Windows 7 Style Controls?

[Ryan_G_EE]

I recently upgraded to Labview 2013, and was hoping that NI would finally add some Windows 7 style containers and decorations to the "Silver" controls now that Microsoft is fully invested into Windows 8...but they do not appear to have done this. Any idea why? I'd like my front panels to start looking more like any other Windows 7 / web / mobile app....I mean, it's been the same old "Windows 3.1 / XP" look for years...flat uniform colors everywhere. As an example, just look at the title bar in this NI forum...it has a nice gradient to it, and a shaded border giving the impression of depth. Why can't we do this in Labview?...I think the Labview "Modern" look needs to be renamed to "Classic" and the current "Classic" style needs to be renamed to "Ancient."

Are there any truely modern open source controls that are available for download? After a quick google search I found a Windows 7 style Timestamp control...but that's all I could find...

[crossrulz]

You could try using the System style controls.  They change to match the current OS's settings.  So a program running on a standard Windows 7 setup will look like that.

Yeah, a lot of us have been yelling at NI for a while about their majorly outdated GUI tools.  You could try the systems controls or going with some .Net controls.  There are also a few libraries floating around.  Here's one you might want to check out: The "Missing" System Control Suite

[Ryan_G_EE]

Yeah, many of the system control buttons follow the system, but the decorations and containers to not. After checking out that link to the missing system controls I learned something about importing images into the UI though.

I was able to create a nice gradient background using Photoshop, and paste it into the tab control that I am working on. Then there was a fixed border around everything that needed to be changed. It wasn't immediately obvious how to change or remove it, but I finally figured out how to change it's color appropriately in most cases, and make it transparent in others using a shift-right-click on the control. It's not a perfect solution, but it will work for now. Hopefully NI will come out with a more "modern" control style at some point that includes all of these features.

Thanks for your help!

[mikeporter]

Are you using the System decorations and containers? They seem to work fine on my computer.

Mike...

[Ryan_G_EE]

This is the difference on my computer. Are you getting more colorful backgrounds on your System Tab Control? The unselected tab seems to have a gradient to it, but the selected tab and it's associated background is just flat white with hard edges on my system...and the controls are all very simple, colorless boxes with hard edges as well. I'm running windows 7 Pro, 64 bit.

[mikeporter]

Yup that's what system controls look like on Windows 7 -- and not just in LV. The point is that they track the appearance of the default system controls for the platform (and display theme) you are using. Load your VI onto a system that is running a different OS (like XP) and they will look like XP controls. Select a different display theme and they will track the change.

If you don't like how the system controls look, complain to Bill Gates.

Mike...

[Ryan_G_EE]

I see what you are saying, thank you for correcting me...I guess what I was actually looking for is something more like Web or Mobile App style controls...perhaps I just need to dig around a little deeper to see how Microsoft uses the "Windows 7" look more effectively.

In an effort to provide a more consistent Windows 7 interface in my program, looking at the Windows 7 Control Panel, could you make any suggestions about how I could most easily implement the left-pane navigation approach in Labview instead of using tabs?

[mikeporter]

Recommendation 1: Never Use Tabs

The problem is that while they can organize your front panel, they do nothing for your code, so block diagrams tend to become "overgrown" rather quickly. Note also that even Windows has decided that tabs weren't as good an idea as they thought they were. Outside of dialog boxes you see very few tabbed interfaces these days.

In terms of what to use you have a few options. There is a system tree control that is a part of LV that can create a nice navigation feature. In addition, there is also a different one built into Windows as an ActiveX control -- both can work well but have slightly different interfaces and capabilities.There are example that ship with LV demonstrating both.

You might also want to look at subpanels. They allow you put put the front panel of one VI on the front panel of another VI.  You could create several VIs, each one of which does one specific thing and simply make the one visible that you want. Moreover, you could add new screens at will without risking breaking one of the ones you already have created.

 Mike...

[Ryan_G_EE]

Thanks for the ideas. I am going to try using subpanels with buttons and event handler to switch panels when the buttons are pressed. I think that will work well for what I am trying to accomplish. Similar to the Labview example: "Multiple VIs in a Subpanel."

[mikeporter]

Yes, I have used that structure many times. One of the things I really like about it is that itb has the potential extremely reusable. If you design the VIs going into the subpanels properly the top level VI has to know essentially zero about what the application is doing as a whole so the same top-level VI could work for a variety of applications.

Mike...