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LabVIEW Idea Exchange

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Ability to left pad the exponent values in numeric controls and indicator with zeroes.

Status: New

The ability to left pad the exponents of numeric controls and indicators with zero(s) (via format specifiers in the advanced display format properties) would allow fixed width representations of scientifically notated values that would more cleanly right align. This is most evident while scrolling through an array of such numerics.  A control with this capability would be preferable to using a formatted string which is prone to user input errors (or require code to check validity) and still be subject to data entry property restrictions.  This is the same as MS Excel's default format for scientific notation ('0.00E+00' in their 'type' format specifiers).   One could select a minimum control width and expect it to be populated uniformly.

 

In this example, forced two digit exponents more easily visually integrate when looking down an array and comparing the contents to hard copy data, especially so when the hard copy data is in x.xxE+xx format.  Which looks 'cleaner'?

 

Aligned exponent comparison.png