Connector Pane sSize

[stoneadam]

Does anyone have a method of enlarging connector panes in Labview? I can barely see the panes on some of my VI's, and It's hard to control the mouse over such a small number of pixels.

Does NI have plans on making this more usable?

Thanks,

[James.M]

Are you talking about the connectors on the subVIs you're trying to wire to? As far as those go, you can configure the connector pane by right clicking on it in the top right corner of your subVI, but this only changes the pattern to make the connections farther apart if wanted.

Unfortunately it sounds like you're having trouble with one of the things a lot of new users have to get used to. It just takes some time and practice before the wiring becomes second nature. You could always adjust your screen resolution to enlarge the diagram.

The way wiring works in LabVIEW has been that way for a long time. It may be improved upon at some point, but there has been no "official" intent to change the connector pane.

[Dennis_Knutson]

What connector pane are you using? The default of 4-2-2-4 should be sufficient for the majority of cases. Windows had a built-in zoom. Does that help?

[stoneadam]

Dennis: I'm using an 8-2-2-2-2-2-2-8 in some cases (we use a number of clusters to organize variables for the various activities the controller might be controlling).  I did some searching on the Windows-7 zoom you talked of, and that does help me see what I'm clicking on ('WindowsButton'  +  '+'  keys).  

James: Hopefully at some point improvements will be made with this respect.  Perhaps NI should work on highlighting the connector field that is active on a right-click-- right now you have to depend on a guess as to which box you are over .  The whole process of using the connector pane always seems to just drag out programming.  An alternative approach to a little box might also be to include the "This Connection Is" in the right-click popup for a given variable, cluster, etc, or even a tool that pops up the connector pane graphic in a much larger window.  I'm sure there could probably be a number of other viable solutions and it seems worth working on, in my humble opinion.

Thanks for your replies.

[James.M]

When you mouse over the connector on a subVI, it should pop up a textbox next to your pointer with the name of the connection. This is how I make sure I'm wiring correctly (plus datatypes help). I usually always have the help window open in the corner as well, which shows all the connections for the subVI too.

I really don't ever use any connector panes other than the default or less. Programming practices these days usually dictate that you try to consolidate your inputs and outputs. OOP helps with this because it forces you to pass your data through the class data most of the time. Outside of OOP, I still try to have large data clusters for most of my data passing.

[johnsold]

Do you have the Context help window on? It shows the wires connected to various conpane terminals.

When I move the wiring tool over a conpane terminal that terminal flashes black and a tip strip with the control label appears.

These seem to be the things you are asking for, so I  am not sure what the problem is, except for creating a VI with too many conpane terminals.

Lynn

[Hooovahh]

Yeah you choose one of the most dense connector panes possible.  This isn't something that shouldn't ever be done, if that were the case NI wouldn't have the option.  But it does come with some draw backs.  Personally the 4-2-2-4 connector pane has met practially all situations I've needed, on large and small applications.

My first suggesiton would be to try to stick with 4-2-2-4 if at all possible.  Using cluster, and encapsulation can help, classes are another tool.

But if you must use the dense connector pane like that be sure and take advantage of the switch-a-roo tool.  Hold CTRL with the wire tool and you can swap two terminals on the connector pane.  This can be handy if you accidentially click the wrong tiny square.  Hold CTRL click a square, then while still holding click another square to swap them.

[crossrulz]

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@stoneadam wrote:

I'm using an 8-2-2-2-2-2-2-8 in some cases (we use a number of clusters to organize variables for the various activities the controller might be controlling).

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That usually just points to the fact that you are not modularizing your code enough.  In my experience, I have never needed more connectors than the 4-2-2-4 gives.  And to interface with certain libraries better, I will occaisionally use the 5-3-3-5.  If you need more connections than that, you need to rethink some of your architectures.

[GerdW]

Hi Adam,

you can right-click the subvi icon and switch the appearance from icon to Express style. Then you will have a huge block in the BD and no problems to wire the correct connector... 😉

[GerdW]

Don't get me wrong: I still recommend the 4224 pattern!