Programmatically alter front panel decorations like raised boxes, etc?

[cjs]

I would like to know if it is possible to programmatically alter front panel decorations such as raised boxes. In my program, I have a couple different tool palettes, you might call them. The user hides or shows them when they want. I would like to be able to have a raised box containing one of these groups of buttons but, of course, I only want the box to be there when the buttons are shown. Is there any way to do this? Or any suggestions on better ways to do the same sort of thing?

Thanks

[Mads]

No direct control (another item on the wish list...), you either need to put the decoration on a tab control or in a cluster together with the buttons and show/hide that page / cluster.

An alternative is to make a custom control; make it look like the decoration and then use it's property node to control it.

[Greg_McKaskle2]

> No direct control (another item on the wish list...), you either need
> to put the decoration on a tab control or in a cluster together with
> the buttons and show/hide that page / cluster.
>
> An alternative is to make a custom control; make it look like the
> decoration and then use it's property node to control it.

Actually, you can get a reference to them using the panel properties,
but it is a bit complicated. You cannot make implicit property nodes
though.

As suggested, one approach is to make something that you show and hide,
like a Boolean indicator. Another approach is to make the Boolean's two
states have different pictures, one the decoration, the other is
transparent or flat. The you just need to change the Boolean's value to

do the show/hide. If you are going for more states, consider using a
ring idicator.

Greg McKaskle

[FightOnSCTrojan]

Greg:

Would you please elaborate a little more on how to get the decorations� reference using panel properties?

USCTrojan

[Underflow]

While I'm not normally into self promotion, you might check my comment here: http://exchange.ni.com/servlet/ProcessRequest?RHIVEID=101&RPAGEID=137&HOID=506500000005000000A9E00000&HTHREAD=000057513000057517000057524000057527&UCATEGORY_0=_49_%24_6_&UCATEGORY_S=0 

Decoration references are returned from the front panel as an array. It appears that the references are maintained in the order that the decorations are placed on the front panel, although I could be incorrect.

[FightOnSCTrojan]

Thanks Under....

Do you know if decoration's color could be changed programmatically?

USC Trojan

[Underflow]

The colors are changeable programatically. Left click on the property node for the decoration reference, and you can find FG and BG colors on the list. Tie in a couple of color boxes to them, and you have color changes in the decorations.