Make graph transparent to mouse?

[bracker]

Is there any way to allow the mouse to reach behind one front panel object to reach one underneath?  Specifically: I placed a transparent XY graph in front of an Intensity graph, so that I can use its axes in place of the IG axes (left side of attached FP).  However, I can't reach through the transparent part to get at the IG cursor.  Locking the XYG doesn't help (a trick that I use in Corel Draw).

My workaround is to put the XYG in back and make the IG bounding box transparent (right side of attached FP), and I'll do that if I have to.

(That gray bounding box is my bête noire, and I would be happy to truly be rid of it.  But just making it invisible is risky, because it has a tendency to grow when it isn't being watched!  But that's a story for another post).

Thanks!

bête noire

[Darin.K]

Have you considered setting the scale offset and multipliers of the IG to get the axis values you want?  You'll see these values in the 'Properties' menu and are settable via Property Nodes.

[Paul-D]

bracker, I may be simplifying your needs too much, but it seems that in your combo on the right, you are getting what you want out of functionality, yet you are lacking the gray background.

It seems that if you went to Modern>Decorations>Horizontal Smooth Box, placed this on your front panel, sent it to the back, placed your right graph combo on top of that, then locked it, it would look just like a stock item.

Paul

[bracker]

Thanks.

I'm not so much interested in the gray box for its appearance, rather, I'd like to keep track of it in order to know where it is and control it.  I would prefer that it didn't exist at all, because it complicates sizing and placement of the graphs (even when it's invisible), but I seem to be stuck with it.

For now, I can get by with my current arrangement--I do have the functionality I need.  A while ago I looked into Darin's suggestion of using scale/offset and also possibly the programmatically-set marker values for x & y.  I don't remember what I concluded, but I think it had some drawbacks compared to a second overlayed axes.  I may consider it again now that I understand my needs (and Labview!) a little better.

As far as my specific question, I notice for example that "locking" an object makes it inaccessible to a direct mouse click, although it can be selected by a click-drag.  Because direct clicking is nonfunctional anyway, an useful alternative behavior woudl be that a direct click be allowed to select any obect underneath.  Maybe I'll post it to the idea exchange.

[Paul-D]

bracker, I think I am on the way to understanding what you have going on here.  I am attaching a VI where I have used the property nodes to modify the axes of your 2nd set of graphs.  Additionally, I provided the property for which you could read (or write, if you changed it to write) the value of the axes.  I think you may have already done this prior to sending the VI, but we have a lot of properties out there, available via the property node that I think can meet your needs.  Let me know if this helps.

Paul

[bracker]

Paul,

Thanks, yes the "visible" property is what I was using to toggle between the real and overlaid axes, and that works fine.  I didn't post any of my actual BD, so that wasn't apparent in my original post.  I should get by ok, as long as I'm careful about resizing and repositioning my graphs.

By the way, if you're wondering what on earth I'm complaining about with size changes of graphs, I asked about it in two of my previous posts last fall:

Why do intensity graph bounds change when x-scale becomes visible?

Why are the bounds so large in this graph?

Back then, I was quite ignorant about what was going on, but even now that I understand it, it still comes back to bite me in more subtle ways.  But this is another topic, and maybe another suggestion for the idea exchange.

Allan

[Paul-D]

bracker, we definitely welcome any suggestions you may have in our LabVIEW idea exchange:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/idb-p/labviewideas

Beyond toying around with some of the property nodes, I don't know that there is going to be any other way to achieve what you are looking for, but it looks like you've come up with a pretty creative solution to get you by for now.  Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

[Ben]

Have you tried shut-off

Advanced >>> Auto adjust Scales?

Ben

[bracker]

Well, that's a pleasant surprise.  I actually wrote a VI to do that using other properties, and here it is as an option!  I never bothered to look under "Advanced" for graph properties, assuming that all the FP-accessible properties were available under, well, "properties".  This option doesn't even show up under a cursory search of the Labview Help.  I'll have to check out some of those other graph options under "Advanced" as well!

Thanks!

[Paul-D]

bracker, it sounds like Ben nailed it for you.  Let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks Ben!