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You cannot currently install MAX as a standalone product- you need to install it along with something else. I need MAX on basically all computers I build my installers for, so I always go into the Additional Installers menu on the Application Builder, then pick (usually) "DAQmx with Configuration Support". Unfortunately, this also means I have to uncheck "Automatically select additional installers" so I can go find the "Configuration Support" item.

I almost always want to let the App Builder pick my additional installers for me, so I will check "Automatically select", then uncheck it, then go check the box for "...with Configuration Support" for one of the items that got automatically selected.

I'd like a box that lets me prefer the "With configuration support" version of whatever I'm building so I can make sure MAX gets installed. For my use, it doesn't seem to matter if I pick "DAQmx with config support", "VISA with config support", etc.

I'd ask to make MAX a standalone installer, but that would require me to uncheck the "automatic" box to add MAX to the list, which doesn't really help. I just want to say "Hey Appbuilder, figure out whatever you need, and ALSO install MAX."

Pro-grade mockup shown below:

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Similar ideas have already been posted but non of them totally hits what I'm missing.

As always - what is the current situation?:
- LabVIEW is installed under "C:\Program Files (x86)\..." - this is a folder where admin rights are usually required to modify it.

- in the named folder the standard VIs are included: vi.lib / user.lib / instr.lib

- my project lays somewhere else - e.g. "C:\myLVProjects\project1", "C:\myLVProjects\project2", ...

- my first project is LabVIEW32 bit, my second is LV64bit,
- one project needs to have the binary code separated from the VI, the other one not
- one projects needs some toolkits from the VI Package manager, the other one not or maybe even incompatible ones to the first project

- one project needs VIs from an additional search path, the other one too but with a different version

long story short:
There are many situations where the configurations of two or more projects conflict with each other. Therefore, switching between two projects can be quite effortful — from adjusting configurations to (de)installing toolkits.

What I like to propose is the following:
Having a new option in the LabVIEW start screen "Create a new development environment".
The only the user has to do is to select a folder on a drive with enough free space.
LabVIEW shall now setup an entire code- and configuration environment. Means it copies vi.lib, user.lib, instruments.lib to this folder. It create a LabVIEW.ini and a link to the exe using this INI. It creates a folder for the compiled object code cache and so on. Installing add-ons from VI package manager shall also be stored in this new folder structure.
And of course, there shall be a place where I can manually add some libraries, my project files and finally also my build results.
If LabVIEW is now started from the named link it only uses the VIs from the environment folder as long relative paths are used (which shall be default).

Again in short: I expect an encapsulated environment that contains everything that is needed to develop one project entirely independent from a second and third project.

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A very common task when operating with 2D pictures are mouse down/move events where we are interested which pixel was just clicked. While there is an event data node for the clicked coordinates these are relative to the front panel and translating them into image pixel coordinates is a chore and requires ~~jumping through flaming hoops~~ tweaks. (i.e. label yes/no? zoom factor? etc.)

However, there is a "Mouse" property for 2D images that has all the information directly in pixel coordinates and mouse button states. Currently, we need to read that property inside the mouse event to easily get the information we always (always!!!) want in such an event!

It would be cleaner if mouse events on pictures would output these mouse properties directly as an additional event data node.

Two clear advantages:

Cleaner code for those who know how to work with this property.
Stop sending newbies on a snipe hunt trying to figure out how to translate the current "coords" event data node into something useful for the intended task.

Here is an example where this idea would have helped

Here's a picture for the graphical thinkers!

Thanks for voting!

It's hard to believe that this is the first post to request something like this (pun intended), but I couldn't find it after a few queries.

The base idea would be that both the static and dynamic connectors used to connect the methods to the owning class shall be defaulting to the owner class, a.k.a. this object in text based languages. The main problem is the use case for refactoring. When moving around methods the class controls and indicators have to be replaced every time. It doesn't matter if I'm moving methods between classes or to interfaces it is the same pain: replace the connectors (with QuickDrop), then change the names to class names, then update the icon, finally move the VI to the new location.

I know that this could and maybe is already solved with scripting, but I think the development environment shall grant the option to change the control and indicator to this object that will always default to the owning class, without manual updates. Even the labels could be This in and This out, and replaced in real time with the actual class implementation on the block diagram of the calling VIs.

The proposed solution would also get rid of the error telling about the dynamic dispatch controls shall reference the owning class, since it would happen automatically.

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It's always a pleasure to uncover shared memory problems when working with base vi.lib methods that *should* work as preallocated clones and have uninitialized shift registers and then having to establish a chain of vi references to safely call those methods in an application with distributed/parallel threads. It feels like extra work but does fix the problem. It's a major unknown gotcha unless you're already familiar with the vi you are calling.

My most recent hiccup: the NI PID library. I needed two closed loop controllers in actor framework, and was getting very strange timing, setpoint, process variable, and control output crossovers until I realized the stock .vi's had shared memory in the form of uninitialized shift registers (despite being in the context of a pre-allocated actor). Creating references of the vi's I needed and storing them in the actor at launch fixed the problem, but at that point the effort in writing my own PID .vi starts to be a favorable time tradeoff. At least I am able to peek under the hood of the PID library, other aspects of vi.lib... not so much.

Or maybe this is a teaching problem. I haven't come across ways of navigating this issue from official NI documentation, in fact the way I learned I needed to call the PID.vi by-reference was from the forum and rather matter-of-factly. There are a couple of great blogs that cover this issue in detail, so I don't feel alone in my ignorance. Maintaining State Information in LabVIEW Applications, Part 5 - LabVIEW Field Journal Archives | LabVIEW Field Journal Archives

For string controls and indicators please add a vertical alignment option. We have applications where we will programmatically change the font size, which requires a string control/indicator to be sized for the largest option. Since there isn't a vertical alignment option, the string is always aligned to the top and it can make the front panel layout look strange.

