Icon bounds are no longer honored! (2015 bug?)

[altenbach]

I nave several quite old (very old!) subVIs that use a smaller icons. This has always worked in the past. For some reason, the icons no longer show correcly in LabVIEW 2015.

As an example, see the attached subVI (code removed for simplicity).

In 2014 and any older version, the icon bounds were honored and the icon shows only the correct subregion when placed on the diagram (left image). In 2015, the extra area shows in white (middle image) and wires are partially hidden. This is more easily visible if I color the diagram background (right image).

What changed? Is there an easy workaround? 

[Bob_Schor]

I tried to duplicate your example, but failed -- LabVIEW 2015 worked fine for me.  I'm attaching both a Snippet (which didn't preserve the gray background I used, similar to your example) and a SnagIt Snapshot of the same Block Diagram.  I added an unnecessary Delay Out indicator so I could do the "magician trick" of running a wire right above the top of the smaller icon to show that "there's no icon there".  I should note that the Delay (ms) sub-VI that I wrote and am using here is coded in LabVIEW 2010 (I can open it and check its VI Properties).

Bob Schor

[jimchretz]

Same here. I saved a VI with a bounded icon in 2011 and use it in 2015, no issue.

[Darin.K]

Opening the Icon Editor and closing again was enough to get the problem to resolve itself for me.

[RavensFan]

I see one difference between Christian's image and the typical LabVIEW icon, and that is Christian's uses an orange border while most icons use a black border.  Could that be the change between 2014 and 2015 to determine the bounds of the icon?  (i.e. any color for LV 2014 and older, black only for LV 2015)

I have LV 2015 and would try this out, but I'm in elbow deep in some code for 2014, and don't want to disrupt my workflow, beyond taking this 5 minute break to jump on the forums.

[altenbach]

Aha!

In 2015, the icon bound is required to be black, it seems!

If I make the bounds black, it looks fine.

I wonder if this is intentional or a bug introduced in 2015? Since it breaks the old behavior in an undocumented(?) way, I vote for bug. 😄

[altenbach]

---

@Darin.K wrote:

Opening the Icon Editor and closing again was enough to get the problem to resolve itself for me.

---

Really, I thought had the icon editor open for the attached demo VI and saved it under a new name before attaching. That should have fixed it? Will investigate.

In any case something does not seems to upgrade right. Going through a big project, finding all odd shaped subVIs, opening their editor, and resaving seems like a hassle. 😞

[Hooovahh]

---

altenbach wrote:

In any case something does not seems to upgrade right. Going through a big project, finding all odd shaped subVIs, opening their editor, and resaving seems like a hassle. 😞

---

Icon Editor API might be able to help programmatically save.

That being said I say bug, especially since this isn't mentioned as a change, or expected operation when in the LabVIEW 2015 upgrade notes.

[altenbach]

---

@Darin.K wrote:

Opening the Icon Editor and closing again was enough to get the problem to resolve itself for me.

---

I apparently opened it and then closed it with [cancel], which does not do anything. It needs to be closed with [OK].

The black border actually does not matter! I just found an upgraded VI that has a black border and it shows the same problem.

  (grey background temporarily added to show the problem)

[Bob_Schor]

I just tried this again with the VI that Christian originally posted.  I was able to see the symptoms he described.  I also saw it "go away" when I opened the VI in the Icon Editor and saved with OK.

So why does this happen, and what is causing it?  It didn't happen with my "small" VI.  Mine differs from Christian's in that it is constructed from an Icon Template that has small filled rectangle, all I add is the label (which I usually do on the Label page).  Christian's icon appears to be created on the Layer page.  I'm about to try making an icon in 2015 using only the Layer Page and see if this produces the problem ...  be right back ---

The VI I created had nothing in it, but it had an icon consisting of a narrow (empty) red rectangle.  I'll attach it.  It does not seem to "block" any part of the Block Diagram (oops -- let me change the background and confirm that ...  Yep, it doesn't have any (out)side effects.

How did you do that, Christian?

BS