Is there a more effective way than using the visible property node to make controls inactive/hidden on the front panel?

[smercurio_fc]

After looking at the code all that I can say is:   

No wonder the code is a dog. Give me some time to digest this. I need to get the Ultra Tums out...

[themike]

Hahahahaha this is why I was hesitant to post it from the start because it's pretty overwhelming and my question is on such a tiny portion of it.

I am now pretty familiar with it, so if you have any questions on what a certain part is doing let me know and I will answer you as soon as I can.

The program handles lots of data and uses two DAQs.

There are four states in a sequenced time structure  Imaging parameters (sets up ports) ,experimental setup (where it takes in #sources, detectors etc.), Gain Settings (program in the gain settings), and then Data Acquisition runs the system and plots the data as it is acquired.

Thank you again for your time and effort!

[smercurio_fc]

Well, you're in for a bit of pain, I'm afraid. The code is poorly laid out and a mess to try to change, despite the pretty front panel. To try to implement the suggestion I had made regarding the arrays would require a massive rewrite, and it doesn't sound like it's something you're prepared to do. The sensor/detectors aren't clusters, so the idea of hiding/showing them as a whole is out. The idea of having one box for each bank of 16 sensors/detectors that gets resized may be an alternative at this point. At least you'd only be dealing with 4 boxes total rather than 128.

I'll try to put together an example of how this would behave.

Very ugly. 

[themike]

Well, I can't say I didn't see this coming.

If I was to write my own code in the future I will definately arrange them in clusters as to avoid being in the same predicament.

As for the proposed solution, 4 Boxes is definately better than a 128.

So if it is possible to change the width of the box that would be great!

Thank you again for your time, I have been working on this for days to no avail.

I really appreciate your help!

Mike

[smercurio_fc · Accepted solution]

Attached is a demo of using 4 boxes to cover up the sensor/detectors for a bank of 64. I don't really know if this is going to be a better solution for you since I can't run your VI so I don't know where the real bottleneck is.

The VI you were given really needs a rewrite. Barring that, you may be able to approach it by changing a little bit here and a little bit there, or to change it in steps. For example, the sensor/detectors are made up a digit display, a numeric indicator, 3 LEDS, and a slider. The slider is a control, so you cannot combine all of the items into a single cluster since a cluster as a whole is either an indicator or a control. You could, however, combine the digit (change it to a string/numeric indicator), the numeric indicator, and the 3 LEDS into a single cluster. This would vastly reduce the number of terminals you have to manage on the diagram.