Rearrange Unbundle and Bundle By Name

[JackDunaway]

Oftentimes, rearranging or reordering a Bundle by Name or Unbundle by Name for clusters can yield fewer wire crossings. For instance, below, wire crossings can be eliminated by moving "Timestamp" to the bottom of the Unbundle and "Value" second to bottom on the Bundle:

The current process of moving one of these elements:

1. Increase the size of the node using the Resize Handles on top or bottom, or select "Add Element" from Context Menu (and hope you remember if it adds and element below or above the cell you are clicking on!
2. Wire to the new element, and deal with deleting the old wire
3. Delete the old accessor using either Resize Handles or "Remove Element" from Context Menu

This can be laborious. Instead, I would like a way to quickly reorder the elements. I have a few ideas how this can be accomplished:

1. Context menu with a "Move Up" and "Move Down" action (not so elegant)
2. A pop-up window that allowed rearrangement (think "Rearrange Cases..." on Event Handler or Case Structures)
3. A native drag-and drop on the Unbundle/Bundle node itself. This could be realized given the current "click regions" on the node (hover your mouse and sweep horizontally over one of these nodes... you'll discover the 4 regions). The two "Arrow" regions currently move the node on the BD, but they could be used to rearrange the node (see below)

 

Just throwing out some ideas, I'm not stuck on any one. So, the idea you are voting for: Provide a User Interface for quickly rearranging elements on a Bundle or Unbundle by Name.

[tst]

> Hope this is addressed in LV2012!  Wasn't able to find a description of the new features yet.

These are the ideas which are marked as being in devlopment:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/idb-p/labviewideas/status-key/indevelopment

You can expect to see a full feature list when LV 2012 releases in about six months or you could apply to join the LV beta.

[tst]

In LV 2015, it should now be possible to add Move up and Move down lines to the context menu for these nodes which will move the relevant element with its wire. I don't feel like writing the code, but it would probably require rewiring all the relevant elements.

Another option is to open a dialog with a listbox listing all the elements and allowing the user to drag them to rearrange the list.

[Alexander_Sobolev]

Has nothing been done yet?

Quick drop plugin, first try, bundle-unbundle nodes.

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Rearrange-bundle-unbundle-node/td-p/3327125

[Darren]

Available in LabVIEW NXG 1.0. You can drag items around within a Cluster Property Node to rearrange their order.

[BillMe]

Bah, don't bother implementing any of these ideas in LabVIEW "classic"...that old horse is due for the glue factory anyway.

[tst]

I have actually implemented the shortcut menu plugin to allow moving elements up and down, which I suggested a few replies (and years) ago - https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Shortcut-Menu-Plug-Ins/Move-unbundle-item-llb/ta-p/4015889

[Christina_R]

Re-opening because LabVIEW NXG has been discontinued.

[User002]

This is possible using the BundleMagic plugin. Install the plugin using the VI Package Manager, and then right-click on any bundle/unbundle node for a dialog that allows you to reorder the bundle. Similar features for property nodes, as well as creating bundlers and unbundlers by right clicking on any cluster wire or icon and selecting elements from a dialog. It works!