LabVIEW Idea Exchange

[#1]

Currently text in an "unbundle by name" node is centered. This makes for poor readability when there are several elements being unbundled.

I think that changing the justification from center to left does improve readability.

Note 01: This apply to bundle by name as well.

Note 02: implementing this idea my gave us this one for free.

[#2]

When you say "apply to bundle by name as well" do you mean left justify or right justify?

I'm temped to go with right justify, because it balances, the node better, but left justify does offer better readability...

[#3]

> When you say "apply to bundle by name as well" do you mean left justify or right justify?

I am going for readability, so left justify would work better.

[#4]

I think we should be able to choose how to justify for both bundle and unbundle nodes.

[#5]

I second allowing you to choose with justification you want.

[#6]

> I think we should be able to choose how to justify for both bundle and unbundle nodes.

That would be fine as well.

I did not suggest this solution because I think NI tend to dislike adding more key to the LabVIEW.ini

[#7]

> I think we should be able to choose how to justify for both bundle and unbundle nodes.

I would not want that. That falls into my definition of "junk settings that just make the diagram harder to use". I'd put this in the same category as customizing whether or not there are dots at the wire junctions: not everyone likes it, but when someone toggles the behavior, lots of people are confused about what they're looking at. Excessive customization makes it harder for us to read each other's diagrams. In this case, some users may wonder if the justification has a semantic meaning on the diagram. Or it may be that someone has changed their labels to be more readable when right justified, such that now anyone working with the type needs to remember to change the justification for just that one node.

The diagram syntax is the place where I like customization the least. We should find a style that maximizes the presentation of the node and then stick with it. In this case, I'm ambivalent about whether or how to change it, but if we change it, we should *change* it, not muck about with optional visualizations.

Now, having said all of that, I would be open to a suggestion that would left justify the text for most languages but would automatically right justify the text if the text were using a font code page for a right-to-left written language, like Arabic.

[#8]

> ...but would automatically right justify the text if the text were using a font code page for a right-to-left written language, like Arabic.

That won't work. As soon as you put in a single character which isn't in such a language (such as a period or a number or a hyphen), whatever LV uses for displaying it becomes confused and the result is messed up. Knowing how to properly display this requires smarts which LV does not have and which took MS quite a lot of resources to have in Office.

[#9]

Left justification should be the standard, maybe the only option.

[#10]

>>I would not want that. That falls into my definition of "junk settings that just make the diagram harder to use". Excessive customization makes it harder for us to read each other's diagrams.

That's when your OWN company's coding standards (you have one, don't you?) come into place. It is so hard to make NI improve usability that a good idea shouldn't be bashed...

Left, right, center justify... let's have them all and let the users decide on how (and if) to use the feature.

GREAT IDEA!!! Kudos!

[#11]

I came here to post exactly this idea. I'm glad to see it already has 160 votes.

AQ wrote:

Excessive customization makes it harder for us to read each other's diagrams.

Well, if view settings and preferences were all stored in the local dev environment configuration (instead of half of them being stored in the .vi file), it wouldn't be an issue. It's like having different tab spacing and typeface in local C++ installations. Opening up someone else's code automatically formats it the way you expect so it's legible.

The diagram syntax is the place where I like customization the least.

I've seen how Darren writes code and what the broomstick button does to my diagrams, and I know that I will never agree with this statement. I have my preferred syntax and style because they provide efficient information to me, and I'd hate to lose the advantages they give in conforming to a generic style.