Present VI Description to User

[FlatCat]

I think I am missing something basic here. I'd like to show the vi description to my users. I can get the text of the description from a property node and put it in a dialog box or text indicator, but it would be nice to have it in Context Help. You can do that in LabVIEW itself by placing the cursor over the vi's icon. But how do you do that at runtime when the icon is not showing? 

[GerdW]

Hi Cat,

show the description in a string indicator on the front panel...

Why/How should your users use/get access to context help?

[FlatCat]

Why/How should your users use/get access to context help?

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I make context help available in all my applications and then put useful information about controls and indicators in the documentation. I then make "Show Context Help" an item in the Help menu (next to Open Manual"). The idea is to give some local help without forcing the user to go search through the manual (although the manual is often more detailed). Given your question, you are making me wonder if that's not standard practice or is not recommended. 

I did consider presenting the VI description in a string indicator (in a dialog-like subvi), but wouldn't it be a little more elegant if it could be done in Context Help, since that's what Context Help is made for?

[GerdW]

Hi Cat,

Imho the context help is useful at edit time, but not as part of an user interface.

What would you show in the help window and why don't you show this in the help of the fp element used to call that subVI?

You can use tip strips on UI elements...

[FlatCat]

I am making major revisions to an existing app, and have created several new windows that add new functions to the application. I wanted to put a general description of the vi and its function into the VI description and make it available for the users who are used to the old version of the program: "Hey, here's a new function and more or less how to use it." Hence my interest in showing the VI Description. 

In general, the right-click menus or double-click actions that I put into graphs and tables are not always obvious, so I put a description of the things you can do with a control in Context Help. Then when the VI starts (only the first few times) it will pop a one-button dialog that says "Check out context help for info about controls", and most windows will have a "Show Context Help" menu item. 

Context help has been there forever and works in the built app, so I thought why not use it? It's helpful for us when we develop. Why not make it useful for the user? At least that's what I've always thought. I have received no complaints about it, but neither have I received any positive feedback either. 

[altenbach]

This simply does not sound right. The context help of a VI is relatively limited and mostly useful to see a brief description and the names of the connectors. A top-level VI does not have connectors!!

It seems tedious to write tomes into the context help.

I agree with Gerd that tip strips are useful and you can add context help to every front panel element. I make extensive use of the context help for most front panel elements, for example here's what you get when hovering over the intensity graph on one of my programs with the context help active (of course the context help is typically outside the app window).

What you should also do is host extensive help pages on your website. Then you can add a button to open the relevant help page in the default browser. These help pages will be nicely formatted and can contain images or even videos.

[FlatCat]

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I make extensive use of the context help for most front panel elements,

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Yes, that is exactly what I have been doing for many years. What I was envisioning adding was trying to make a default Context Help text that appeared when you were hovering over the background of the FP, and not a specific control. That text would be a short paragraph about the function of the window in general, with perhaps a link to web page about it. 

But given your and Gerd's reaction to that idea, not to mention the fact that it can't be done, I will abandon it. 

[altenbach]

You could still write it as an idea in the ideas exchange that hovering over the background would show the context help of the vi.

(It would not really work well for my programs because there is virtually no background, and if you think you found a sliver, it might actually be a tab control surface....)

[rolfk · Accepted solution]

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@FlatCat wrote:

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I make extensive use of the context help for most front panel elements,

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Yes, that is exactly what I have been doing for many years. What I was envisioning adding was trying to make a default Context Help text that appeared when you were hovering over the background of the FP, and not a specific control. That text would be a short paragraph about the function of the window in general, with perhaps a link to web page about it. 

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You could add a boolean indicator that covers the entire background and then overlay it with the rest of your UI. Can even be done after the fact. Just place a boolean indicator, size it as needed, colour it in any way you wish (transparent or otherwise), then use the layer tool to push it behind everything else. Et voila!

[FlatCat]

Voila, bien sȗr! Many thanks.