LabVIEW
Looking for GUI Suggestions
Part of a UI I'm building is for the user to specify test sequences:
Each column is for a different device to be tested. Each row is for a different sequence type.
The elements of the table are to allow the user to specify sequence files (blank elements are OK).
For each element in the table, I need the following functions:
- Create a new sequence file
- Select an existing sequence file
- Remove (and optionally delete) a sequence
I can do this with pop-up menus, but that seems a bit clunky.
Does anyone have any ideas on how the GUI should be?
My first instinct says Drop down (combobox) what lists file names (filtered so the setup column only shows .sup files, or similar) and it should allow 'undefined value' which should trigger a generation of a new file.
R-click in the list to get access to removal of file.
Might be a little too fancy, but you could have glyphs appear on each box as you hover over each one. Hover over a box, and you get a button for "New file" or "Existing file" that kinda hover into place and are clickable (maybe change the cursor to a "finger" icon as well).
I'd probably wrap it in a Qcontrol to make it easier.
And I agree with the above suggestion for Right click for removal. It seems like what I'd try to do if I was looking at this application for the first time.
Another, simpler way to do it would be to use Click to select a box, then have some buttons at the top to do an action (think Bold/Underline/Italic buttons in Excel... you click a cell to select it, then Bold with another button up top)
Yeah the quick and simple is probably just a right click menu. You can know what cell was clicked using an invoke node and the mouse coordinates. Then the menu can either be to create a new, select an existing, and if one is already selected add the delete menu option. The cell can have a glyph indicating if the cell has a sequence selected already or not.
Since the menu selection is really at most 3 options, maybe a single left click could be used (mouse down event). I've seen times when this happens a VI can be moved under the mouse as if it were a popup menu. This gives more control over the menu and can be more than just text but images. There could be an image of a file, an image of a new file, and an image of a trash can. Of course there can be text next to them too.
MCLB can have glyphs in multiple columns but it is an unofficial feature. Here the glyph size is also stuck at 16x16 (idea exchange for larger). A hacky solution is to put 2D picture controls over the columns and then draw the icons. Things get complicated with resizing windows and scrolling which needs to update positions and images but it can also be done.
@Hooovahh wrote:
I've seen times when this happens a VI can be moved under the mouse as if it were a popup menu.
I did this with a datagrid Qcontrol and it works very well. Just note that positioning a VI under a mouseclick can be a pain if you're using subpanels. It can be a little messy with splitters as well. It's just an edge case you have to consider.
