Add a zoom function (yes, I said zoom. So sue me)

[tst]

Add a slider on the toolbar which would allow changing the zoom level on the diagram. This should also be controllable more easily (for example, by using shift + mouse wheel scroll).

Personally, I want this less for zooming out and more for zooming in. It's sometimes convenient to have a larger display of a specific area.

I know some people feel that a zoom is a terrible idea because it will encourage people to create huge diagrams. Personally, I doubt that (since you can't work on zoomed out code and zooming out and in repeatedly isn't that convenient), but I don't mind if people do that. It's their code (as long as I don't have to work on it later).

If people really insist, this can also be prevented by setting the maximum value of the slider to 1, so that people can't zoom out, but I doubt this would have any value.

The zoom should snap to 1 when you get near it and should center on the mouse cursor.

[Vaibhav]

I am excited to see this is already on the Idea Exchange. I would have done it otherwise.

I have been thinking about this requirement quite some time now.

My requirement, as opposed to most of the comments above, is for Zoom Out. Zoom In has never been a big requirement for me, because no matter how small things are, there is enough space for a wire's thickness and the nodes are with a very good size, compact yet visible. And the "tip" while hovering mouse over a connector, always says which connector is that. I don't disagree for requirements of Zoom In though. It's always advantageous to see things in a big size.

Zoom Out, on the other side, is my prime requirement. Because every now and then, I need to see beyond the lengths and breadths of my monitor screen. I know it's not a good idea to edit code after zooming out, but at least we can see where is that while loop, and what is going on at the other side of the event structure while still looking on one side. This way, we can edit code faster, especially the large code.

If implementation of this feature is an issue, I have an idea, in terms of User interface/controls.

There could be a "Zooming" button, in the Tools Palette, along with other buttons like Pick color, Wire etc., which will explicitly change the mouse to Zooming mode. Then with clicking on the "Wire" button, the user can wire objects. And while in "Automatic Tool Selection" zoom in/out could be either by mouse wheel, or by control/shift + (-/+) keys (more or less like what tst said in the opening comment). But this is not an issue. The big issue in implementation might be showing everything in small scale. This would increase hardware requirements.

Message Edited by Vaibhav on 09-25-2009 09:46 PM

[pallen]

I'm all for a zoom function. 

Way back I was using a little piece (now..and then too I think) abandonware called Visual Designer.  It was very similar in look to LabVIEW.  

One of its coolest features was the zoom.   Hold down the Ctrl button and roll the wheel for in or out.  Very slick.  

[Michael.Reuter.HL@HeidelbergEngineering.]

I think a zoom function should be a basic function since Labview 7.1. I hope that the zoom funktion is intecreated in Labview 2010.

[Michael.Reuter.HL@HeidelbergEngineering.]

I think a zoom function should be a basic function since Labview 7.1. I hope that the zoom funktion is intecreated in Labview 2010.

[muks]

I was hoping to see a good rich haul of kudos to TSt for this.............

[RandyP]

I agree with  Vaibhav.

Ok, so having a huge block diagram is bad practice. It's also sometimes a waste of time to go to the effort of making a block diagram all fit on your screen, especially if you have a low-res monitor. As a test engineer, I don't get paid for pretty LabVIEW code, and sometimes, a large BD is the only sensible thing to do, because I don't have time to create and manage a bunch of subVIs. Granted, LV 2009 helps ever so much with incremental BD cleanup, and project files are also a big help; but I still think it is foolish to say, "This feature [ability to zoom in and out] would be really useful to some people, but might encourage some bad practices, so we'd better not do it."

Message Edited by RandyP on 12-14-2009 01:12 PM

[kedminster]

As a person who works on a relatively small laptop screen with less than stellar resolution (compounded with very poor eyesight even corrected with glasses!) I would really like a zoom in feature. I have a very hard time wiring vi's with large numbers of connections as the connection points are very small and close together. I simply cannot understand why such a simple feature to help those of us with impaired eyesight is rejected by NI...

[mosbif]

Very good suggestion. The most of the software today has a zoom in-out function. I had missed this function alot in labview!!!!Why should not Labviewhave that? My suggestion is a % controller as in Excel.

[JÞB]

Zoom in YES! zoom out NO!  and on Windows please

[archughes]

Perhaps a functionality more easily added to labview would be to open the XY size of the block diagram with a shift + mouse scroll.