Easy Print Front Panel VI changes Graph on PDF file

[markofdiego]

I am having a very strange behavior. I have a VI that contains a graph with 11 pens. One pen is on a second scale. When I print this front panel the line on the graph for the 11th pen is inverted. the scales have not changed. I have tried to create a new vi and it worked once until I saved the vi. I have tried 3 different drivers and they all do the same thing. I used the same code before without any problem on another project. I also tried using the report building method which worked but the graph turned out small and distorted on the file. I am running version 17 on windows 10 pro. I am running out of ideas.

[mcduff]

It worked for me when I replaced the print VI with the one recommended in the Help file, on LabVIEW 2018 though. You can try the attachment, I back saved for 2017.

mcduff

[markofdiego]

Mcduff,

When I try to open the file I don't have the vi you changed to. Is this a new vi for 2018?

[mcduff]

I do not know, I have never used these VIs before. On your original post, the VI you used had a big red X on it. In the context help, it said it was deprecated and suggested another VI. I do not have LabVIEW here to check. Will update you a bit later.

mcduff

[mcduff]

The VI is located in the following directory:

Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 20XX\vi.lib\printing\EasyPrinting.llb\Print VI Panel or Documentation

Can you check if it is in your 2017 folder?

mcduff

[markofdiego]

I found the vi and it does the same thing. It prints the green pen starting from the top instead of the bottom.

[mikhail.musienko · Accepted solution]

Your right Y axis is Log-scale.

Your first data point is exactly zero. Apparently, Labview have issues with displaying zero on log-scale.

If you change your first data point of first (not 11th) plot to something like 1e-20, for example, then it prints correctly.

As for obsolescence - LV2018 obsoleted "standard report" report type which is used for simple printing VI.

I have always found Reports to be a bad fit for printing front panels. It messes up scales sometimes.

If you want to just send front panel to a default printer you can use attached snippet.

If you want to use custom printer, you are probably better of using .net printing function. It is a bit more work but you can have a very precise control of scales and page parameters.

[mikhail.musienko]

And attached is your VI with fixed data point value just so that you can run it yourself

[mcduff]

---

@mikhail.musienko wrote:

Your right Y axis is Log-scale.

Your first data point is exactly zero. Apparently, Labview have issues with displaying zero on log-scale.

If you change your first data point of first (not 11th) plot to something like 1e-20, for example, then it prints correctly.

As for obsolescence - LV2018 obsoleted "standard report" report type which is used for simple printing VI.

I have always found Reports to be a bad fit for printing front panels. It messes up scales sometimes.

If you want to just send front panel to a default printer you can use attached snippet.

If you want to use custom printer, you are probably better of using .net printing function. It is a bit more work but you can have a very precise control of scales and page parameters.

---

I was about to suggest something similar to mikhail, that is, using the FP.Get Image method. You won't get a pdf, but does a png work for you? Also, good catch by mikhail on the log axis, note on 2018 printed okay.

mcduff

[markofdiego]

I appreciate the input. I will try to update this to get rid of the zero.

Thanks