LabVIEW Shortcut Menu Plug-Ins

The attached zip file contains all of my favorite shortcut menu plug-ins available for download on this community group. Note that my favorites are slightly different than AristosQueue's favorites. If your programming style and preferences are similar to mine, you may find it easier to install these plug-ins from my zip file instead of downloading them all individually. Here are the plug-ins contained in the attached zip file:   Copy Delimited Data Create In All Frames Expand Cluster Constant Find Events Find Wire Source Grow to n Insert Node on Selected Wires Multi-select Change Local Direction Popout Breakpoint Menus Set Current Event to Value Change Show All Hidden Cluster Elements   Installation Instructions 1. Copy the contents of this zip file to your [LabVIEW Data]\PopupMenus\edit time panel and diagram folder. You may need to create this folder if this is the first time you're installing shortcut menu plug-ins. 2. Restart LabVIEW or run this VI to refresh your menus: LabVIEW 20xx\resource\plugins\PopupMenus\support\Refresh Menus.vi

This plugin allows to insert node into existing wire or wires. Works similarly to one of the quick drop shortcuts, but it has some more features. Some key functionalities:   Inline node into single or multiple wire with a node alignment selection. It can handle dynamic dispatch and polymorphic terminals It can inline not only subVIs but anything what inherits from Node class, e.g. structures The plugin is little buggy (e.g. in some cases it brakes undo sequence) and does not behave always perfectly (e.g. on branched wires), but with a bit of experience and knowledge where not to use it, I find if very useful. Hopefully someone will take this idea and create something more robust.  

Author: Darren (NI)   Change Numeric Conversion Type (inspired by this Idea Exchange entry)   Note: Download this plugin only if you are using LabVIEW 2015 through 2018. It is included in the core LabVIEW installation in LabVIEW 2019 and later.   Convert one or more numeric conversion "bullets" into another conversion type:     Attachement is saved in LabVIEW 2015. For install instructions, go here.

Author: Tom McQuillan   The select function could really benefit from back propagation, but until then here's a tool I scrapped together.       It seems to work, but it's had limited testing and was created in LabVIEW 2020. Copy the attached to: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\LabVIEW Data\PopupMenus\edit time panel and diagram and restart LabVIEW   Here's a github repository if anyone wants to snoop around the code or create updates: https://github.com/TomsLabVIEWExtensions/Useful-Constants-for-Select-Function.   Latest release download   Cheers, Tom

List of Community Shortcut Menu Plug-ins

A group of us doing the Advent of Code 2021 found that we wanted to change the output representation of the "Boolean Array to Number" to U64.  This is possible but only through the "Properties" dialog.  It was discussed that it would be nice if this were more accessible through a right-click menu.  So here it is! (Attached below).   If you think this should be built-in behavior, @CJWalker also created an idea exchange entry for it, here.

Author: Aristos Queue (NI)   Right-click on a field of a private data control of a class and select "Find All Uses..." to discover all the places where the field is bundled or unbundled. This plug-in will find all unnamed Bundle and Unbundle nodes (because those always access all fields) any Bundle By Name or Unbundle By Name that references the selected field any IPE Unbundle/Bundle pair that references the selected field. The tool works for dotted fields inside nested clusters.   Before: After: (Added a "Copy to Clipboard" button to the dialog in later version.) Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2019. For install instructions, go here.    

