Open Subvi NOT in a new window

[s.h._tech]

Hello everyone,

I am still getting used to our company's Win11 upgrade. The development using LV and Teststand has become more tedious with the new taskbar. I currently develop a measurement system using queues and multiple statemachines. To debug I usually jump between the different statemachines and then in the designated VIs. Therefore I have multiple VIs open and quickly loose orientation of all opened files. In the old days (< Win10) I was able to extend the taskbar three rows and at least can see all the opened files. This is no longer possible.

One quick fix for my workflow would be to jump inside a VI without opening it in a separate window. So I can follow a trace without the mess on my taskbar. similar to opening links in a browser.

Is this functionality possible in LV (21)?

[GerdW]

Hi s.h,

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@s.h._tech wrote:

One quick fix for my workflow would be to jump inside a VI without opening it in a separate window. 

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How do you "open a VI without opening its fp/bd window"?

And why don't you use the project tree to organize your VIs (and open them from there)?

[s.h._tech]

Especially while debugging, I need to follow SubVis. Some of our VIs call other VIs and so on. When I arrive at the VI I need, I leave behind a trace of 2-10 unnecessary VIs. 

Instead of opening a SubVi in the opened VI, it would be nice to open the SubVI and close the VI that called the SubVi.

An example would be the Windows Explorer. When clicking on a subfolder no new window appears, instead the active window jumps in the subfolder.

[GerdW]

Hi s.h,

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@s.h._tech wrote:

An example would be the Windows Explorer. When clicking on a subfolder no new window appears, instead the active window jumps in the subfolder.

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LabVIEW IDE is not the same as the Explorer…

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@s.h._tech wrote:

Instead of opening a SubVi in the opened VI, it would be nice to open the SubVI and close the VI that called the SubVi.

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You need to close the calling VI on your own…

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@s.h._tech wrote:

Especially while debugging, I need to follow SubVis. Some of our VIs call other VIs and so on. When I arrive at the VI I need, I leave behind a trace of 2-10 unnecessary VIs. 

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That's why NI implemented breakpoints in the IDE. No need to follow a stack of 10 subVIs when you know where to debug!

In the end it boils down to a "problem with YOUR workflow"… 😄

[BertMcMahan]

OP- the answer to your question is no. It will always open a new window- there's not a way to auto close the previous one unfortunately.

There is a third party tool called "ExplorerPatcher" that may let you have a multi row taskbar: https://superuser.com/questions/1895674/windows-11-taskbar-multiple-rows

[Gregory]

You mentioned difficulty due to Windows 11 upgrade, so I'm guessing you don't like something about the taskbar. Check taskbar behaviors to see if there are other options you like better. For example, if you currently get a lot of taskbar buttons for LabVIEW, but you want to limit it to 1, you can "Always" combine taskbar buttons.

[s.h._tech]

Combining all windows would make the visibility even worse

[paul_a_cardinale]

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@GerdW wrote:

Hi s.h,

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@s.h._tech wrote:

One quick fix for my workflow would be to jump inside a VI without opening it in a separate window. 

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How do you "open a VI without opening its fp/bd window"?

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That was my initial thought.  My guess is that what he wants is that when stepping into a sub VI, the open BD is replaced by the sub VI's BD, then when the sub VI exits, its BD is closed, and the caller's BD is reopened.

[s.h._tech]

Thanks for writing it more clearly. Yes

[aeastet]

Use breakpoints. When you hit the breakpoint it will open the vi with the breakpoint and bring it to the front. It will also make you unpause the code. This will also give you the ability to turn on the light bulb so you can see the execution of the code slowly.