Cancel Button on Save All dialog

[Jim_Kring]

Sometimes I select File >> Save All accidentally when I mean to just do a File >> Save.  I really wish there were some way to press Cancel/Abort so that it would stop wherever it is in the process.

[altenbach]

Happened to me before too.

I would prefer a soft barrier dialog "Do you really want to save all? Y/N" instead, because once it has started it is difficult to tell what kind of "damage" has been done already. 😉

[Mr._Jim]

I agree, as I often save other open projects inadvertently when this happens.  (It makes me grateful for source control)

The dialog seems like a great idea.  Since personal preferences inevitably vary, there could be a "don't ask again" checkbox that sets a flag in labview.ini.

[PJM_Labview]

I would not like to have a confirmation dialog.

I do that (CTRL + SHIFT + S) too often and this would be annoying.

I would be fine with just being able to cancel.

[GregSands]

I don't like the idea of a Cancel button, unless it would also revert all of the already-saved VIs to their previous version.  Otherwise there is now a mix of saved and unsaved files, and no guarantee which are in their correct subset.  If this was implemented, then it could also be easy to provide an Undo >> Save All.

But I don't like the confirmation dialog either!  For the same reasons as PJM.

My preference would be that Ctrl-Shift-S acts like File >> Save All (this Project) if one or more project files are open, and saves only files in the project(s) that contain the frontmost VI when pressed (or when the menu is selected).  In fact, I can't really see the need for File >> Save All which is not project-limited.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

Sorry... no kudos from me on this one. I like the way it works now, and the usability issues mentioned by others seem pretty insurmountable for changing it.

If you don't want to accidentally hit Save All, you can edit your menu preferences to remove the shortcut key from Save All. Then the only way you'll trip it is if you quite deliberately click File >> Save All (or hit alt+f+v on MSWin platform).

[Jim_Kring]

I don't see how there's any usability issue by adding just a Cancel button (I'm not at all in favor of an "Are you sure you want to Save All?" dialog).  Save All is not an atomic operation -- it's a batch operation.  If somebody doesn't like the fact that their project is half-saved (as a result of pressing Cancel during a Save All) then they can press Save All, again, to finish the process.

[tst]

>...Then the only way you'll trip it is if you quite deliberately click File >> Save All

Or quite accidentally try to click File>>Save As... and have a mouse twitch. I'm pretty sure I had the same problem with File>>Save.

> Save All is not an atomic operation -- it's a batch operation

Maybe in theory. In practice, I assume it simply loops over all the VIs and saves them one at a time (that's certainly what the dialog seems to suggest). Not an operation which can currently be reverted.

[altenbach]

I don't use the keyboard shortcuts, but when working on an unfamiliar laptop the precision of menu selection (e.g. touchpad #&$!) is not very good, it happened to me that the cursor slipped down to "save all", when I actually wanted to "save as..". Also, in a hurry or for dyslexics "all" and "as..." are awfully similar.

The biggest danger is in cases where I have something open from VI.lib and maybe placed a breakpoint, debugging indicators, or some other quick code modification to test a theory. A "save all" in this situation would be devastating, requiring a repair of the LabVIEW installation. (Yes, sometimes I do these high-wire acts, with no intention to ever save any of it. ;))

I rarely/never use "save all" intentionally and would love to have a small barrier. I guess it's not a popular suggestion. 😄

The need for "save all" has diminished in recent versions, because we also have auto-recovery. I usually go over the save operations when closing the project or toplevel VI. There I actually see what has unsaved changes and what will be affected. 🙂

[Jared7]

I always avoid the "Save All" button. In fact, everyone in my LabView using company avoids this button. Is this button popular at all in the Labview community? I have a feeling LabView would be better off by making this button and shortcut less accessible. LabView makes way too many secret changes when a project is opened for this button to be safely used.

[hunkel]

I never intentionally use this menu option but it happens too often that I accidently press this one, I agree that it would be good to be able to cancel this operation. I often have temporary unsaved or read-only VIs which opens a dialog with two buttons ("Continue with prompts" and "Continue withput prompts"), a third Cancel button could be added to this dialog.