Author: JW-JnJ   Makes error wire handling a bit easier.   1) Select sources and one destination. It will create the merge error and wire up the rest of the selected sources. Note: It will select the right-most non-source and non-wired terminal.     2) Select an existing wire and new sources. It will insert a merge error at your right-click location then wire the rest of the selected sources.   3) Select a merge error and new sources. It will expand the merge error and wire all new sources in.   These were listed in reverse priority. It will check for an error node selection first, then an error wire selection, then just default to finding the destination and creating it's own.   If you hold CTRL before right clicking and while clicking Merge Errors, the existing merge error and existing wire will insert the error in the bottom and top of the merge error node depending on if it is above or below on the diagram.       Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2016. However, I am not sure when the "Is Error Cluster.vi" was introduced, so it may not work for some versions. For install instructions, go here.   Edit 8/2/21: Fixed the problem of the rightmost node having a source. Added CTRL functionality for sorting error priority. Also changed the plugin affected objects from GObjects to a collection of slightly more specific GObjects

 What does this do? This plugin goes through the case selectors and subdiagram labels to create documentation for pasting into a comment or other document. This plugin makes several assumptions You are documenting function in the subdiagram label You are separating sections with ---------LABEL----------- (it must start with "---") The contents go to the clipboard and are tab delimited for excel (doesn't show well in LabVIEW comments)   Before This is a typical QMH case structure of mine   Menu Paste   Edit: The latest version disconnects the subdiagram label property from the error flow. Case structures without subdiagram labeled will work now (sorry, it took so long, I didn't see the comments)   Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2016 (sorry, all I have). For install instructions, go here.

Author: VI Shots   LabVIEW allows you to right-click a single control terminal and select "Show Control" or "Hide Control". Unfortunately, this functionality is not present for right-clicking a selection of multiple terminals.   This plugin adds Show All Controls and Hide All Controls items to the right-click menu of a multi-selection of control/indicator terminals.   Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2020. For install instructions, go here. Thanks to VI Shots for providing this plugin to the LabVIEW community!  

Author: Yair Neeman   When you have one or more controls selected, this plugin adds two lines to the popup menu:   Set Current Values Default Reinitialize Values to Default   These do what you would expect and provide the same functionality already available for a single control in the popup menu and for multiple controls in the Edit menu.   Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2015. For install instructions, go here.

This function works on Case structures with an enum wired to the case selector.  Rather than sorting by the cases by the numerical value of the enum, this function will sort alphabetically (A-Z) by the enum string.

This function will work on Case and Event structures.  Right-Click on the boarder and select Find Case... to open a dialog with a listbox containing all the cases (events).  The string input at the top of the dialog will filter the listbox items.  Double click the Case and the dialog will close and that Case (Event) will be displayed.  Note: This function is built into LabVIEW 2020 ("Show Case...").

Author: Aristos Queue (NI) These two plug-ins add two new menu items: To a set control or a set constant, they add the menu item Data Operations >> Edit Set.... To a map control or a map constant, they add the similar menu item Data Operations >> Edit Map.... Both menu items take you to a dialog where you can edit the value of the set or map.   One plug-in depends upon VIs saved in the other. You must install both.   The dialog's UI is now polished up and really usable. This is unlikely to be the final form of the dialog that ultimately ships with LabVIEW -- the UX team is still reviewing it -- but this draft has working keyboard navigation, correct item sizing, and more intuitive buttons than the first design I posted here.   Before: During: After:   Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2019. For install instructions, go here.

