LabVIEW Idea Exchange

I didn't see this in a search, but wouldn't be surprised if it is already here.

I personally hate auto growing structures. I find I spend more time downsizing them after laying out the internals than I do increasing the size when it is turned off. So I have the gloabl setting turned off, so all structures I create do not auto grow.

The problem? This doesn't override the structures auto grow setting. So, if I get code from someone else who had it turned on, then I have auto growing structures.

I see 3 potential solutions:

Change the existing global setting to not drop auto growing structures to also override the setting of existing structures (the structure setting doesn't have to change, hust override it). I am even open to not having the structures have individual settings, either they all do or they all don't. But, I could see the argument for keeping that setting, especially since it is already there. I just would like to see it get overridden by a global setting.
Change the existing global setting to only enable or disable growing. All structures by default are dropped with auto grow enabled.
If the current behavior is still desired, then add a new setting that enables or disables autogrowing structures globally. This way, I could drop auto growing structres, but LabVIEW will ignore the setting if I don't want the behavior.

This would allow programmers with different preferences to both use the same code and not be annoyed by not having the desired behavior. I think #3 is probably the best solution to the problem, as you can maintain existing behavior and simply AND it with the new global setting.

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When I start LabIVEW, it will eventually ask me to log into my SCC (I use Perforce) as part of the startup process. Unfortunatly, LabVIEW requires that I type my password into the Perforce login dialog and then Perforce responds within 60 seconds or this will fail and I will get the following dialog:

So, if I start LabVIEW and then go off to do some other task and miss the window, I get this error. If I then open a project, it is not linked to my SCC system and none of the SCC status indicators show up on the project items. The only way to fix this is to close LabVIEW and reopen it.

All I am asking for here is a 'RETRY' button next to the 'OK' button so I can get a second chance at this. It is a small thing, but it would make my life much happier... So, please vote for this idea, even if you don't have the same problem.

Message Edited by Support on 08-10-2009 08:40 AM

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Hi all,

In a perfect world,it sould be possible to distribute items on the front panel according to the height//width of the front panel !

Today, when I create a dialog box, I place the controls on the front panel, close an eye move away from my screen, then watch if my buttons are well centered.

Tomorrow, wen I'll create a dialog box, I will place my controls on the front pannel, horizontally distribute them, and click on the new NI button to dispatch them accordingly to the current FP size !

I run into many situations where data is collected and stored in an Excel spread sheet. Moving this data into LabVIEW usually requires writing some code to either process the data after it has been saved into a .csv format or pasting the data as a single string and then parsing it in LabVIEW to get it into a usable format.

Usually, the data is in two or more columns where one column is an X axis and other columns are Y axis data points. My life would be made better if I could select all of the data I want in Excel, copy it, and then paste it into LabVIEW as an XY array cluster.

Good Implementation: I can only select two columns. The first (left most) column is always X axis points and the second Y axis points.

Better Implementation: I can select multiple columns of data and would be asked by LabVIEW which column to use as the X axis and all others are treated as Y axis data points. This would paste into LabVIEW as an array of XY array clusters.

Best Implementation: In addition to the better implementation, I can also include the column title in my selection and LabVIEW will use it to name the data series, just like Excel does when you create a scatter plot.

How often do you find the need to orginize data into a table format while documenting your vi? I for one, could & would use it all the time! Creating a resizable table free label we all use in word & excel seems like a simple task and would aid in organizing and documenting data into a more readable format. A ctrl+double-click or shift+double-click could serve as an easy access method, tab through the contents, and resize rows and colulmns vis a cursor change while hovering at the specific borders. Free Label, New type, table format, organize data, rows, columns.

Many of you know that the things called variables in LabVIEW are not variables at all. This regularly causes some confusion. Ben elegantly explains this here where he suggests that a local variable in LabVIEW is more like an I/O device.

I propose that they be called something like I/O device, I/O register or I/O buffer. Maybe "Control Buffer". The idea is not to call variables something in the list but to simply come up with a better name.

