LabWindows/CVI Idea Exchange

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Quite often I need to look at one project source code while working on a second one

So, I use Windows File Explorer, find my project of interrest then double click on the .cws file

In this case, CVI load the cws file in the running instance of the IDE

This is not really what I want

I would like CVI opens the workspace in a new instance of the IDE (similar to what is done when, in a function panel help, you click on the "open sample code" button)

For what I remember I believe the above behavior is the one adopted by Visual Studio Express 2013

So far, I must remember to run a second instance of CVI first and then drag'n drop the cws file

Regards, Philippe

PS : drag'n drop a .cws or .prj should work on the CVI Welcome page

Currently, CVI sorts all the entries from the Source Code Browser alphabetically. While this is useful for finding items, it is less practical when tracking items.

If we have, for instance

void foo()
{
int a = 0, c = 0;
}

// 1000 lines of code

void bar()
{
int b = 0;
}

In the source code browser, under Variables, we will have:

a (line 3)
b (line 1000+)
c (line 3)

I believe that having an option to sort the items either alphabetically or by occurence would give users a better view of their code.

Hi Everyone!

In these days, I have been debugging a complex application(almost 12,000 lines of code) and it was very hard to do a map showing the relationshing at least of some critical functions.

For this reason, I consider that a very helpful debugging tool could be to add in LabWindows/CVI, a window like the VI Hierarchy in LabVIEW; that shows the relationship beetween the functions inside all the module in a CVI project. This windows will show which functions calls a particular function.

Here, there is a very simple example:

Regards!

I am facing an issue of crash using LabWindows 12.0.1 (on Windows 7 OS) with no error message at all.

Only the icon is changed into a blue-color ring, and nothing else.

Even Task manager is not able to kill LabWindows process.

The only way is to re-boot the computer.

I've contacted NI support, but I am not able to give to them any error message.

Hypothesis is that it is quiet long to access files, because the whole software project is stored throuh ClearCase onto a distant server.

This is why it could be usefull to add a mechanism which records several debug information for NI support team.

This feature is already included into other NI products, such as LabView.

For exemple, a log file could be created and filled-in with debug information each time an instance of LabWindows is loaded.

GetCVIVersionEx

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Mark files for compilation

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Synchronous scroll in subwindows

Hello,

when using the two subwindows of the source code editor I frequently need to scroll both windows the same way because my screen isn't high enough This means that I scroll down one window, switch to the other window, and scroll again.

It would be much more convenient having the possibility of simultaneously scrolling both windows. I imagine that pressing the SHIFT key modifier would allow for synchronously scrolling both windows while scrolling without the SHIFT key would show the present behavior.

What do you think? I think it's no big deal of implementing it

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Some years ago I proposed this idea that has been partially implemented in CVI 2013.

For this reason I'm going to propose the third point of the original idea again:

the current function where the caret is, displayed in the toolbar. It will be nice if you use a combo so that the user can jump to a different function with a simple mouse click (see attached image)

I use this feature in an open source C/C++ editor (Code::Blocks) that I use for other projects, and I think it's really useful to reduce the coding time.

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CVI currently provides a way for alligning controls (using the dotted matrix). But, with large UIs, this method is inefficient and users must align controls over large distances by hand from the Property Browser. I propose an upgrade that would help users achieve alignment by drawing lines that unite the control being moved and any other control that happens to be close to alignment with it (Figure 1).

This feature would increase usability and productivity (which seems to be decreasing by increasing the size and complexity of UIRs).

Figure 1: Control alignment in Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010, for the C# interface editor.

Tables are often used to display test results organized in columns, which means the user very often has to search a particular column for a specific value. At present the "search vertically" checkbox is not checked by default in Find in Table Cells dialog, which means the user has to explicitly select it otherwise the search could locate the wrong cell.

What I would like to have is the ability to programmatically set the relevant default options on the dialog before it is shown. With this I mean:

Show/Hide/Dim some elements
Preset some value (like checking the Search Vertically option)

( Tested with CVI 2012SP1. Not yet installed 2013 )

Open a project
Go to Options
Select Build Options...

If all the "C Language Options" are unchecked

Checking "Build with C99 extensions" check box should automatically check the "Require function prototypes" check box. If not, if a function is not prototyped before invoked then the compiler will generate an error (which is good and safe for the user).

This idea is similar to the fact that one cannot check "Enable OpenMP support" until C99 option is checked

Later on, if a user load a project with C99 support set but "Require function prototype" uncheck I guess CVI should let him know that it will set the "Require function prototype" for him in the Build options (simple dialog box for example).

Regards, Philippe

Not a big deal in my point of view...

Create a new workspace
Create a new .c file
SHIFT F5
Give a name to the c file when needed
Make sure it does not have a capitalized first letter (dummy.c for example)
CVI then create dummy.cws, dummy.prj and dummy.exe

However, the name of the project in the workspace tree has a first letter capitalized (upper case)

See below the screen capture

This may not be what the user want to see

This is purely cosmectic since opening the cws or the prj file with a text editor one can see the workespace/project use the correct name (no upper case letter)

The only solution so far is to manually go to Edit then "Project.." and modify the project label

Does it make sense?

