LabVIEW
Save as with "open additional copy"
We all work differently, but at the end of the day when I go to shutdown, I usually have about 20 explorer windows open. At the moment I have 14, along with 18 tabs open in one browser window alone. As for VIs yeah it can get pretty deep, project exploer helps for sure, but I'll sometimes have multiple projects open, going to multiple instances for various targets.
When I google something and I'm not sure which link I want, I'll just start middle clicking every search result (which opens it into a new tab) and then go through them until I find the tab that has the information I want, and then middle click the not needed ones (which closes the tab).
@Ben wrote:I kudoed your suggestion becuase I run into that issue often. I have to MAKE SURE I have selected the one I want before I start making the changes to the wrong VI.
Oh yeah don't get me wrong I kudo'd the idea, more than once I've opened a new copy, but then edited the wrong one.
I tend to remember the code based on how it looks and not just the icon but the surrounding code, so drilling is like a refresher on what does what. Also I have the old style task bar where each window gets its own button, and mentally I remember what VI is what button (or around where on the taskbar) so finding already opened code is easy. I stumble when I go to find something on my task bar, and I realized I must have closed it on accident and then need to either drill down to find it again, or drill into project explorer, which being less graphical is less clear to me.
Not really related, but what bugs me somewhat that this save option is sticky, meaning that it is still selected next time I want to d a "save as". 99 out of 100 times I want to "save as" and replace the existing VI in memory. The "save (open additional copy)" discussed here is a rare event for me (mostly during debugging if I want to compare an old and new algorithm for the same thing.
I wish there was a setting to automatically revert back to the typical save option after I use it. It happened several times in the past that I continue to create new copies without noticing and next time I open the toplevel VI, things still point at the stale stuff.
I actually prefer the sticky, I don't know why but I find myself doing the same operation a few times in a row. Like when I need to rename (or move) some VI I realize I have several others I need to move or rename and having it remember my last setting is sorta nice. Besides if you are doing the same thing 99% of the time, then it should say stuck on that setting 99% of the time anyway.
Also can we admit that Save As... screen is a bit complicated to new users. Most people are just used to how Save As... works in most other programs, it creates a new copy. Maybe it has something to do with seeing a dialog, with a decent amount of text and several options, when they've never had any other program ask them a question after a Save As (except maybe overwrite after a selection is made). I know each of the options are needed, and you can explain what each is pretty quickly, but to new users it is a bit odd to have so many options when other programs don't. I'm sure moving some of these options into other menus isn't the solution, and would likely annoy many developers (myself included) I just thought I'd mention it.
