B) on the block diagram with broken wire removal that have been around for quite some time. Granted, they are much more mutually exclusive than italics one, but that is where I "learned" the click-then-short-cut habit from.

[Ben]

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@billko wrote:

The problem here is now that NI enabled ctrl + I as italics for text editing, when I select VI Properties, whose shortcut is ctrl + I, the label goes italic instead of opening VI Properties.  I suppose it exposes the fact that LabVIEW actually executes ctrl + I to get to the VI Properties, but I would like selecting VI Properties from the menu to go back to the way it was.  The reason is that a lot of times, I will copy the label of a control so that I can use it in the revision notes.

There are two workarounds, both of them rather clumsy:

1. You can expect the italics, press the Esc key to undo it (and take the focus away from the label) then re-select VI Properties, or
2. Click somewhere outside the label to take the focus off the label so you can select VI Properties.  (Pressing Esc doesn't seem to work here.)

As I said, both of the workarounds are clumsy.  Or should I just change my workflow?

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Yes that change annoys me as well. I have adopted option 2 but still forget more often that I like.

My use case is to compose an explanation of the code in a free label on the diagram of a sub-VI as I finish it off. I then

triple click the text to select all,

Ctrl-c to copy it the text,

click out of the text,

and then ctrl-i to get at the VI properties.

When I go to VI properties, LV will default to the last VI property page I used. If the last property page was the documentation, I can paste the text I had copied from the block diagram free label.

Those four click, short-cuts let fill in the VI property so a reader can get a preview of what is in the sub-VI if the help window is open AND explain to readers what they are looking it if they skip reading the help.

Ben 

[MIG]

Another workaround might be to change the shortcut for VI Properties to some other key combination, ctrl + shift + I for example. But I guess this could be quite annoying if ctrl + I has become ingrained after years of doing it.

[Ben]

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@MIG wrote:

Another workaround might be to change the shortcut for VI Properties to some other key combination, ctrl + shift + I for example. But I guess this could be quite annoying if ctrl + I has become ingrained after years of doing it.

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But if you are an itinerant developer, (Like I was) never knowing what PC you are going to be in front of (dangling participle ... get over it!) next, then you have to go modifying your customer's machine and irritating your customer (like I did) even more than when we shut-off auto-tool selection (like I did).

Does switching the italics really happen more often than when we are trying to document a VI?

Spoiler

(God help us if that is true!)

Ben