Yes because the user may have naming convention for project names, project hierachy on disk etc... and he may want to be sure to see thoses reflected in the workspace tree
Yes because by default CVI should not act in the name of the user. If the user want upper case letter for the project name then he should type it otherwise CVI should simply follow the user instructions (and not add upper case letter at the begining of project filename)

Regards, Philippe

Bonjour,

This is a minor thing (I mean aesy to improve)

On the Welcome page when you click the "Browse" folder icon the file dialog looks for .prj by default :

I believe it make sense to look for "Workspace" by default

Doing so one can find out his workspaces directly (NewSamples.cws for example) rather than get the Open File dialog box on screen, then select workspace in the type list then look for his .cws

Does it make sense?

Yes because even single project based project are included in a workspece so it does not change anything for the one looking for "simple" project

Yes because more and more CVI users have more than one project in a workspace and so changing the default behavior will save time (1 or 2 seconds) for most of us.

Regards, Philippe

Hello,

usually I work on my projects on two different computers (home/work or development/lab). I would like to see a possibility to more easily move my project back and forth, say by providing two new menu commands

File / Import Project and File / Export Project

I imagine that the Export command generates a zip file consisting of all files required to build the executable (and a distribution) and also exports the editor preferences (probably without the window positions because different computers may have different screen resolutions) etc. The Import command then should load the *c., .cds, .cws, *.fp, *.h, *.prj and *.uir files, import the editor settings, adjust the library menu and load any instruments.

Thanks!

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So far the documentation is written line by line with a tag at the begining of each line. See below :

/// HIFN Document your function here.
/// HIFN You may use multiple lines for documentation.

It could be nice to add a tag attribute that helps to define regions (or blocks) of documentation. See below :

/// HIFN BEGIN
// Document your function here.
// HIFN You may use multiple lines for documentation.
/// HIFN END

Once done this would help to copy/paste large section of existing documentation. Regarding the "// " that need to be added I believe that a macro or a new editing option ("comment multiline" or "comment selection" like in VBA) could do the job 🙂

Regards, 40tude

So far there is no way to take advantage of the CVI style sheet when embedding HTML tags in the documentation of our functions

The situation is as follow :

1 - If the user does not use HTML tags every thing looks good BUT, for example, there is no way to display correctly a sample source code as it is done in the documentation of LoadPanel for example (see below). Same thing for the icons and other cool stuff available in "../cvi2013/bin/libref/tooltp.css"

2 - On the other hand, if the user use HTML tags in the function documentation then the display look "weird" and there is no easy way to improve the display.

My proposals

1 - Alow the users to leverage the .css file that come with CVI. This mean document/explain the style and the ressouces available (icon etc). This also mean that when the users embed HTML tags in the documentation then the help should include the CVI .css file and then the user documentation (like it is done for the CVI function call documentation)

2 - Another option could be to create a new documentation tag that help users to describe their own .css file. The problem here is that it would break the consistency within the documentation. I prefer option one.

I hope its understandable... 🙂

Regards, Philippe

The functions available today are OK in terms of functionality but limited in terms of syntax/grammar

For example :

No support for multiline patterns
No support for '\s' in patterns
No support for [:alnum:] in patterns
No Posix conformance (ISO/IEC 9945-2:1993 for example)
No way to select among various syntaxes (grep, awk, ECMAScript...)
At least the ECMAScript grammar should be fully supported

I would like to propose to change the Regular Expression compiler with a brand new one

Keep the existing API (but support much better grammar)

Extend the API of the current intrument driver if needed or if it make sense (a Find/Replace function could be a nice for example)

Philippe

LabWindows/CVI Idea Exchange

While CVI is running, double clicking on a .cws file, CVI should ask if we want a second instance to be opened

Search text in editor should ignore blanks

Add mode in the "Build"menu again - as up to CVI 2012

Provide means to sort entries in the Source Code Browser

Functions/Source Files hierarchy/relationship window

Add a blackbox like in planes in the case LabWindows crashes

GetCVIVersionEx

Permit "blocking" a tab control in the UIR editor

Mark files for compilation

Synchronous scroll in subwindows

A new listbox with all the functions in the *.c file

Upgrade the UIR editor to better align controls

Ability to customize "Find in Table Cells" dialog

Options/Build Potions.../ set "C99 extensions" option should set "Require Function prototypes" option automatically

CVI should not capitalize the first letter of the project name in the Workspace tree

Welcome Page : Browse .cws rather than .prj

Portable 'Projects' (Import/Export 'Project')

Documentation tags improvement - New tags that define blocks

Documentation tags improvements - Allow the use of the CVI cascading style sheet

Improve the regular expression instrument driver to support better grammar