So many windows!

[VG5]

As much as I love LabVIEW, the number of open windows required to develop even a simple application makes the environment a little unwieldy.  Anyone have any tips on how to manage this?

Additionally, has there ever been any thought on NI's part towards reintegrating LabVIEW in to a one-window IDE?  The latest versions of Adobe Photoshop and AutoCAD, with the concept of expandable toolbars, could be very handy when applied to LabVIEW.  Additionally, some of the data-selection and navigation features of these applications could be ported in to LabVIEW very effectively.

The problem with the environment is this:  when opening up SubVIs, and continuing down the path of opening subVIs, you might simply be trying to "drill down" to a particular instance of code.  In the meantime, you've just opened up a multitude of windows.  It would be nice if the act of drilling down in LabVIEW actually felt more like moving through the SubVIs as portals, going forwards- and backwards-, rather than just opening up a ton of flat windows.  Even some of the nifty Aero features of Vista (sorry for the profanity), or modern OS X could come in to play in a sensible way.

Or maybe the way I should think about the existing LabVIEW IDE should change?  I'm open to suggestions!

[altenbach]

I would strongly oppose any MDI LabVIEW interface. It is too restricting and it is impossible to reach specific open subVIs via the taskbar. Instead of having the various VI windows constrained to the big desktop (and possibly multiple monitors), we would have them constrained to a smaller common window. I don't see how that would make things easier.

There is typically little need to "drill down" by opening all intermediary subVIs. Properly designed, you should be able to get to any desired VI directly via e.g. the project window. You can also use the hierarchy window to follow the lines and open any "deep" subVI by double-clicking it right there. 

[Ben]

I understand about the pile of windows if you drill down. I will generally close the callers as I go (ctl-w).

Rather than drilling down I use the hiarchy screen and just go directly to the VI. In my Type Def nugget I show some of the flexibitly I get out of the hiarchy screen.

Just trying to help,

Ben

[tst]

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VG5 wrote:

Additionally, has there ever been any thought on NI's part towards reintegrating LabVIEW in to a one-window IDE?

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Yes.

I know that some people move the Windows task bar to the left side of the screen, so you can have more windows in it and see their names better. This makes sense on a wide screen, but I never managed to get used to it and usually just enlarge the taskbar upwards if I need to use a lot of windows (and yes, it's inconvenient).

[VG5]

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altenbach wrote:

I would strongly oppose any MDI LabVIEW interface. It is too restricting and it is impossible to reach specific open subVIs via the taskbar. Instead of having the various VI windows constrained to the big desktop (and possibly multiple monitors), we would have them constrained to a smaller common window. I don't see how that would make things easier.

There is typically little need to "drill down" by opening all intermediary subVIs. Properly designed, you should be able to get to any desired VI directly via e.g. the project window. You can also use the hierarchy window to follow the lines and open any "deep" subVI by double-clicking it right there. 

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What I'm suggesting isn't necessarily a restricted view for LabVIEW, but rather putting LabVIEW inside a navigational environment that is more suited to LabVIEW programming (still using up the entire desktop, multiple desktops, and allowing for multiple VIs to be viewed simultaneously).  As it stands, LabVIEW relies on the navigational abilities of a vanilla Windows desktop and the Taskbar.  Certainly, the Project and Hierarchy windows add to the navigational abilities of the user, but as soon as you glance at those, you've just entered a new environment and taken your attention away from the data flow of the code you are writing.  I've found that there is a very fluid feel to reading and editing inside a single VI--it is one of the things I love most about LabVIEW programming.  When editing across multiple VIs in a large application framework, there is no doubt that you lose some of that fluidity.  It would be very nice to have more navigational tools that help me keep my concentration on the data flow--jumping from VI to VI seemlessly--without cluttering up my workspace, and still "keeping my eye on the wire" so to speak.  

[altenbach]

OK, so you basically want a way to open a subVI in such a way (special key combo, for example) that it re-uses the current window, automatically closing the higher level VI when doing so. Similarly, you would like an "up" button that would close the current VI and open its parent in the same window.

What should happen if the subVI has a different window size? Resize? Reuse the parent size?

Should it open the front panel of the subVI or go straght to the diagram?

What should happen if the code in the VI has changed? Should it prompt for saving changes?

What if the subVI is called from many different places and is already open from a different branch in the hierarchy?

Are you by any chance one of these programmers that have all windows maximized to the screen?

Personally, I probably would not use any of this, but there is always the product suggestion center. 😉

[PaulG.]

I use the hierarchy window and alt-tab. I guess this hasn't been much of an issue with me.

[VG5]

I would enjoy a completely full-screen programming environment if not for the inherent problems with operating that way.

What you've described is very much how I would like things, if still staying inside the current "windowed" paradigm.  In the "tunnel" paradigm, nothing would be closed or opened, rather, you would zoom into a subVI--so, yes, that subVI would take up your entire screen, replacing the previous VI, and the front panel would not be seen or loaded.  A quick toggle of a shortcut key or mouse button would send you back to the previous VI.

Will pick up in the product suggestion center and leave this for discussing window management techniques 😉

[VG5]

Using the hierarchy view is nice and I'm going to start using that more often.  I think that a lot of my frustration lies in the the front panel being the primary window for a VI, so that if I double-click on a VI in the hierarchy view, it launches the front panel.  I seldom care about the front panel for most subVIs and would prefer to only see the block diagram, and only have the block diagram loaded in to my taskbar.  Is there any way to change this setting to make the block diagram the primary window?

[Ben]

ctrl-double click to open the diagram.

Ben