labview edit time menu and right click popup menus

[Gordal]

How can i add a menu item to the labview edit time menus and to the right click popup menu of any selected object in a block diagram?

I would like to integrate commonly used tools by me out of the springboard scripting tool into actual labview.

[tbob]

You can take your collection of vi's and put them into a folder under <Labview Install dir>\user.lib.  Restart Labview.  On your block diagram, open the functions palette and your folder of vi's will be listed under User Libraries (toward the bottom of the menu list).

If you have other tools, you can add them to the Tools menu (top menu bar in LV) by adding your vi or exe or llb to the folder <Labview Install dir>\project.  Restart Labview.  Your newly added tool will appear in the Tools drop down menu.  The name will be whatever the file name is minus the extension plus 3 dots.

[Gordal]

Thanks, but is there also any way  to add a menu to the right click popup box which is displayed when you click on an object (like when you right click a vi, you get a menu named 'properties', a menu witih 'create', stuff like that)

[Guruthilak]

see this for custom right click menu

Guru

[tbob]

I don't know if you can create right click menus for block diagram objects during the edit mode.  I think those are standard.  The only thing you can do at edit mode is to add to the tools menu as I described above.  But you can create right click run-time menus for front panel objects when the vi is running.  Would this help?

[Gordal]

Probably not too much. However, with the adding to the tools menu, I assume we can create submenus in the tool menu? And add a keyboard shortcut perhaps? That would be just as good I think.

[tbob · Accepted solution]

What kind of items are you wanting to add to the Tools menu?  Is it something that we could all use?  The Code Capture Tool is a good example of a tool that was developed by members of this forum and distributed to all.  It have installed it on my Tools menu.  And yes, you can create submenus also.

[Gordal]

Probably not, thanks for all the help! Maybe ifI actually develop it to completion, it  has to do with making using xnodes easier.

[Darin.K]

It sounds to me like you are looking for something like the Right-Click Framework.  Some people really like it, I have not used it extensively myself.  I've had a request to convert a quick drop shortcut into a RCF plug-in, I'll see how it goes.  I have also longed for a good way to hook into the LV IDE to add my own tools, what I find are useful, but not fully satisfactory solutions.

1)  Right-Click Framework:  Some initial startup costs in terms of downloading and installing.  Start up is a bit slow (on my machine), and the workflow is a bit different than what I am used to:  Select an object, press the hotkey, right-click.  You can get used to it, but it is not as responsive as a built-in right-click since you can't right-click in one action.  It seems to be easily extensible, I'll know more in a day or two.

2)  Quick Drop:  Built into LV.  Slow startup like RCF.  Fairly easily extensible.  Not context aware (unless you build it in to your plug-in), so you have to choose your letters wisely.  After the initial pain, the response time is not shabby, does require the extra Ctrl-Space action.  

3)  Tools Menu:  I drop a few things in here, like my custom connector pane editor.  Not bad, but there are no keyboard shortcuts (what a pain), so it is good for actions that you might call once or twice on a given VI.

In short, all of these methods require extra clicks or keypresses and are a bit sluggish.  If something like copy and paste behaved this way we would never use LV again, but if your tool truly saves you a bunch of steps it is well worth it.  I have almost run out of letters to use for my QD shortcuts.

Addedendum:  Personally I am not quite ready to start talking to my computer, but LVSpeak seems pretty cool, Smashy Smashy.

[Gordal]

Do you know how in general the right click framework works, what features of labview it uses to obtain a 'hotkey', and how it manages to display a menu during edit time? Since its not exactly free...