Other applications have long strings that may be a single line or may be a variable number of multiple lines, but we'd like to be able to center the text vertically. Again, this requires the control/indicator to be sized for the largest option, but all the text is always vertically aligned to the top of the front panel object.

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For anyone that has used CAD software, you know how much of a timesaver this feature is. It is very similar to quick drop but relies more on graphical selection than keyboard input (although, these shortcuts often allow text entry as well and have a configurable menu).

For example, pressing the "S" key in SolidWorks pops up a contextual, configurable menu at the current cursor position that allows you to rapidly click on common operations as well as customized shortcuts.

I have my own janky extension to quickdrop that makes a graphical menu present after pressing multiple buttons (ctrl+space, ctrl+q, then one of WASD or a mouse click on the popup .vi front panel), but it would be nice if I didn't have to go through multiple shortcut selections to hit my toolbar-of-target. Said another way, a more extensible quickdrop-like shortcut bar would be nice. Something like the right click and shortcut keypresses for Autodesk Fusion and Solidworks are the inspiration.

If we want a ring of a string type we can use a combo box and if undefined items are not to be allowed it *could* behave as a regular ring (integer type) with no text editing/input, but that is not an option in LabVIEW now. Having such an option would allow us the keep the behaviour of multiple ring controls identical (and hence more intuitive to the users) although their types behind the scene for programmatic convenience are different.

If you want to keep the ring as a string (to not have to deal with it indirectly though the ring/enum string array property, which would be the current workaround...) you are currently forced to accept that the this ring will behave differently than other ring controls or enums:

In Microsoft applications the suggested feature is available by setting the style of the combo box to DropDropDownList.

right-click -> Find In Project

A "This subVI" reference

Using property nodes, it's possible to retrieve a list of subVI references within a VI's block diagram. However, there's currently no way to link each reference to its specific subVI instance.

For example, if you place three instances of subVI "A" in a diagram, you can obtain three references to these subVIs, but there is no way to determine which reference corresponds to which instance.

The proposed idea is to introduce a "This SubVI" reference — a property or node that would return the reference of the current subVI instance (the one hosting the object or node). This enhancement would significantly improve scripting capabilities, support tool development, and aid in debugging tools.

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Integrating markdown, asciidoc, whatever. This would help eliminate a step for most of us lowly third parties making docs for our software. A built-in browser would be nice, or just opening the doc straight away in a compatible viewer would be fine.

Loading the NI website's page for the help doc takes ages. This could also be a way to locally host vi docs and have a built-in browser-like display of help files.

I frequently find the context help information not detailed enough and get frustrated waiting for the website to load. If it was a one-stop shop markup-based doc, that's meaningful time saved.

I couldn't find this explicitly mentioned here, but it seems related to:

Block diagram references should be 16 pixels tall (currently 19 pixels) - NI Community

Same Height of Unbundle by Name / Terminal / Local Variable - NI Community

Although making changes like this could hurt legacy code, earlier implementation is preferable. Local variables are already the same size as bundles and property nodes, but constants are not. My suggestion is to increase the size of bundle/unbundle elements by one pixel and decrease the size of constants by two pixels by reducing their border thickness. Since numerics require a type indicator, a 1 px border wouldn't compromise recognition. Numeric constant type visualization - NI Community

LabVIEW for ARM processors

Improved Comment entry

When I add block diagram comments inside a structure, they are often long enough to require several lines. Since auto-grow is on, I need to stop typing before the comment reaches the edge of the structure, resize the comment to be multi-line, select inside the comment again, and re-start typing. From then on, the comment word wraps at my sized width. Could you make a special character like ctrl-, alt-, or Shift-comment move me to the next line and make the comment that wide, so it word wraps at that width from then on? While you're at it, could a word-wrapping comment autogrow in height to fit the comment, like a one-line comment auto-grows in width? Subdiagram comments could use that feature, too.

Reduced inteface size

It would be really nice if you were able to resize properties dialog boxes for controls, indicators, constants, and other nodes on a front panel or block diagram. Sometimes the information entered in a dialog is larger than the allotted space. Fortunately, in those situations, there is usually a tip strip that shows all of the information rather than just the visible portion of the information, such as shown in the enum properties dialog box picture below. To make all information visible, it would be great if properties dialog box windows were resizable and the contents of the tab control pages automatically scaled with the size of the dialog. It would also be nice if pages containing objects with columns (e.g. multi-column listboxes, etc.) allowed the columns to be resized as depicted in the picture below.

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LabVIEW Idea Exchange

Checkbox to let the App Builder prefer the "x with Configuration Support" to auto-install MAX

Support "Development Environments" / "Development Sand Boxes"

Mouse events on 2D pictures should have an event data node for mouse information

Class controls and indicators shall default to "this" class

Eliminate uninitialized shift registers from vi.lib

The properties page of "boolean array to number" must include the "sign extension mode" setting.

Add vertical alignment property for string controls

Graphical context menu at mouse pointer, super-duper quick drop

Add dropdownlist style option to LabVIEW combo boxes

Abortable recompile when closing project

right-click -> Find In Project

A "This subVI" reference

Extensible markup supported in VI documentation and help files. Locally hosting vi.lib help docs.

Allow file renaming to record changes to capitalization only in Windows

Match Property Node height to constants

LabVIEW for ARM processors

Add "Scale Legend Change" as an event for graphs

Improved Comment entry

Reduced inteface size

Be Able to Resize Properties Dialog Boxes and Certain Contents of Specific Pages