Rearrange bundle unbundle node

[Alexander_Sobolev]

I like nice and clean diagram. Very often I need to change order of cluster (un)bundle by name terminals, preserving wire connections. This wonderfull idea has been offered 6 years ago and forgotten. 

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Rearrange-Unbundle-and-Bundle-By-Name/idi-p/1210059

Has nothing been done yet?

Quick drop plugin, Ctrl+B. Select (un)bundle node. Plugin shows listbox with node items. Drag them to reorder and apply.

First version, so it is not perfect.

[Bob_Schor]

An almost-foolproof way to automatically enforce whatever order of elements you want is to always create a TypeDef for your clusters.  When you Bundle/Unbundle By Name a TypeDef'ed cluster, the order of the Elements are whatever you decided in the TypeDef.  Of course, if you have TypeDef A with one order, and TypeDef B with another (but otherwise similarly-named-and-typed Elements), all bets are off unless you take the trouble to reconcile the disparate definitions.

Bob Schor

[Alexander_Sobolev]

It is not about the order of elements in the cluster, it is about order of terminals in bundle-unbundle by name.

Sometimes the order of terminals can avoid a lot of wire crossing.

[Hooovahh]

I don't know Bob, I think this can be used pretty well in conjunction with type def'd clusters.  For esthetic and code cleanliness I think this could be a useful tool.  Plenty of times I'll have a cluster being unbundled and a wire on the buttom goes up and a wire on top goes down.  This is usually the result of some refactoring where code pieces were moved around, but the unbundle is left in the order it was in.  I did a quick test with this and I could see using it.  However I think you're going to want to reconsider the default shortcut, since B is used by a plugin shipped with LabVIEW already.

[littlesphaeroid]

I am using this code as part of a plugin I'm writing, and I found an important bug that you may wish to correct.

The script works well when any cluster element has only a single unbranched wire attached. However, if you have a branched wire that terminates on a  tunnel, deleting the wire deletes those terminals, and they are not rewired by your script. Consider this diagram:

It's a trivial example, but common during development... I know I need those indexed boolean values, and I don't want those wires deleted.

You can fix this by replacing the Wire:Delete method with Wire:Disconnect Terminal. This preserves the wire and thus all its other terminals. If there are wire bits laying around afterward, there's a method to clean those up as well. 

[RavensFan]

You should attach your VI script that shows what it is you are trying to do.

Why do you consider this a bug?  To me it sounds like you want the  Delete method wire to be different than what it is defined for.

My understanding is that a wire is everything that exists between its source and all its terminals.  Within that wire are joints that define where the individual segments meet or bend.

This is only a bug if the function only does something that the designer did not intend it to do.  It is not a bug if the user of the function thinks it should be doing something different than the designer intended.

[littlesphaeroid]

Hi RavensFan, this is not about what I want to do, it is about the purported function of the quick-drop script that is the topic of this thread. 

From the original post:

"Very often I need to change order of cluster (un)bundle by name terminals, preserving wire connections."

I have described a case in which the plugin fails (aka a bug), because rather than disconnecting a wire (the method to use that fixes the bug), the script first deletes the wire, and thus does not preserve the wire connections.

Please review carefully. 

[Beauty-Rex]

---

MyCFAVisit wrote:

Hi RavensFan, this is not about what I want to do, it is about the purported function of the quick-drop script that is the topic of this thread. 

From the original post:

"Very often I need to change order of cluster (un)bundle by name terminals, preserving wire connections."

I have described a case in which the plugin fails (aka a bug), because rather than disconnecting a wire (the method to use that fixes the bug), the script first deletes the wire, and thus does not preserve the wire connections.

Please review carefully. 

---

I think this can be used pretty well in conjunction with type def'd clusters.  For esthetic and code cleanliness I think this could be a useful tool.  Plenty of times I'll have a cluster being unbundled and a wire on the buttom goes up and a wire on top goes down.  This is usually the result of some refactoring where code pieces were moved around, but the unbundle is left in the order it was in.