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Mads

Allow us to rename folders on disk from within a project to avoid lib/class corruption

Status: New

Scenario: You have a number of classes, and they are perhaps even members of a library. Now you find out that the folder one of the classes and it's member files are stored in on disk should be renamed, or you wish to move a number of the files (as a group) to a different folder...

 

End result; LabVIEW will at best ask you where the files have gone, and then typically fail(!) to relink and get back to runnable code. At worst you end up at a dead end/nightmare, with a "class or library corrupt"-message...(editing the XML content of the class file might solve it yes...but that's not a proper solution).

 

I understand that it can be complex for LabVIEW to track the changes done externally, and/or be able to link everything back up, but it should be able to do it better than it does (not) with the guidance of the user.

 

And if that's too big a task, could we at least get the possibility of renaming folders on disk from the project explorer - and *then* get LabVIEW to automatically handle the changes correctly?

 

PS. There might be ways of doing this already without running into trouble that I'm just not aware of (hopefully!), but the suggestion still stands, as it is obviously too vulnerable and counter-intuitive as it is now...

 

 

14 Comments
Intaris
Proven Zealot

You can press "F2" and choose "Rename" which allows you to save in any directory you want, not just rename the file.  Only caveat is that you need to do this for ALL files in the Library / Class.  It would be cool if we could rename / move ALL elements in the item being changed.

Mads
Active Participant

Yes, I know you can rename (and then move) individual files, but *folders* (on disk) are another issue...That's where this idea kicks in.

Intaris
Proven Zealot

Hmm, fair enough.  I'd still prefer the "Library relocation" or "Class relocation" option for more fine-grained control (And it's probably easier for LV to track it that way)

fabric
Active Participant

My (clunky) solution is to rename the .lvclass file first into a new folder, then switch the project to Files view and drag all the class members to the new location. More gymnastics than I would like, but seems to be reasonably reliable.

 

Still, I'd LOVE a way to simply rename/relocate the containing folder.

 

[2 minutes later]

 

HEY! Smiley Surprised Just discovered a right-click option on folders in Files view: "Move on Disk..." 

Doesn't seem to solve the rename issue, but it does handle the relocation. COOL! 

Intaris
Proven Zealot

"Move on Disk"? Really? Cool.

NordicViking
Member

This is a feature I also miss since long, so "like it". And my I add: Similary I would like to have the possibility to delete files from project tree and from disc alltogehter with one click from the context-menu in the project explorer.

PaulLotz
Member

"Move on Disk..." is not sufficient for this purpose in that it still leaves the old folder on disk.

MartinMcD
Member

This would be extremely beneficial for me, I've wasted loads of time trying to sort things out after I've had to move something on disk. Being able to rename folders within the project files view and drag them around to relocate them on disk is really a necessity for medium/large projects.

Ray.R
Knight of NI

I have changed folder location on disk using the rename feature from the project.  That includes classes from within a library.  So maybe I do not fully understand the issue.

julienAu
Member

It would be great to add this feature ! Just a right-clic on a folder (in the FilesView of the ProjetExplorer), then "Rename Folder"

 

That would be helpfull for me too !