Does LabVIEW 2009 support multiple monitors?

[dbaechtel]

Why is using two monitors a bad idea?

[tbob]

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@dbaechtel wrote:

Why is using two monitors a bad idea?

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Who said it was a bad idea?  I didn't see anyone who made a remark like that.  Maximizing a block diagram could be bad because you don't have room to see anything else, like other subiv's.  But if that is your only vi that you are working on, then even that is not a bad idea.  I just don't like to see a maximized screen because I usually have other things to look at.

[rolfk]

And to add to that I hate it when I open a project from someone else who has maximized every and all VI's in the project. How the heck can you debug and test such a thing in a complex application?

A front panel should be as large as is necessary to neatly organize all controls and indicators in a similar arrangement as is used on the connector pane. A diagram should be just large enough to show the top level structure in it completely - a case structure for subVis and the state machine loop for the UI Vis - and that should be especially for subVIs, really a lot smaller than a single monitor. Last but not least, globals should be used as little as possible.

Do it otherwise and I will not likely grade that Vi code very well.

[JÞB]

OK - I opened the subject (and it is a pet- peeve of mine) So I guess I should explain a bit more.

First: I'm certainly not the worlds formost authority.  But, in my first week working with LabVIEW I told my brand new boss "I need a larger monitor to work effectivly with LabVIEW"  Needless to say I still have nightmares about maintaining the "abstract art" I created in the next 6 months.

Many of you familiar with my posts notice I "Preach" the style guide.  And I am almost fanatical about it- similar to the enthusiasm sometimes displayed be many ex-smokers and religious converts.  I have seen the errors of my ways and have learned better.  (in fact I still learn a new trick or two) 

And no my ex-co-wirer was not fired for saving with maximized diagrams- but it didn't help him keep the job either.

[Michael Ludwig]

i've been using multiple monitors myself (well, laptop plus monitor), but when the laptop is the main monitor, every subvi i open (and every back panel) opens on the laptop and i have to drag it over to the larger screen manually. Admittedly, this isn't a problem for a few vis, but when you're boring 5-10 vis down through ("properly written") labview code, the head swings along can make you dizzy...!

it'd be nice if you could have your OS stuff on one screen and all LV stuff on another, but i guess that is more a windows than a LV problem.

--working with LV7/8 on Win XP/7

[Michael Ludwig]

@Jeff Bohrer

i agree entirely about "abstract art" and it's alluring pitfalls. I think the style guide somewhere says something about writing vis so that, at worst, you only have to scroll in one direction but not in both. I've learned the wisdom of that the hard way.

Of course, the need to scroll is a relative matter, dependent upon the socially accepted size of screens in any given decade. 1200x1600 is about as big as i'm willing to make code at the moment. Anything else belongs in a sub-vi, says i.

[blawson]

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@Michael Ludwig wrote:

i've been using multiple monitors myself (well, laptop plus monitor), but when the laptop is the main monitor, every subvi i open (and every back panel) opens on the laptop and i have to drag it over to the larger screen manually. Admittedly, this isn't a problem for a few vis, but when you're boring 5-10 vis down through ("properly written") labview code, the head swings along can make you dizzy...!

it'd be nice if you could have your OS stuff on one screen and all LV stuff on another, but i guess that is more a windows than a LV problem.

--working with LV7/8 on Win XP/7

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I've a half-finished free-time-project script to deal with exactly this problem.   It's easy enough to write a quick VI that will scan all the in-memory VIs, check which ones have open FPs and/or BDs, compare the window bounds of those that are open with the display bounds and shift them into the display(s) if needed. Then I got windows 7 and I'm trying to get used to its window handling features. I like it so far:

-right clicking on the task bar gives you "cascade" and "stack" options.  Cascade would be great if it didnt reshape all the windows. Stack is kind of neat but only if you have fewer than about 9 windows open.

-win key + arrow keys:  this one is actually pretty neat and I use it a lot on multi monitors, it sets the windows in different places depending on where you are

-shift+win+left/right moves the screen to the next monitor in that direction.

[GregFreeman]

In all fairness, the OP makes it seem that he is not looking to use two monitors for "bad reasons". It seems he just wants to have the FP/BD open automatically to a particular monitor. I think it is correct, that this can't be done. With scripting you could write something that programmatically places your fp and bd where you want on your dual monitors. But to me, running a script for that is just as much effort as dragging a window and double clicking.

However, to touch on the subject more (and I guess this has basically been said by others but...) for me, multiple monitors with LabVIEW falls into some similar "categories" as locals and globals. When used properly, they are great. When used incorrectly, it can be a nightmare. Multiple monitors so you can see a BD on one and its corresponding FP on the other = good. Multiple monitors so you can stretch your block diagram across two of them = bad (usually--almost always--ok, always).

It can cause headaches, as has been mentioned above, when someone developed with multiple monitors and closed while someone else doesn't have mulitple monitors. However, just to let everyone know if you do run into a situation where the window isn't showing up because it was open on a second monitor which you don't have available, you can move it back to your screen. Here is a link on moving a misplaced window back into view.

Anyways, this debate I'm sure will continue but that is my simple input.

[rolfk]

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@for(imstuck) wrote:

It can cause headaches, as has been mentioned above, when someone developed with multiple monitors and closed while someone else doesn't have mulitple monitors. However, just to let everyone know if you do run into a situation where the window isn't showing up because it was open on a second monitor which you don't have available, you can move it back to your screen. Here is a link on moving a misplaced window back into view.

Anyways, this debate I'm sure will continue but that is my simple input.

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Actually for me, LabVIEW is one of the few Windows applications that handles the switch from  multi monitor setup to single monitor fairly well, in that it moves the window on open to a display area that is at least partly on one of the available displays. This is on Windows XP since at least LabVIEW 7.1.

I have other applications I use sometimes (Notepad++ and a few others) that stay put at whatever display position they were last opened and some of them don't even expose a pop-up menu in the taskbar button to select Move from.