I understand that there is a lot already written about LabVIEW that refers to those things as variables and that much documentation would have to change. But I think that LabVIEW documentation should at least start to call "variables" something different.

At a minimum this should be clarified in the documentation on variables.

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I sometimes need to add (paste) text documentation to the block diagram. This often results in a single line of text that can stretch, as a single line, for what seems like miles off to the right of the text-block insertion point. I then need to make multiple drag-edge/shift-block/repeat adjustments to beat the text block down to something that will fit on the screen. It would be nice to instead be able to select the text block and either specify a width or else say to make it the same width as something else on the block diagram.

Scroll bars in text blocks would be nice too, as long as I am wishing.

I have run into the problem from time to time that I create a new build specification in my project, hit the Build button in the setup dialog just to have the build hang or crash LabVIEW. To add insult to injury when I opened the project file again (sometimes even after recovery) that new build specification was not there since the project was not saved before building.

I have now trained myself to resist the temptation of hitting that Build button. Instead I will exit the dialog, save the project and then start the build via a right click.

I would really like to see the project file being saved before the build is executed.

I think everyone's been there before.

Working on a project and for some reason from somewhere an Insane Object appears somewhere in the code. Not a nice thing to have happen.

At the moment, it's quite a nasty job trying to track these things down. Usually most users resort to trial and error in trying to find the culprit. I myself use the mass compile function to at least narrow down which files have the problems. Recently there was a post on the Forums highlighting the LabVIEW Object Viewer which seems like something which should be much more accessable.

I would like to propose making tools like these more accessable, more usable and maybe adding a tutorial as to how to deal with this. I also would like to see more sanity checks for the LV code so that we could maybe catch these erros earlier. How about an error whenever saving a VI so that we can 1) attempt another save in case the error comes from a write error or 2) investigate the problem immediately so that we can rest assured that we have caught the problem early enough to prevent tearing down the whole project.

Message Edited by Intaris on 06-02-2010 02:29 AM

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Ever right-click a VI, reference, property node etc and have the search window pop up showing it is in multiple places. Then you double-click one of them or press go to and the window closes, only for you to realize that you didn't click the instance you were looking for?! So, now you have to go through the whole process again. Not to mention you don't know which one you just clicked on so you don't know how to pick up where you left off. Disaster. Please, just have the window stay open and your recent selection stay highlighted after going to that instance!

Currently LabVIEW provides the ability to apply the library icon to all the member VIs through the "Apply Icon to VIs" button on the library's general settings property page. This action applies the icon to all the VIs in the library and sets them as modified, even if the VI had the same icon before. Consider the case where you move a VI from one library into another. In this case, you want to apply the library icon for the destination library to the VI. The "Apply Icon To VIs" would be overkill, especially if the library has a large number of member VIs. Rather than the "Apply Icon to VIs" on the library, it would be very useful to have a "Apply Library Icon to VI" action that you apply on the VI in question that would apply the owning library icon to the VIs icon. This action would only modify the one VI that needs to get the new icon.

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LabVIEW Idea Exchange

Change the existing behavior or Add a new setting to control structure auto grow behavior

SCC login dialog needs retry

Promote "Default Value" to normal (not scripting) property

New possible search target

A "remove from group option" to remove single item(s) from front panel group

Distribute objects according to the size of the FP

Intelligent copy of data from Excel spread sheet to VI

Can select Show/Hide Full Name at element in a bundle/unbundle function

Remove 'Background priority' from VI Properties/Execution since it is ignored anyway

error source includes case name

free label format

Change the name of local and global variables

Add "Resize Objects" option to to block diagram toolbar

Build button in Application Builder Dialog should save project before build

More control of the Context Help window at runtime

Help dealing with insane objects

Don't close search box after clicking on an instance!

Implement "Apply Library Icon to VI" when you want to apply the icon to a single VI in a Library

Improve sound playback quality

Create shortcuts to folders when configuring an installer