Font size in executables

[MartinP]

I have been struggling somewhat to make my executables look the same way as my source code now, and managed in the end to sort this mess out, using the setttings in the ini-file etc. I have also experienced many times the last years that my source-code forgets my font-size and put them all back to the system standard, to my great frustrations. After programming LabVIEW in 20 years, and never had these problems with font sizes that has emerged the last years (after Win 7 ?), I must say I am a bit frustrated about this behaviour.

I also read on the net that changing the font size under Win 7 shall NOT influence the font size in my programs.

Doesn't this mean that NI is breaking the rules on how font size is suppposed to be handled under Windows 7 ?

Martin

[RavensFan]

No.  It is following the Windows rules.  If you use a Windows symbolic font, it will grab that font from the Windows settings.  If you use a "hard coded" font, it will use that.  Now LabVIEW does use an extra level of Symbolic Fonts.  The Application, System, and Dialog Fonts listed by default in the menu dialogs, by default point to the Windows symbolic fonts of Menu, message, tool tip, icon  (don't remember which match up to which.) 

See http://labviewwiki.org/LabVIEW_configuration_file/Fonts

Ideally. You use a hardcoded font for each feature you drop such as Tahoma instead of "Application".  If you do use Application, then it uses however it is defined in LabVIEW.ini.  In which case I would hardcode the AppFont as Tahoma.  If it is coded as "0" "1" "2", then it is referenceing one of the Windows system fonts.  And those keep changing whenever you change them in Windows, or if you happen to go from one version of Windows to another .  (They when from Tahoma to Segoe, and something else in between over the years.  Worse, the default font when from Tahoma 8 to Segoe UI 9,  a slightly larger font.)

If you rely on the LabVIEW.ini font to define what your fonts are in your program, then you need to be sure to copy those settings into the .ini file that gets created when you build your application into an executable.

My recommendation.  Set your fonts to be exactly what you want, and stay away from the symbolic fonts.

[billko]

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@MartinP wrote:

I have been struggling somewhat to make my executables look the same way as my source code now, and managed in the end to sort this mess out, using the setttings in the ini-file etc. I have also experienced many times the last years that my source-code forgets my font-size and put them all back to the system standard, to my great frustrations. After programming LabVIEW in 20 years, and never had these problems with font sizes that has emerged the last years (after Win 7 ?), I must say I am a bit frustrated about this behaviour.

I also read on the net that changing the font size under Win 7 shall NOT influence the font size in my programs.

Doesn't this mean that NI is breaking the rules on how font size is suppposed to be handled under Windows 7 ?

Martin

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Just an observation.  Reading your post as a requirement, I would think that it was Windows 7 that is at fault because it is causing a change in an application by the way it was worded.  But that is an aside.

This might be interesting reading for you: How Do I Set the Default Application Font, Dialog Font, and System Font Size in LabVIEW?  It explains that LabVIEW takes the font sizes from the operating system.  An extremely wild guess by me would be it has something to do with cross-platform compatibilty so if you made a VI on a Mac you could be assured of having a usable font in Windows, for instance.  Anyway, Google gets massive hits on "LabVIEW font problems" for this forum.  I tend to use Google search before I post.  I find the forum search that posting requires to be too confusing and usually not too helpful.