indicate value out of limits

[camerond · Accepted solution]

Or you could change an LED indicator's colors according to your preferences, if you didn't want to mess up the numeric indicator's background (possibly making it harder to read). Is this your question?

There are at least two good ways to set your ranges posted so far.

Cameron

[LV_Pro]

A "common" way to indicate out of range is to change a color attribute accordingly, with a a range of choices as to what indicates what, Green is usually indicative of in range, but if all you are interested in is out of range then other color choices can be used. In some instances degree of out of range is also indicated, i.e. yellow indicating that it is "a little out of range, but not dangerously so", red indicating an emergency state. As to changing the background color or text color, as a previous poster mentioned, although you want to use "System" controls, for numeric indicators/controls a "Classic" control can be easily edited to look like a System control, giving you access to background color properties. Make one that looks like the system control you need, save it as a type def, then use it everywhere you need the added functionality.

[Fagenhauser]

Thank you, your answers came closest to what I was looking for. my internet survey did not help so I tried it here. I was looking for a general/common approach for showing a specific out of range case.

I guess I will implement it with two "leds", one that is green if the value is above the lower limit, red otherwise and the other led being green when the value is below the upper limit and red otherwise. Or I will add a textfield saying "in range", "below lower limit" or "above upper limit". The latter two cases in red maybe!

[camerond]

If you place one LED directly on top of the other and make one of them transparent when the other is out of range, you can simulate a 3-color LED. (Make the "off" case of the upper LED red and the lower LED yellow, and the "on" cases both green, for example).

Cameron

[thoult]

Why have two indicators when you can just change the colour of one using the same structure? 🙂

Edit - the bundle and build array exist because Boolean controls have two colour properties (FG and BG) and up to four states - true, false, true-to-false, false-to-true.

[GerdW]

Hi thoult,

when you ask "Why..." question you should think about them 😄

Why not use a simple color box indicator instead of manipulating colors of a LED? No property nodes needed, no UI thread stalls...

[camerond]

thoult: because that confuses me, personally .

Gerd: because I think a round indicator is more "elegant" than a square one .

Cameron (perpetually esthetically-challenged)

[RavensFan]

Look at this idea and kudo it.  http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Color-LEDs/idi-p/919509#A184

Also, look at some of Altenbach's links for ways to implement it now.

[thoult]

Gerd - the real benefit is in using the nested case structure to allow expansion of the colour output. What you choose to do with it is up to you. You're right, wiring a colour box indicator directly is the better way of doing it, but I originally suggested the OP change the background colour of an indicator (or the text colour) as a way of keeping a single indicator.

Creating multiple indicators and then hiding them seems more work to expand and adapt.

There's more than one way to skin a cat though 🙂

[GerdW]

Hi thoult,

when you want to change the background color you surely also know the trick of making one indicator with transparent background and move it in front of a color box...