Welcome to the New NI Discussion Forums!

[Molly K]

We are excited to present the NEW and IMPROVED NI Discussion Forums to you, our valued community members!

The community not only had a face-lift, it now offers a full set of advanced personalization features and it is available in seven languages!

Here are some tips to help you get around the new system:

What do the boxes next to the user names mean?

This is the new user ranking system. The three boxes represent the user’s score in the three performance metrics: ratings, posts, and logins. The darker the box is shaded, the higher the user has scored in that performance metric.

The box on the left is the average message rating the user has received.
The box in the center is the total number of posts the user has contributed to the community.
The box on the right is the number of times the user has logged into the community.

The blue boxes designate the user is an NI Employee while the gold boxes are reserved for NI Partners and customers.

How do I find a thread from the old system in the new system?

If you have the title of the thread, we recommend searching for it using the search bar at the top or bottom of the page.

If you do not have the title of thread or cannot find it with search, but you know that you posted to the thread, we recommend that you login and click on your Alias at the top of the page to view your profile. From your profile page, click on the Find All Posts by this User link and scroll through the results to find the thread.

If you do not have the title of the thread and you didn’t post to it, but you know the Alias of someone else who did post to the thread, conduct a User search to find that user. Click on their Alias to view their profile page and then use the Find All Posts by this User link to find the thread.

If you do not have the title of the thread and you don’t know the Alias of any user who posted to it, we recommend browsing the board that you believe it would be in until you find it.

How do I personalize the forums?

Once you login, click on the My Profile link at the top of the page. From the tabs on this page, you can modify your time zone, ratings preference, font size, emoticon style, etc to personalize your experience. As long as you remember to Save Changes before you leave the tabs, your forum will be personalized for you each time you login.

What languages are supported?

The user interface is translated into the following languages:

• Chinese (Simplified)


• Chinese (Traditional)


• English


• French


• Korean


• Japanese


• Spanish

Note: The language in the My Preferences tab in the forums only controls the language for that session. As soon as you logout and login again, your language will be reset to the language that you have configured in your NI User Profile. To modify the language configured in your NI User Profile, visit www.ni.com/profile.

What was migrated?

• Questions


• Answers


• Comments


• Average Ratings per Answer


• Attachments


• Alias


• Number of Questions Posted (Total Started Threads)


• Number of Answers & Comments Posted (Total Replies)


• Average Ratings Received per User


• Board Subscriptions

What was NOT migrated?

• Topics


• Opinions


• Replies


• Polls


• Average Ratings Given


• Message Subscriptions


• Keywords associated with Board Subscriptions


• Enthusiast Subscriptions


• Enthusiast Biographies

What does Float mean?

You can choose to pin boards or threads to the top of the lists so that when you are logged in they are the first things you see. To do this, click on the up arrow to the right of the board or message you want to Float to the top of your lists. When you no longer want this message or board at the top of your lists, you can click the arrow again to UnFloat the board or message.

Why are there smiley faces in the sample code pieces?

There are times when the pieces of code include the same characters that are used to create an emoticon in the forums. To disable emoticons so that you can see the code correctly, follow these steps:

1. Sign In or Register to the forums if you are not already logged in


2. Click My Profile in the User Bar at the top of the page


3. Click My Preferences to view the My Preferences tab


4. Change the Emoticon Type to None in the My Preferences tab in your Profile


5. Click Save Changes

Now when you browse to the thread, the code should be displayed correctly.

Emoticons will no longer be displayed in any messages you view in the forums until you change the Emoticon Type back to one of the other types.

If you have additional questions or feedback about the upgrade, refer to the Help or post to the Feedback on NI Discussion Forums board.

Molly K
Web Support Manager
National Instruments

Message Edited by Support on 11-20-2004 06:14 AM

[alkazaa]

There seems to be a bug in the forum software:
when you attach something, then press 'Preview Post', the attachment is removed and you have to select the attachment again before pressing 'Submit Post'

[Molly K]

fahlers -

Thanks for the feedback! It turns out that this is a known issue with the software and it is on the list of things to fix in the future. The workaround is to browse to the attachment again before submitting the message.

Thanks!

[Ray.R]

The new Forum looks good.

