Notify User if Control Data has been changed and allow to save instead of exiting and losing all changes!

[ljmoseley]

When you update a value in a control (specially something as large as a table with hundreds of values changed) on  a VI, LabView doesn’t know or tell or warn you when you exit the VI that there are changes to the values (IT SHOULD AT LEAST WARN YOU)!

If you change the slightest wire/diagram/etc., it warns you to save and has the "*" on the end of the UI/VI title!

WHY NOT do that on the controls? Rather than having to always remember to Right Click, “Save Current Values as Default”…

We LOST HOURS of work/typing (after saving many times, thinking it saved the values – specially in a table)!

[fabric]

I understand your pain, but unfortunately for you most use cases prefer NOT to rely on storing important data in the front panel. That said, I could see some value in an option to right-click the panel and select "Save current values as default" for ALL controls on the panel. (And for symmetry, a "Reinitialize to default" too!)

[tst]

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I could see some value in an option to right-click the panel and select "Save current values as default" for ALL controls on the panel. (And for symmetry, a "Reinitialize to default" too!)

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Both of these features already exist. They should be in the Edit menu.

The original idea is not something I would want. For the vast majority of controls and indicators that change, I would not want to save their new value as default. I might vote for a new idea which will add a new feature - right click on a control and check the option "automatically set the new value to default if changed by the user". This will limit this to specific controls.

[fabric]

"Both of these features already exist. They should be in the Edit menu."

Ha! Shows how often I've needed them... 

[ljmoseley]

Yes, the Edit menu has the "Make Current Values Default" (for all controls)... Handy!

BUT, my point and ISSUE is KNOWING WHEN/IF something changed, and that I MAY NEED to "Save"... vs just exiting and LOSING all the changes (without NOTIFICATION)! Activate the "*" feature on ANY change.

WHY do "Controls" BEHAVE differently than VI's and DIAGRAMS? THAT is the ISSUE!

NO, I don't want to "automatically set the new value to default" (although there may be instances where this is useful for "tracking", this option could be way more problematic than helpful (and with my current issue, complicate the situation even more).

[Dennis_Knutson]

No, I would not want the * to show for just changes in controls. I really do not want to confuse actual change with just data. It would make source code control that much more difficult. It is seldom that I want to save data with controls and make the VI size larger. When I do, I simply right click and make Current Values Default.

[crossrulz]

The more I think about this idea, the more I do not like it.  99.9999% of the time, I do not care if the control values got changed.  The other small amount of times, I'm careful and make sure I set the values as defaults.

And if you have large tables, maybe you should be saving those to a text file and read them in.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

> WHY do "Controls" BEHAVE differently than VI's and DIAGRAMS? THAT is the ISSUE!

Because the operate data of a panel isn't part of what you write for the VI. It's a byproduct of running the VI, but it is not part of the source code. If the values changed all the time, then default values for controls could never be set because the next time you called your subVIs, all the default values would be stomped.

When I set a default value of a control, that's the default value that I want used every time this subVI is called without being wired. That's the value that I want my indicators to display at start up. If I want them to display a different value at start up, I would have made it a default value.

I can run my hierarchy hundreds of times without modifying my VIs. I shouldn't be prompted to save changes just because I ran the VIs.

[dthor]

I agree Dennis_Knutson and the others, having a control-value-has-been-changed flag would be a much larger nuisance than a benefit.

If you want to know when data is changed, perhaps you should store your data in a text file and read it into your program every time. That way, when you change the text file, it gives you a warning before you close the file. In addition, you're code becomes more flexable, as you can then load up multiple different data sets with ease.

[ljmoseley]

@ Dennis_Knutson - it already changes for any little thing on the VI or Diagram (slightest movement of a Control/wire that we don't care about). That is anoying too.

@ those who think data should be stored in an "external" file and read in, that is NOT Object Oriented. If the VI is an Object, it should be stored WITH it's "data" as properties. And you can still change the values by reading them in.

And I'm not talking about setting the "*" change if you are RUNNING the VI, only EDITTING.

The point also, is this is how "editors" work, so why not follow the industry standard (and the VI/diagram standard)?

[fabric]

@Imoseley: You're doing a lot of yelling at some extremely experienced users! Anyway, it's good to see some enthusiasm.

As Aristos Queue says, when you run a VI you are generally changing the values passed into the controls of all its subVIs. Most people would definitely *not* want to be prompted to save all those subVIs just because they ran the parent VI, right?!

Implementing the feature you suggest would be a big headache for everyone who ever used a subVI! That is pretty much every user of Labview...