Need UI suggestions / ideas adding to menus

[drjdpowell]

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CoastalMaineBird wrote:

One problem with my scheme so far is that the SELECTORS have to be CONTROLS, but everything else has to be INDICATORS.  That won't work in a cluster and my mockup doesn't deal with that.

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One can mix things up a bit. The Tree control in my example is both a selection control, and an indicator of data source name and live data.   One can also use an indicator as a control via the "mouse down?" event (that might open a configuration window, or what not)..  Or via right-click user menu items.   

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CoastalMaineBird wrote:

I wonder if I could DRAG a channel name out of a master list, and DROP it on this control or that, to set the channel to be displayed.

Seems intuitive enough, don't know if you can DROP things onto INDICATORS or not.

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 I've never used the drag-and-drop functionality myself, but I believe you should be able to use it to do something like: have a list of data channels, and drag channels and drop them into graphs or slider controls.

-- James

[CoastalMaineBird]

I've about ruled out the drag-n-drop idea, because I would have to have a channel list on screen at all times.  That's space that I don't want to give up.

[tst]

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@CoastalMaineBird wrote:

I've about ruled out the drag-n-drop idea, because I would have to have a channel list on screen at all times.  That's space that I don't want to give up.

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Not necessarily. You could set it up so that it appears on request (for instance - if the mouse moves near the left or right edge of the VI you slide a tab control with the list in it from that side of the window, then slide it back out when you're done).

Not knowing exactly what your app is like, I still don't feel I can offer a real solution, but I would suggest that you try to come up with a useful UI concept (and maybe try a few mockups) and only then see how it can be implemented efficiently.

[CoastalMaineBird]

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tst wrote:

You could set it up so that it appears on request (for instance - if the mouse moves near the left or right edge of the VI you slide a tab control with the list in it from that side of the window, then slide it back out when you're done).

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That's a good thought for the drag-n-drop idea.  But since each line needs a display of which channel it is anyway, I might as well make that a selector.  It keeps the UI simpler, in that you don't have to move your eyes and mouse so far, and you don't have to let go so precisely. 

I'm working on the subPanel idea, as that will definitely reduce duplication of control/indicator terminals.  I'll see if I can choke the runtime engine 😆

[PhillipBrooks]

@CoastalMaineBird

Have you ever looked at Jack Dunaway's 2010 Coding Challenge "CognoscentUI" submission?