Congratulations Molly!!

🙂

[chrisger]

hi

sometimes the order of the replies seams to bo incorrect (replies at the bottom are older than replies above). then i've seen some rated posts without replies. and the font should be a little more darker. ok, that's all.

best regards
chris

[Molly K]

chrisger -

Good observation on the order of messages in the thread!

By default, the order of the posts in a thread is based on the threading of the discussion. In your profile you can change the order of the posts to be sorted "Newest to Oldest" or "Oldest to Newest" if that is your preference.

In the "Sort by Threading" view, the posts are organized based on which Reply button was selected.
-- If you choose the Reply button at the top of the page, you are replying to the first post in the thread and your message will show up at the end of the discussion.
-- If you choose the Reply button on a particular post within the thread, you are replying to that post and your message could be fit into the middle of the discussion. Your message may not show up immediately after the message you are replying to if other users have already replied to that particular message.

In the new system, you can rate any message in the forums so it is possible to rate a post that has had no replies.

I will give your feedback on the font to our designers to see what they can do about it.

Thanks!

[REM1]

It would really be helpful if there were sub-catagories in the forum. LabVIEW is a large, complex product with many add-ons and I would prefer to be able to focus in quickly on the areas that are of concern to me rather than sift through everything. For example: if I had a question specific to LabVIEW FPGA rather than LabVIEW generally.

[John Rich]

Is there a simple way to skip down to a particular thread? In the old forum each new thread in the discussion was clearly marked via indentation of the replies. This doesn't seem to be the case with the new forum.

[Al_S]

Just a couple of comments:
1. In the CVI forum, I couldn't post a message which included the C #include syntax with angle brackets. It interpreted the angle brakcets as HTML, gave me an HTML syntax error, and deleted the angle brackets as well as the .h file they enclosed. There may be a way in HTML to escape the angle brakcets so they can be included as text rather than interpreted as HTML, but I shouldn't have to do that in a C forum.
2. When I got the HTML error message above, it also deleted the file I had attached so when I posted the message, there was no attachment.
3. I don't get automatic hyperlinks in any posts I read or create. The text of the URL is there, but I can't just click to link to the new page. Am I missing some option?
4. Older but updated messages don't come to the top. I like to see new activity even if I'm not subscribed to that thread.
5. When reviewing the list of messages in the forums, I'd like to see the ratings of the author and of the reply (even before opening the message). In the old forums, the messages where tagged "Answered by Enthusiast" and/or "High rating".
6. I'd like to see the buttons to rate an answer even if I'm not logged. If I try to rate an answer when I'm not logged on, it could prompt me to log on first. If the rating buttons are only available if you're logged on, I think the number of ratings will be drastically reduced.
7. I miss the list of top contributors (formerly known as Enthusiasts). I think it was a good way to foster community and to get to know active members. It also generated some friendly competition to see who had more posts and who had higher ratings.
8. I liked the old organization with two sections to show the newest answered questions separate from the newest unanswered questions.
9. Some of the new search options are good additions. I'd like to combine the user search and the message search. For example, I might like to search for any message from Bilal on DLLs.
10. I had to make this a Top 10 list. I'm impressed by the amount of work that went into the new forums. Keep it up!

[Ray.R]

Al,

You get 5 thumbs up for your post.. (couldn't make it 10... sorry.. 😞 )

I agree with your post. It's sad to see the Eunthusiasts dissappear.
What I also miss is how many people actually rated the reply.

What I find strange is that people can also rate the question. This is interesting...
I do not know how people will react to a poorly rated question. It may shy them away from asking further help in the future.

Further to your list, it would be nice to have a "REPLY" button appearing at the bottom of the thread or within it so that people know to which instance of the thread you are replying to. For instance, reply with quote could appear with each reply... of cource, misuse would make that messy.

I do like your items 5, 7 & 8.

QUOTE:
5. In the old forums, the messages where tagged "Answered by Enthusiast" and/or "High rating".
7. I miss the list of top contributors (formerly known as Enthusiasts).
8. I liked the old organization with two sections to show the newest answered questions separate from the newest unanswered questions.

Nevertheless, the look of this forum is good and a step in the right direction.

-JLV-