HTML Control

[DFGray]

I would like a control/indicator which supports HTML formatting for display and documentation.  There have been a couple of previous similar requests, here and here, but nothing specific to HTML (although jlocanis has been consistent in his comments on these previous requests asking for HTML formatting).

I would envision a control where you enter HTML and can change the display from the HTML to the rendered text easily, similar to the multiple modes available on current text controls.

Why HTML and not just more formatting options?

1. Why reinvent the wheel.  HTML has been around for decades and works well.
2. You can mix fonts, localizations, superscript/subscript, symbols, etc. within HTML, allowing much more flexibility when documenting front panels.
3. HTML is platform agnostic

As has been said in other requests, extending HTML support to captions, labels, etc. would also be nice, but secondary.

[ErnieH]

The basic problem is they do not have a more sophisticated way to display your data. At the very least a native rich text box would be useful. As it is, they give us nothing. As far as my view, I *HATE* to see my developers waste enormous amounts of time trying to come up with a flexible user interface with this set of ancient tools for the front panel.

[SteveChandler]

I am with Christian on this. Use third party code. NI didn't have to implement a regular expression parser and just uses the pcre software. But now I am imagining the possibilities if a boolean LED supported Javascript and cookies without saying it should

I would really like to see just the simple stuff like font size and selection, color, etc. No need for hyperlinks or AJAX requests.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

Suppose LV linked in a third party tool for the control (and only when that control was actually used). I wouldn't use it. It would be a significant add-on to a VI Hierarchy, loading a fairly large DLL for nearly zero benefit -- loading a full JavaScript environment just so you can get bold text and bullet points.

I don't have a good answer here. I just don't like the answer being proposed. There has to be a better answer. I'm looking at the WPF and Sliverlight APIs --- they do not have any such formatting systems built into their basic controls. I can't find any advanced controls from Microsoft to do HTML rendering. There are people who have built such things as third-party tools, but nothing that looks official or supported that I could find in a quick Google search. Given that Silverlight is built for web display, it makes me wonder what their solution is that avoids this issue. Someone may want to investigate that further and find out what tools they have for doing rich text formatting. Perhaps that solution could be made to work for LabVIEW.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

I may have spoken too soon... Silverlight 4 (released last year) added a web browser control:

http://mtaulty.com/CommunityServer/blogs/mike_taultys_blog/archive/2009/11/18/silverlight-4-rough-no...

But again, it is a full web browser. That's heavyweight.

For only Bold, you can use the VIs that I wrote that ship with LabVIEW:

         vi.lib\Utility\error.llb\Format Message String.vi

You could easily adapt this to italics or underlining or other font-based support. Supporting <table> or <ol> would be a lot harder.

[Mr.Mike]

It seems to me that people just want a rich text control.  Bold, italics, underline, strikeout, overline, justification, indentation, bullets, numbering, fonts, font sizes, colors, tables, preformatted text, and hyperlinks.  What else?  Just please please please don't ask for emoticons. 

[SteveChandler]

[falkpl]

What else (since mr mike asked.)

*Sub script and super scripts

see:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Subscript-and-superscript-fonts/idi-p/919697

I agree that reinventing the web browser doesnt do anything.  A few basic markups on the text data tybe could be very useful.

[SteenSchmidt]

Yes, what Mr. Mike said + super- and subscript. No web browser or any active content and that. /Steen

[DFGray]

Actually, support for symbols (e.g. Ω, ∞) embedded in the text was one of the primary motivators of this. The current text control handles bold and italics.  Would want font and super/subscript support, as well.  I don't need a full browser.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

Columns? Paragraph-by-paragraph justification/alignment? Paragraph separation? Math formatting (square root over formula, bar for division)? Footnotes? Headers? Inline images?

What it sounds like we're talking about is more of a LaTex control and not an HTML control. Still heavyweight but substantially less than a full browser.