What does a "?" mark mean in a shared variable

[dbtestcon]

I have a numerical indicator where I right click on it to create a local variable.  The local is created, but instead of having the name of the indicator shown, it displays a "?".  What does this mean?

[altenbach]

It means that your control or indicator does not have a label. Give it an intuitive name and all will be better. 🙂

If you think it already has a label, check to see if it is actually the caption and not a label

If you don't want the label visible on the front panel, hide it (right-click...visible items...), don't just clear the label string. 😉

Message Edited by altenbach on 02-19-2008 04:22 PM

[dbtestcon]

Eureka!!!!  Oh wait. Huh.....

I turn on the label and it says "UpperRise 1", I turn on the caption and it says "UpperRise 1"

I now have an indicator on my front panel that is displaying both the caption and label and they are the same. 

If I create a reference, it displays the correct indicator name. If I create a property or invoke node, the label (yes is it visible) is blank.

If I ask the node to link to ---->   It shows it as currently connected to ".2"   Cool.

Thanks for the idea (I thought this was a duh moment), but this appears to be much deeper than that.

[JohnBoy]

I find using the Control or Indicator properties is a good way to sort out the names and captions, and which (if any) are displayed. All in one place. Saves much right-clicking!

[altenbach]

Can you attach a small sample VI containing your objects mentioned?

[dbtestcon]

Attached.

BTW, these are "colored" locals, not the black & white locals when you delete an indicator and leave the unattached variable.

[Darren]

Very strange...those indicators somehow became corrupted.  I recommend submitting these to ni.com/support so the AEs can send a CAR to R&D for investigation.  For now, you can fix the problem by creating new U32 indicators and deleting those old ones.

-D

[nickf]

You can also rename the control and the local variables will update accordingly.  --How did you get the local variables into this state?

[dbtestcon]

Yes, very bizzare.... 

I went through last night and recreated about 8 controls that had gotten corrupted like this.  It's all happy now.

How did I do it?  Good question. Same way I managed to corrupt my .proj file or the various times I have had to delete and recreate build specifications. I am an engineer, it's my job to break things!!!! I've got about 3 CARs right now that R&D is digging into.