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JackDunaway

Option to Show/Hide the Iteration and Count Terminals on For Loop

Status: Completed

Available in LabVIEW 2020 and later. You can right-click a loop and uncheck 'Iteration Terminal' to hide the iteration terminal. National Instruments decided to disallow hiding the 'N' terminal on a For Loop.

I often make small For Loops using Auto-Indexing, and only occasionally do I use either the Iteration Terminal or Count Terminal. My current practice is to tuck the Iteration Terminal under the Count Terminal just to get it out of the way, shown below. I propose that these two terminals can be shown or hidden (circled in green), just like the Conditional Terminal.

 

CurrentForLoop.png

 

Here's an example of the new lower-profile For Loop with the unnecessary terminals hidden:

 

LowProfileForLoop.png

18 Comments
elset191
Active Participant
I do the same thing.  A lot.  Nice suggestion
--
Tim Elsey
Certified LabVIEW Architect
JackDunaway
Trusted Enthusiast

SmallForLoop.png

 

Here's another example of an even smaller loop. The visual "noise" is reduced, yet you are still able to clearly identify the structure as a For Loop.

Manzolli
Active Participant
Great idea! Following the idea, the Iteration Terminal can be also optional in the While Loop structure.
André Manzolli

Mechanical Engineer
Certified LabVIEW Developer - CLD
LabVIEW Champion
Curitiba - PR - Brazil
muks
Proven Zealot
True and good idea. But i will still strongly recommend to keep the "N" as default.
Manzolli
Active Participant
I suggest that all the hiding should be options to the default mode, which should have all items shown.
André Manzolli

Mechanical Engineer
Certified LabVIEW Developer - CLD
LabVIEW Champion
Curitiba - PR - Brazil
RandyP
Member
I think the conditional terminal should remain disabled by default. Not only is this "backwards-compatible", but also sticks with the traditional idea of a for loop. A traditional for loop is meant to run through all its iterations, whereas a traditional while loop is meant to stop on a condition. To have a conditional terminal in a for loop, in my opinion, creates a sortof hybird for/while loop, which is not what people want most of the time.
-Randy
-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-
Nothing like a good dose of LabVIEW to cure what ails ya'.
Manzolli
Active Participant
Agree with RandyP! I forgot (never used) the new Conditional Terminal option for the For Loop. Let's say generically that the default should be the traditional way, some terminals can be removed or added optionally.
André Manzolli

Mechanical Engineer
Certified LabVIEW Developer - CLD
LabVIEW Champion
Curitiba - PR - Brazil
JackDunaway
Trusted Enthusiast

Just to clarify the last four comments: the Count Terminal defaults to shown, the Iteration Terminal defaults to shown, and the Conditional Terminal defaults to hidden (the current behavior of a For Loop). In the original post I should have mentioned that I also envision these defaults: I would not want the Naked For Loop as default!

muks
Proven Zealot
grt than bring it on....:smileyvery-happy:
CrystalTech
Member
Great Idea, Jack.  So many times the iteration terminal and/or count terminal is just in the way.