VI Properties dialog is slow

[David Moerman]

Has anyone experienced this with LV 8.5?  I have a large project open, and when I try to pull up the "VI Properties" dialog box it takes between 10 to 15 seconds to open.  It is a large DSC-based project (whether that has any relevance).

Thanks,

David Moerman

[parthabe]

Ya, I ve noticed it certainly, not only the VI Properties dialog, also the Properties dialog of any control/indicator, nearly 5-10 secs.

[TCPlomp]

Yes it is quite disturbing.

These dialogs are built dynamically and I think in LV 8.5 they are quite slow.

Ton

[Yi Y]

Hi Everybody,
I tried with some of my VIs in 8.5, and there seems to be no speed decrease compair to 8.2.1.
Are the dialog boxes slow in all of your VIs/controls/indicators in 8.5 or just certain VIs? Is it slow compair to 8.2.1 or compair to other versions of LabVIEW?
If it's specific to one project/VI, could somebody please attach the code here so I can try it on my computer and see if it's reproducible?
Thank you!

Yi Y.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/support

[David Moerman]

I discovered that this problem has nothing to do with the size of project, or even having a project open.  I rebooted, started LV 8.5, created a new blank VI with no project open, and pulled up the VI properties dialog box.  It took 17 seconds for the VI properties box to open.  Press cancel, try again, this time it takes 5 seconds.  Cancel, try again, this time 1 second.  Cancel try again, back to 5 seconds.  Cancel, closed the VI, created a new blank VI, try again:  still 5 seconds.

I have a reasonably fast desktop.  The hard drive does NOT make noise for the VI properties dialog (unlike the control/indicators dialog).  It seems the VI properties dialog is waiting for something else.  The project window is not open, nothing is open but 1 blank VI.

VI server is disabled, as is the web server.  Recall that I have DSC installed.  Any other suggestions?

--Dave

[Yi Y]

Hi David,
I have LabVIEW DSC installed as well, and it's not affecting the performance.  So I suspect that it's something else.
Does this only happen on one of your computers or all computers? Was this a clean installation? You are running Windows XP, I assume?
If anybody else here have other information so we can find out what's the common characteristics of installations where this problem occurs, it could be very helpful for tracing back to the cause of the problem.

Yi Y.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/support

[David Moerman]

This machine has LV 7.1, 8.2, and 8.5 installed, and they were installed in that order.  It is Windows XP SP2.  I have another laptop computer that seems to have more "normal" delays (i.e. very little), but I would normally consider the laptop much slower than the desktop for any other purpose.

Unless someone else exhibits this problem, I guess I'll just consider it an idiosyncrasy of this machine and perhaps try a repair or complete re-installation when it really gets under my skin (which is close).

--Dave

[Yi Y]

Hi Dave,
This does sound rather strange. I actually have LabVIEW 7.1, 8.2.1, 8.5 with DSC installed on 8.2.1 and 8.5.  I'm also running WinXP SP2.  So it looks like we have the same set up at least on the surface. I'll do more research and see if anybody else is experiencing this slow down.
Meanwhile, if anybody has more information about their set up, please post it here.

Thanks!

Yi Y.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/support

[Yi Y]

Hi,
I'm trying to gather more information regarding the system configuration of everybody here who's experiencing this problem.  I would appreciate it if everybody could please post your system information file, Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Information, and then go to File->Save to save the .nfo file.
Thanks!

Yi Y.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/support

[TimTower]

Hi Yi
I am currently using LV7.1.1f2 on three different machines, each with Daq 4.3 or 4.4. (The reason I am not using 8.5 is I am awaiting a graph bug fix). Each has WXP SP2 with latest updates. This slow opening of VI Properties dialog box has bedeviled me for years. Until today, I have just lived with it, getting frustrated each time. I have found that it appears randomly on different machines (I have used perhaps 15-20 with LV). Today I decided to see if anyone else has the same problem. Here are my findings:

1. Laptop (Dell M90, Intel dual core, 2 GB Ram) (See SysProps file, attached): It does not matter whether the CPU is idle or not, not what the size of the VI is. I created two empty VIs (A and B). Each time I rt clicked the icon and selected VI Properties, then timed it to see how long it took for the dialog box to appear. (I later I emptied the recycle bin - no change).

Test1
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec

Test2
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec
Wait about 10 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec
Wait about 10 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec
Wait about 10 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec
Wait about 10 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec

Test3
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi B: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi B: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi B: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi B: Delay = 5 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = <1 sec
Wait about 1 sec
Open Vi A: Delay = 5 sec

Conclusions:
1. If one waits longer than say 5 sec between trying to open Vi Props, the delay is always present.
2. If one opens the VI props on same or another VI within a second or so, the delay disappears for a few times (2-4 maybe) then reappears.

2. Desktop PCs: Both AMD Dual Core 4200 XPs.
No delay  in opening VI properties in either case. In one case, the PC was running a bunch of LV apps which were using 30% of the total CPU%. The VI Props Dialog box still opened instantly, many times in a row, or first time after a long delay.