Introduction LabVIEW 2015 adds the ability to write VIs to modify the shortcut menus of LabVIEW's editor environment. You can add, rearrange or replace shortcut menu items for the edit-time front panel and block diagram or for the block diagram at run-time. These plug-ins do not affect the panels of running VIs -- they do not become part of applications that you build with LabVIEW. If you want to modify the run-time panel menus, use the menu editing nodes that have been available with LabVIEW for many versions.   The community website has a shortcut URL: http://ni.com/lvmenus   Voting on Plug-ins Please give kudos to plugins that you like; we may consider adding them to LabVIEW.   Downloading Plug-ins This web group provides a central location for sharing plug-ins with and among the LabVIEW community. You can filter the Documents list using the "Categories" filter on the Overview page. That will help you find documents that are specifically plug-ins. Instructions for downloading plug-ins. USE CAUTION WHEN DOWNLOADING PLUG-INS FROM UNKNOWN AUTHORS. As with any VIs you pull from the web, use caution. Take a moment to glance at the block diagrams of the code and make sure the plug-in does what it is advertised to do.   Uploading Plug-ins Part 1: Creating Plug-Ins Creating a shortcut menu plug-in is easy: 1. Launch LabVIEW 2015 (or later) 2. Open and run this VI:           Windows:      <labview install directory>\resource\plugins\PopupMenus\Create Shortcut Menu Plug-In From Template.vi           Same path on Mac or Linux but with different symbols for directory separation. For more information, see the help files that ship with LabVIEW.   Uploading Plug-ins Part 2: Known Issues There is one known issue with the shortcut menu plug-ins. Plug-ins are built from two VIs: the builder VI that creates the menu item and the execute VI that runs if the user picks that menu item. If you use the "Data Type" property of any object in your builder VIs, you may crash LabVIEW unless you do it just right. The various Data Type properties return a Variant. If the Variant contains a LabVIEW class, this creates a strange situation where the class is loaded in the user's application instance but the data is in use in the plug-in application instance. You can safely use the various Data Type query VIs to investigate that Variant, but you have to clear all the object data out of the plug-in by the time your VI finishes running. If you do not clear all the data out, the class may get unloaded in the user's application instance leaving stale objects in the plug-in context. This is a known crash issue that we have been unable to fix without adding so much pointer tracking as to bog down the entire execution of LabVIEW. The easiest solution is to use the Request Deallocation primtive. A correct usage of it is shown in one of the plug-ins available on this web site. There are cases where the Request Deallocation primitive will not suffice to clean things up, mostly cases involving subVIs. If you have difficulties, post a discussion to this web site and we can talk about options.   Uploading Plug-ins Part 3: Submitting To This Site When you are finished with your plug-in, you may upload it here. Go to this template and use it as the starting point for your work. The template document will guide you through the upload process.   Welcome to the community!

Bundle Magic is a LabVIEW plugin that augments right-click menu options for manipulating clusters, properties, methods, and classes on the block diagram by dialog:  

Author: Felipe Pinheiro (felipe.foz)   This shortcut menu is very useful for quickly assigning error clusters or class controls from BD or FP to the connector pane. It only works with one of them and the selection is restricted to one indicator and one control. There is a one caveat that I don't know how to easily solve. How to deal different connector panes? In this case, it is considering the position in the LV default connector pane. Aside that, I would appreciate any comments or suggestions on the name or how it should appear in the menu.   Before: After: Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2015. For install instructions, go here.  

Author: Andrei Zagorodni (Novator Solutions AB)   Inserts an In-Place Elements structure in any wire using menu Insert IPE Structure:   Before: Select any wire in BD   After: Type of inserted IPE structure terminals depends on type of selected wire:   The plugin was created using plugin LabVIEW Class And Cluster Wire Insert IPE.llb (by AristosQueue) as prototype.

Author: Brian Bean - Sobosoft LLC   This shortcut plugin takes any CSV or delimited data (including cut/copy from excel) and pastes it into arrays, tables, and multi-column list boxes. For multi-column listboxes and tables, an additional sub menu item pops up allowing the user to separate the header row from the delimited data and use it in "column headers" of the control.     Before:   After:   Edit Time Plugin Only for now.   https://github.com/bbean-LV/PasteDelimitedData   Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2018. For install instructions, go here.   Note, there is a sister quick drop plugin with similar features here.

Author: Felipe Pinheiro (felipe.foz)   When designing your User Interface, you may want to hide/show multiple controls in LabVIEW. Unfortunately, LV allows only single selection of FP controls/indicators. This plugin allows multiple selection of controls and indicators and change their visibility. It works both in FP and BD. In BD, however, all controls/indicators must share the same status (all visible or all hidden) or the menu won't be enabled.   Before: After:   Attachment is saved in LabVIEW 2015. For install instructions, go here.