Screen size

[ceilingwalker]

Hello all. I searched the knowledge base and couldn't come up with an answer to this. I would like to shrink the size of my Vi so that the entire thing fits onto one page, how do I do that?

Thank you

[NIquist · Accepted solution]

There is a method of the VI called Front Panel - Runtime Position - Maximized that you can call with an invoke node to open your VI in fullscreen.  You can also use the VI properties Window Size parameters to resize the objects to scale if the use changes the window size.  Be careful with these settings though since making a window too small will make indicators clip data and sometimes screws up readability.

[Gregory]

If you want your application to have good usability with many different screen sizes you can use panes to divide up your screen. Then you have a main graph or indicator you can set it to "scale with pane" so that as the window shrinks, the graph will shrink too. I also use a little button to hide my main options in one of my applications, I will send it to you if I can find it.

[Gregory]

Here is an example for you. You can use the Yellow Arrow buttons to resize the panes. I like my splitters to look very unobtrusive, so I've made them quite skinny. I use the bottom pane as a status bar indicator. Notice how the XY graph resizes when you change the window size.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Please clarify whether you want the block diagram or front panel to be resized.

[ceilingwalker]

Block diagram. It's so that I may view the entire Vi at one time. I realize it will shrink things down quite a bit. The problem I have is that I am continually scrolling up and down and it makes it tough to see all of what is happening.  Maybe that isn't the proper solution. I might be more appropriate to just ask you experienced folk how you view all of a Vi, to make sure connections are correct going into and out of tunnels and shift registers. Hope this helps. Thank you

[Gregory]

There is no zoom in and out of the block diagram, but you can pull up a bird's eye view using ctrl+shift+n on windows.

What you should really do is bundle bits of your code into SubVI's, but they should be logical functions, like performing a calculation or taking a measurement, not just random bits to compress your diagram. If you pick a good architecture to begin with as your main VI, this will help out a lot as well. Do a search for LabVIEW architectures to get started. Once you get a little more into it, the JKI state machine makes very good use of screen real-estate and has a lot of nice features too.

edit: You can also buy a higher resolution monitor 🙂

[Dennis_Knutson]

You can't shrink a block diagram. The recommended style is to make the block diagram one screen and you should be making use of subVIs.

[Hooovahh]

I've seen several developers accept scrolling in one direction, especially for long chain of property nodes for scripting .Net or ActiveX.  But using a decent state machine you can easy pack a lot of information in one screen that is manageable.

[ceilingwalker]

I see what you mean, tried it, and this is what I was looking for. Thank you everyone for your input.