A Front panel is very slow. Is Tool Tips the cause?

[DavidPL]

I have one front panel in LabVIEW 8.2 that is very slow. This VI allows the user to enter data that is complex, so I have put many Tool Tips and Context help items on the controls. I know it is the panel that is slow, since profiling the program shows all the time being used by this VI's front panel drawing. Updating this front panel takes 4 seconds or more, and this is on my new Dual Core Dell Precision 390- not a super-hot game machine, but respectable. Menus take 3-4 seconds to display as well. Other VI's update almost instantaneously.

Thanks

David

[tst]

I don't know of any reason that tooltips should slow down the display. I believe they're not even touched until you enter the control's area and context menus should not be touched until you right click the control.

What else are you doing in this front panel?
Do you have overlapping elements?
Are you doing any updates in a loop?
Do you have loops with no wait statements?
Does this still happen when you run just this VI without the rest of the code?
Can you post the VI?

If not, I suggest you try disabling areas of the code to see when the problem happens.

If you have to leave the VI the way it is, you can try getting a reference to the front panel and setting its Defer Panel Updates to T before running the VI and to F after you finished running your code. This will cause the actual display to be updated only at the end.

[DavidPL]

tst:

Thanks for your quick reply.

I've carefully checked the diagram for un-timed loops and the like. The VI has to be interactive- selection of meter type changes what controls are visible, entry of valid password enables the controls and menu items, etc. I do all this on other panels. This panel is slow when not running!

I am not sending this VI out because it would be a big package. It requires a lot of globules, controls, and sub VIs. It also includes some items included in a driver package supplied by a instrument vender. 

David

[Ching_F.]

Hi David,

Can you please elaborate on what you mean by the front panel is slow even when you are not running?  Does it take a while for the front panel objects to update when you move them or when you scroll to a different portion of the front panel?  Do you have lots of controls and indicators on the front panel?  Do you have several things overlapping on the front panel?  If you have controls/indicators stacked on the front panel, the objects below will need to be redrawn as you move the controls/indicators above them. 

Please let me know a bit more about your application, and also attach a screen shot of your front panel.

[DavidPL]

When I say the panel is slow when it (the VI) is not running, I refer to the slowness of the controls to respond to the mouse. For example, when I click on a menu ring after switching to the front panel from another window, there is a 3 to 4 second delay even when no VIs are running!

I am not referring to moving controls. I do have controls stacked on the panel, and programmaticly make some controls visible while the others are not. But I do this elsewhere, with out slowing down the operation anywhere this much. It might be a combination of tool tips on stacked controls, with some of the controls not visible.

I tried to attach a screen shot to my original post, and did not succed. I will try again.

Thanks,

David

[Chris_Co]

David,

I have this problem when my applications use lots of RAM.  A fresh restart of Labview is all that is needed to check for this.  Also forgetting to close references can also cause these kinds of problems.  Both of these problems become apparent after multiple runs of a VI,  Do you still see this when you run the VI from a fresh start of LabVIEW.  If so could you post your code so we can take a look.

BTW Do you have a graphics card?It may not be required, but it helps.

Chris Co.

[tst]

Does this reduction in speed happen even after you delete the code and leave just the controls?

What happens if you select all the controls and copy them to another VI?

Can you upload just this VI (without all the subVIs and globals)? Since this is an edit time issue, it should hopefully be visible even if the VI is not executable.

[DavidPL]

I have attached the front panel to this post.

To answer the questions:

My video card is an ATI FireGL V3400.

The panel is slow first time it is loaded, into a just started LabVIEW. Even if the rest of the program is not loaded.

LabView is using 61,440 K of memory, Front panel objects use 71.3K of memory

[AdnanZ]

Hi David,

I hope you are doing well today! Did you try out what tst suggested?

'Does this reduction in speed happen even after you delete the code and leave just the controls?

What happens if you select all the controls and copy them to another VI?

Can you upload just this VI (without all the subVIs and globals)? Since this is an edit time issue, it should hopefully be visible even if the VI is not executable.'

The answers to those quetions will help you determine which exact control is causing these issues.

[Chris_Co]

David,

I played with your vi for a little.  Interesting, but delete the listbox and re-enter the information and it should work fine.  Replacing the control does'nt seem to work.  That control has some bad mo jo in it.

Chris Co