Front Panel Bloat - crashes Labview 8.2!!!

[Bruce Carter]

Over the course of development of my .vi, the front panel has become impossibly large and it is difficult if not impossible to locate all the "pieces".  Scrolling to the left crashes Labview.  I've tried the aligning and distributing tools, no good except they probably messed up what little formatting I had. 

Two questions -

Is there some way of zooming in and out on the front panel / block diagram?  This is one of my biggest pet peeves with the program - I get these microscopic pixel things on the block diagram, and we visually challenged old guys have a tough time seeing what is going on.  And a zoom out on the front panel would let me see the whole thing at once and easily find things to compact them.

Is there some way of bounding the front panel / block diagram so it doesn't continually try to create more and more space until it crashes like it does on my .vi?  Every time I try to move elements of my block diagram / front panel to the upper left - there come the scroll bars again dutifully (and unwantedly) creating more room to the upper left. 

Yes - I know I am probably missing .vi's - the @#$&&& form only lets me add three attachments to the post!!!!

[smercurio_fc]

Trying to scroll crashes on my copy of LabVIEW 8.2 as well.

To get a "good VI":
1. Open up you VI and switch to the block diagram.
2. Select everything on the block diagram and copy.
3. Create a new VI and switch to the block diagram. Paste.

You will have effectively copied your VI. If you switch to the front panel you can now scroll (this time to the right) to get to your controls, which you can move as needed.

As for a zoom function, there is no built-in zoom function, though there was a birds-eye view tool some time ago.

In the development environment you can't turn off the scroll bars.

Is it possible you may have a stuck Control key on your keyboard? Holding down the Control key and dragging creates more space on the front panel.

[Matthew_Kelton]

---

@smercurio_fc wrote:

In the development environment you can't turn off the scroll bars.

---

Not true anymore.  Right-click on the scroll bar and select Horizontal or Vertical Scrollbar and choose Always Off.

[smercurio_fc]

You're right! I completely missed that when reading the release notes! I don't really see much of a use for this, and I doubt that I would use it. Still, I suppose some folks may find it useful in some cases.

I don't believe this would really solve the poster's problem since there seems to be something else going on here. The front panel he has isn't that big, and creating it under normal operation would not create the situation he has with the VI he posted, which has a HUGE amount of dead area.

[Matthew_Kelton]

I have found it useful in panes (especially small ones) so you can see your front panel in edit mode.

It won't fix his problems.  I couldn't get it to crash (8.2.1 and 8.5), but the controls were all messed up.  I tried scrolling and the front panel also seemed locked on mine.  I would scroll, but it wouldn't actually do it.  I double-clicked on a control and it wouldn't show it on the front panel.

He has somehow managed to corrupt the front panel.

[Bruce Carter]

Well, "he" is back after a weekend.  That first poster solved the issue with the copy and paste suggestion.  The front panel is still a mess, but at least a managable size.  The scroll bar trick sounds good, too - as long as I can re-enable it when I need.  Now - if NI will just give me a "zoom" function so I can see without a magnifying glass - then I'll be happy.  We old guys use Labview, too!  I was beginning to wonder if it was age discrimination  - or is Labview being developed by all young guys whose close-up vision hasn't deteriorated yet.  Forty and older, guys - the close up vision progressively goes.  Please - give us a ZOOM function!!!

[smercurio_fc]

You can submit feature requests at the Product Suggestion Center.

The other option is to use a Magnifying Glass accessory. If you're on Windows, it has one. Not the greatest in the world, and I've seen better ones on the net.