Using mouse to operate controls while not looking.

[Greg_McKaskle2]

> My initial idea was to use the key bindings to do exactly that, but to
> be honest I was shocked at how limited the choice of key bindings is.
> Is there a reason why so few keys are available for this?

The built-in static configuration for automatically assigning to keys
was based upon what is commonly used in Operator stations on test
stations. There are VIs on the NI web site that let your diagram
respond to every key on the keyboard. Plus, you can assign pretty much
any Ctl-key combo to menu items.

Out of curiosity, what key combo did you want to assign?

Greg McKaskle

[shoneill]

Hi Greg,

since the post is about positioning a dot on a phosphor screen, the optimal choice of keys would have been the cursor keys or the numeric keypad. I have seen that this works through menus (Is it possible to assign Ctrl-arrowkeys?), but it surprised me to see that so few keys are available for binding. I thought there were more available.

Could you point me to where the VIs for keyboard interaction are? I am aware how to do this in LV 6.1, but other methods would be interesting too.

Thanks

Shane

[Peg]

It isn't just positioning the dot, rather observing spot characteristics such as size, roundness, brightness, etc. while modifying electron gun parameters. The cursor keys would be great if decimal position would remain fixed. Right now, I have a fine/coarse option for the various front panel controls; can that fine/coarse option be made to apply to the cursor keys?
Thanks, Peg

[shoneill]

That`s a lot of parameters to be altering...

I suppose it would be possible to have a coarse and fine adjustment if the menu option was used. This way The keys (I`m assuming a QWERTY Keyboard here) QWE, A D and ZXC could be used as directional keys. Ctrl-Shift-Letter could be a coarse movement with Ctrl-Letter being a fine movement.

Does this approach really work? Like I said, I`ve never really implemented Menus myself, so my comments here are (dangerously?) theoretical.

The decimal position would then be controlled by software, and you can set it any way you want.

Regards

Shane.

[Peg]

I like this mouse tracking. Where do I find the image indicator? I can't seem to find it in my control palette.
Thanks, Peg

[Peg]

Also, can you force the mouse to a particular position? I have tried writing to the x,y mouse position but it doesn't make the cursor move to a position.
Thanks,Peg

[Peg]

I think this idea is promising and I have created a little mouse tracking application using your button idea. It remains to be seen if I can successfully include it with the power suppy program.
Thanks, Peg

[Greg_McKaskle2]

> since the post is about positioning a dot on a phosphor screen, the
> optimal choice of keys would have been the cursor keys or the numeric
> keypad. I have seen that this works through menus (Is it possible to
> assign Ctrl-arrowkeys?), but it surprised me to see that so few keys
> are available for binding. I thought there were more available.
>
> Could you point me to where the VIs for keyboard interaction are? I
> am aware how to do this in LV 6.1, but other methods would be
> interesting too.
>

The deal with taking over numbers and arrows in a global way is that
then many other controls and scales can't be used normally. Search
devzone for keyboard and you should find the keyboard VIs I was talking
a
bout. What it amounts to is that the common stuff, typically done by
integrators is statically configurable, and the stuff where you want to
tie other keys to an action are carried out with this library and a
small amount of programming.

By the way, the event structure way of doing this is 6.1 and 7.0 should
be the way to go if given the choice. I think they will work the same
way, but this VI is starting to look like a dinosaur whereas events are
the hot new thing.

Greg McKaskle

[Greg_McKaskle2]

> I suppose it would be possible to have a coarse and fine adjustment if
> the menu option was used. This way The keys (I`m assuming a QWERTY
> Keyboard here) QWE, A D and ZXC could be used as directional keys.
> Ctrl-Shift-Letter could be a coarse movement with Ctrl-Letter being a
> fine movement.
>

Since you want raw keys and not ctl-key combos, the menus are not really
what you are looking for. The other programs that do this sort of thing
on a regular basis are games. The other post included how to find the
keyboard VI, and today's events do this in a more general way.

Greg McKaskle

[Tom WP]

Peg,

The picture control is under:
Controls -> Graph -> Ctls (bottom left) -> Picture.ctl

It is not possible to programatically set the position of the mouse using
this control, hence my suggestion that you put the start button in the
middle of the screen. When the user presses the button record the position
and use the difference to control the beam.

Tom