Quick Drop Enthusiasts
Should Ctrl-D on a For Loop include the "N" terminal?
It's really handy to use the Ctrl-Space, Ctrl-D shortcut to create indicators on loop tunnels (and shift registers). Take this code for example:
I can select the For Loop, and very quickly create indicators for the error, style array, and label array by pressing Ctrl-Space, Ctrl-D:
But notice that it also creates a control for the "N" terminal of the loop. I *always* end up deleting this terminal right after it's created.
So the question is, should Ctrl-D on a For Loop ignore the "N" terminal? Here are the potential changes I can think of to make in LabVIEW 2014 to address this issue:
- No change. The "N" control will always be created (and I'll always end up manually deleting it).
- Never create a control off the "N" terminal of a For Loop with the Ctrl-D shortcut.
- Conditionally create it or ignore it, depending on some string typed in the Quick Drop text box before pressing Ctrl-D. For the sake of coding speed, I would prefer this option just be a single character (like "f" for For Loop).
Option (3) is the safest option to satisfy all use cases, but also the least discoverable. Let me know what y'all think.
Screw safety, this is a development tool that has no impact on previously existing code. Option 2 all the way!
Could you detect if an input tunnel is autoindexing? If so, only create a control for the N if a autoindexed input tunnel is not detected. I guess you could call that option 4.
If that isn't possible, I say you have more important things to do, so option 1.
While you're fixing the loops with Ctrl+D, can you make it work with just the tunnels selected? That might make changes to the "N" unnecessary. I've tried numerous times to select a tunnel on the loop and Ctrl+Space Ctrl+D with no results 
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crossrulz wrote:
Could you detect if an input tunnel is autoindexing? If so, only create a control for the N if a autoindexed input tunnel is not detected. I guess you could call that option 4.
If that isn't possible, I say you have more important things to do, so option 1.
I have more important things to do than improve the usability of productivity features in LabVIEW that I also happen to use every day? 
I do like option 4, and I don't think it would be that hard to do.
Charles_CLA wrote:
While you're fixing the loops with Ctrl+D, can you make it work with just the tunnels selected? That might make changes to the "N" unnecessary. I've tried numerous times to select a tunnel on the loop and Ctrl+Space Ctrl+D with no results
Yeah, Ctrl-D doesn't look at tunnels today. I guess it could. It should be fairly easy for me to add support for the outer (source) terminals of all tunnels...and maybe shift registers too.
Darren wrote:
I have more important things to do than improve the usability of productivity features in LabVIEW that I also happen to use every day?
Hey, we need some way to slow you down. How else can one of us finally catch you?
The more I think about it, the more I like my option 4. The only time I use the N is when I am not autoindexing an input. So it makes complete sense.
