Easy way to copy the VI icon to application icon?

[bob_miller]

This is a fairly minor, but annoying problem...

I am using LabVIEW 7.1 with the DSC module to deploy a standalone application. The build utility has a radio button to select a default LabVIEW icon for the application or to import a custom one. Some discussion exists out in the developers forum on how to use third-party tools to create custom icons in appropriate file formats to import.

But LabVIEW already has a built-in VI icon editor which though fairly crude, is usable, and I and probably a half million other users have already used it to create icons for our VIs and subVIs.

Is there a simple way (preferably not involving 3rd-party software other than Microsoft built-ins) to import this icon for use in the application? I am actually rather amazed that this is not a third option (besides "Default" and "Custom", e.g. "Use VI Icon") in the application builder!

I have the "Developers' Suite PCE", so I have (but have not attempted to install) LabWINDOWS/CVI, which is hinted to have an icon editor in it. But I really don't want to go around my elbow to use (or worse, rebuild) an otherwise perfectly good 32x32 256 color icon I have already tediously created.

Bob Miller

[Steven_H.]

Bob,

You're right - this should be easier, and it's something we're working on for a future version.

In the meantime, you can copy the icon from LabVIEW's icon editor (Edit > Select All, Edit > Copy), paste it into CVI's (or a third party's) editor, save it as .ico, and import it into app builder. At least you wouldn't have to redraw the icon from scratch.

Steven H.

[bob_miller]

Thanks. A few hours after I posted I figured out how to programatically
extract a VI icon and save it to a file (using vi methods in a scratch-
built "SaveIcon.vi"). This gets me part-way there (in the wrong file
format to load directly into the application builder).

I also now realize that I need the 16x16 "small" icon as well, so
there's editing to do in some other tool, anyway. And VI icons, while
serviceable, really want to be nice and square (no masking) to cover the
connection ports appropriately in a block diagram, while most modern
Windows desktop icons are more "pretty", including the default LabVIEW
application icon. So if I'm going to do a professional job here, I have
to do some work 😉

However, being able to select the VI icon as as the 32x32 icon in the app
builder (with the standard 16x16 LabVIEW icon as the small one) would be
a nice quick-and-dirty feature, especially when several different LabVIEW
applications will be placed on the same desktop. Having all the icons look
the same kind of defeats the purpose of icons...

Thanks,

Bob

[bob_miller]

As a post-script to this thread: I was able to find and use the CVI
icon editor to complete the porting task, including creating the
small icon. Its not a particularly fancy editor, but like the VI
icon editor, it is functional.

I think NI should consider bundling it into DSC as well as CVI to
eliminate a functionality hole for customers purchasing only LabVIEW
plus DSC. As I bought a LV developers' suite with CVI bundled in, I had
the needed utility.

Bob