Mis-aligned front panel object between computers

[BikeControl]

I'm making a program that has a complicated settings screen with multiple arrays controlling DAQ channel settings.  I've approached it this way as I need the system to be modular for different peoples use cases and I found this the easiest way to set everything up.  I took my time and made sure all of the front panel objects lined up correctly so each item in each array matched each other making it look like single rows.  After exporting to an application I double checked and everything lined up nicely.  Then I put it on another computer, one that had the same monitor resolution as mine, and nothing lines up anymore.  Looks like the custom heights have changed and even the alignment on the front panel objects is off.  

I'm really hoping someone can clue me in on how to prevent this as the other computers I'm loading this application onto do not have LabVIEW so I can't fix it locally. Is there some settings that will prevent these changes from happening or do I have to change how I arrange the settings screen and then build the arrays in the block diagram?

Thanks in advance!

[billko · Accepted solution]

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@BikeControl wrote:

I'm making a program that has a complicated settings screen with multiple arrays controlling DAQ channel settings.  I've approached it this way as I need the system to be modular for different peoples use cases and I found this the easiest way to set everything up.  I took my time and made sure all of the front panel objects lined up correctly so each item in each array matched each other making it look like single rows.  After exporting to an application I double checked and everything lined up nicely.  Then I put it on another computer, one that had the same monitor resolution as mine, and nothing lines up anymore.  Looks like the custom heights have changed and even the alignment on the front panel objects is off.  

I'm really hoping someone can clue me in on how to prevent this as the other computers I'm loading this application onto do not have LabVIEW so I can't fix it locally. Is there some settings that will prevent these changes from happening or do I have to change how I arrange the settings screen and then build the arrays in the block diagram?

Thanks in advance!

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There are two sources of your sorrow.

The first is related to screen display.  The text scaling may be different.  Make sure the text scaling is the same for each computer this is to be installed on.  This is analgous to increasing the size of your text on a web page.  As the size increases, similar things happen to the web page that you are experiencing on your front panel.  Windows is so convoluted that the way to set this is different for each version, so you'll have to look this up yourself.  😞

The second is related to what LabVIEW will use as its default fonts.  They may be - and usually are - different for each operating system version.  If presentation is a top priority - and when is it not? - it is recommended to choose non-default fonts that are common to all the computers the application will be installed to.

[zou]

A freq. asked question.

Take a look this thread:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Indicators-and-Controls-on-my-GUI-application-move-out-of/m-p/336794...

[RavensFan]

One is on Windows XP, the other Win 7.  Microsoft changed the system fonts between versions of the OS and made them 1 pt. larger.  As a result any controls that are sized to use a system font (LabVIEW's default fonts are application, system, and dialog which all map back to Windows fonts) will change in size and thus position.

Zou's message is one link that describes it.

Here is another thread that describes it a little more.  http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Font-size-appearance-problem-on-Windows-7-executable/m-p/1959179#M65...

[BikeControl]

So changing the font to Arial fixed it,  at least between two windows 7 machines.  Fingers crossed it will still work when running on a windows 10 machine.

Thanks for the help guys!