Don't force all LabVIEW windows to the top when one is selected

[User002]

My idea is to have LabVIEW cease and desist it's self-important modal behavior.  Not that I think LabVIEW is anything other than the most important application I run, but I don't think it should force its (many windows') way to the front of the line when I shift focus to a LabVIEW window.  I didn't find any other idea that matched this, but there is this discussion that covers the notion well.

An example case:  When chasing efficiency I frequently have Task Manager open to observe CPU usage when I change front panel controls.  I'll run the .vi and load Task Manager, but when I click on a front panel control ALL the LabVIEW windows come to the front and cover Task Manager:

So, my suggestion is to have only the selected LabVIEW window come to the front.  I get the impression that Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-e behavior are why LabVIEW controls its own window z-placement, but leaving their function out of it, my suggestion is just to change the modal behavior of LabVIEW windows.

[PNR]

Duplicate: http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Single-Window-Mode/idi-p/2539174

[User002]

Not a duplicate!  I don't want a single window as proposed in your linked idea.  I just want the LabVIEW windows to layer in Windows default behavior.  The most recently focused window on top, then the next most recent, etc.  I don't want ALL of the LabVIEW windows to come to the top when I click ONE of them.

[elset191]

This idea is briefly touched on within the idea linked by PNR. 

It is, however, mostly a duplicate of this idea.

[User002]

I disagree, elset191, the idea you linked is entirely about alt-tab order, not the z-order of open windows.  A few illustrations of the differences:

• I don't mention Alt-Tab even once in the entirety of my suggestion, where it is the title function of the linked idea
• You can implement my suggestion without changing Alt-Tab functionality at all (the idea you linked suggests changing the Alt-Tab order)
• You can demonstrate the problem in this idea without hitting Alt-Tab at all.  Just have a set of open non-fullscreeen, non-minimized windows; two LabVIEW, two browser, one spreadsheet program. Click on one brower window, then the spreadsheet, then the other browser.  See how the spreadsheet is layered between the two browser windows?  Try the same thing with LabVIEW windows instead of the browser.  See how both LabVIEW windows are in front of the spreadsheet?  No alt-tabbing at all.
• If you have two instances of LabVIEW open you can have them at two separate sections in Alt-Tab order (i.e. there are other windows in between), but clicking on any instance of LabVIEW brings ALL instances to the front.

Another really irritating use case for me is when I'm transferring data out of a spreadsheet document into a block diagram.  If I want to click back to the spreadsheet from LabVIEW I have to make sure that none of the non-minimized LabVIEW windows cover the spreadsheet window.  

[AristosQueue (NI)]

fairlyFunctional: I do not believe that we -- LabVIEW -- have any option on this. Windows makes the decision for us. To get the separate functionality, your windows have to be separate EXE processes. Look at the modern Microsoft Word. Each document that you open is a separate entry in the Windows Task Manager. That's why they can have separate window priorities.

Given the interoperation of windows in LabVIEW, this is simply isn't an option for LabVIEW to the best of my knowledge. If you know of settings within Windows that we could use to achieve this, please share them here.

[User002]

I don't think that's quite true.  Here's a shot of a LabVIEW window layered between two Word windows.  Also shown is task manager, showing that the two Word windows belong to a single program instance.  As far as I can tell it is impossible to similarly layer anything between two LabVIEW windows.  (Try it!)

You might argue that they are separate entries in the applications list of Task Manager, but I don't see how they're different from say a Project and .vis within it:

[AristosQueue (NI)]

Interesting. Bluntly, I have no idea how they achieve that effect.

Can you find any non-Microsoft programs that can do that? MS has been known to put hooks into the OS that only their applications can use.

[User002]

Good question, Stephen.  I actually can't find another program that behaves the same way as LabVIEW on this one.  Here's Chrome and GIMP.  Chrome shows up as multiple .exe processes, but GIMP is only one.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

I'll pass that along to folks who work on this aspect of LabVIEW. Thanks for the research.

[johnsold]

This is not an issue on the Mac OS. I can have multiple LV windows open, bring several other applications to the front then click on a single LV window. Only that window comes to the front. the others are still behind windows for other applications.

Lynn