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Petru_Tarabuta

Search Results window should display the number of callers not in memory when triggered by 'Find all instances'

Status: New

It would be useful if the Search Results window would show the number of callers not in memory (screenshot 1).

 

1. The Search Results window, with extra information about the number of callers not in memory

Find all instances 1-edited.png

 

Screenshot 1 was generated by right-clicking the icon of 'SubVI.vi' and selecting 'Find all instances'. The dummy project is shown in screenshot 2. Screenshot 3 shows the Find Callers window that pops up when right-clicking SubVI.vi in the project and selecting Find>Callers.

 

2. The project

Find all instances 3.png

 

3. The Find Callers window

Find all instances 2.png

 

When refactoring, it is often necessary to find and replace all instances of a VI, before removing that VI from the project. A typical workflow for me would be:

  • Open the main VI of the application (to load in memory as many subVIs as possible)
  • Open the VI to be replaced/removed from the project, right-click its icon and select 'Find all instances'
  • Navigate to each instance replacing/removing the VI as necessary
  • Ctrl-Shift-E to select the VI in the project, right click the VI and select Find>Callers.
    • This sometimes brings up callers such as tester VIs that are not loaded in memory by the main VI of the app. In this case:
      • Open each caller previously not in memory. Use 'Find all instances' again.
      • Final check: Use Find>Callers one last time to ensure no callers.
    • This sometimes shows 'No items were found'.*
  • Remove VI from project and disk

*If the number of callers that are not in memory was displayed in the Search Results window, and if that number was 0, it would remove the need to check via 'Find>Callers' before removing the VI from the project.

 

The 'Find all instances' feature would become more complete if it displayed information about callers not in memory.

 

Thanks!