Changing colors of UI Controls

[GeekGrok]

Hello,

I am interested in changing the colors and controls of the LabView Simple Interface example supplied in TS 3.0. I am particularly interested in creating a colored "Start" pushbutton that woudl begin the execution of a loaded sequence (i.e.perform similar function as Entrypoint_2 button on the existing simple UI).

I've already read the Knowledge Base entry titled "Can I Change the Color of my TestStand 3.0 Operator Interface User Interface Controls", which appears to answer my question. HOWEVER, being a LabView newbie, I was wondering if someone could give me a more LabView specific explanation of exactly what I need to do, or better yet, a snippit from a VI on how this is done. (I have been able to make this change, using the above mentioned Knowledge Base entry, to a LabWindows/CVI GUI (I am much more experienced with CVI), however I have not been able to figure this out in LabView.)

Thank you in advance for your help.

Thanx,
Newbie

[Adam B.]

Newbie,

I've attached a VI that has a button that has the same functionality of the Simple OI's button that says Single Pass. Basically, you want the event handler, in this case a case structure (although you could register an event on the button click and use an event structure), to handle the button click by loading the correct command and then executing. This VI waits for the Button to have the true value and then executes the Single Pass command. Hope this clears some things up for you on this process. Let me know if you have any additional questions. Have a great day.

Adam B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[GeekGrok]

Hi Adam,

Thank you for your response and the VI. I will plug this into my LabView TestStand VI and see how it works.

Just one follow up question for you, if i may. Why didn't National Instruments include the capability to change to colors of the TestStand UI controls in TS 3.x? I really like having this capability as it gives the OI a much more proffesional look (i.e. When I was using TS 2.0, I wrote a number of LabWindows/CVI operator interfaces, using the TS API, and regular controls, to color coordintate the GUI with the colors of my company. It always "Wowed" people when I gave them a demo and they saw how professional the GUI looked.)

Thanks again,
Jim

[Adam B.]

Jim,

Changing colors on our UI controls is actually a feature request that our Reaearch and Development team is well aware of and will most likely be part of a future version of TestStand. The way that you did things with your 2.0 OI is still the workaround. I apologize that our current offerings do not have this feature. If you ever want to provide feedback directly to our R&D team for any of our products, you can do so by going to www.ni.com/contact. Thanks again for the great feedback. Have a good one.

Adam B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments