Simplifying Large Amount of Checkboxes or Radio Buttons

[sethmurphy]

Hey everyone,

I am having an issue with handling a problem. I think part of is that I don't know how to approach the problem. Let me explain the problem and my idea for the solution(you'll see why it's difficult or tedious)

Problem: Our software records 145 channels. Sometimes we use all of these channels, but more often than not, we use a fraction of this. Due to the complexity of the acquisition code, which was written outside of the lab, we have decided to handle this issue by post processing data. We want to see a list of the channels, and select which ones we want to remove.

My solution: Create a front panel with all of the channels name(dynamic) and a checkbox or radio button next to each one. I have gotten the names, but the only way I can see to handle the check boxes is to make 145 of them, which means I'll have 145 controls in my block diagram and that can be a bit of a cluster(pun intended). I couldn't find anything that LabVIEW had built in or anything on the forums. I may have been looking for the wrong thing. I would appreciate any guidance or solutions.

If I just need to put my big boy pants on and deal with the high amount of controls, I will. I have always been under the impression that if it code looks too ugly, you're probably doing it wrong.

Thanks,

Seth

[aeastet]

I think you have not other choice unless you can group channels together. Say that you select 1-8 and 9-16 together then you could just group these together so when you select 1 that everything else is assumed selected. If you need single resolution then what you are describing is the way to go. I would suggest that maybe you take it one step further and save templates so you can just open a previous setup that has the same channels already selected.

[RavensFan]

A 145 controls sounds like an array.  The array could be cluster that consists of a checkbox (with no labels turned on) to determine true/false.  Also, a string which is where you populate the name associated with that particular check box.

[ben64]

It also depends if all these channels can be splitted into logical groups. In this case you can bundle them in clusters.

In the attached picture there is a cluster containing 16 smaller clusters. Note that in the actual application there is 2 other tabs with similar cluster of clusters. These 3 major clusters where also bundled into a master Signal Select cluster (this was developped in LV2009 so the cluster constant took an awful lot of block diagram space, I welcomed the cluster constat icon feature introduced in LV2010!).

In the lower right you can see how this unbundled.

Ben64