LabWindows/CVI 2009 and the New Execution Profiler Toolkit

[Adri_K.]

Have you upgraded to LabWindows/CVI 2009? I want to hear your feedback! Download a free evaluation copy of LabWindows/CVI 2009 and the LabWindows/CVI Execution Profiler Toolkit today and start providing feedback and suggestions for future versions of LabWindows/CVI!

Already upgraded or evaluated LabWindows/CVI 2009 and the new Execution Profiler Toolkit? What do you think? Have you had the opportunity to examine the new features in LabWindows/CVI 2009?

• The Execution Profiler Toolkit, an application performance measurement and analysis tool
• Improved debugging capabilities with extended information in the variables and watch windows
• Easier user interface development with the attribute browser
• Integrated support for 64-bit application development and deployment
• The C Interface to LabVIEW FPGA, a communicationinterface for FPGA-based hardware
• Support for Windows 7, the latest Microsoft operating system

-Adri Kruger

LabWindows/CVI Product Manager

[Paul_Knight_Lockheed_Mart]

I have just upgraded to CVI 2009.  I wish that I had done it a couple of weeks ago, would have saved a couple of hours of frustation.  I was working with variable ListType which CVI 9.0 does not display in the watch window.  CVI 2009 was able to display them correctly and I was able to see the list changed when I ran the ListRemoveDuplicates and ListInsertionSort functions.

The "Attribute Browser" is nice, I was never able to remember all the attributes.  I never like how you had to change the color on a control in the Quick Edit Window.

Paul

[Adri_K.]

Thanks for the feedback Paul! I am glad to hear that upgrading to LabWindows/CVI 2009 has sped up development productivity for you. Having additional debug information is always helpful when trying to track down problems in source code and being able to modify user interface controls is much easier when you can access attributes in an integrated window. Have you had the opportunity to evaluate the Execution Profiler Toolkit? This tool helps to speed up development by providing a graphical representation of CVI application function execution that can be used to help determine inefficiencies and bottlenecks that can be optimized for improved performance.

-Adri Kruger

LabWindows/CVI Product Manager

[Paul_Knight_Lockheed_Mart]

Adri,

I noticed in the Attribute Browser that the Auto-Center vertically/horizontally (when loaded) check boxes are missing.  Am I missing them or were they left out on purpose?

Paul

[LuisG]

Hi Paul,

No, you're not missing them. They're not there. And it wasn't on purpose. Although, technically speaking, these are not attributes (you can't set them using SetPanelAttribute) they should still appear in the attribute browser. This will be changed in the next update.

Luis

[Paul_Knight_Lockheed_Mart]

Luis,

Thanks,

I tend to have all my panels centered.

Paul

[vix]

I've just installed CVI 2009, and I'm ready to give my feedback in the next weeks.

One thing I'd appreciate very much in the next CVI release would be a modification for the control DIMMED property:

now DIMMED property can only have two values

• FALSE = the control is enabled
• TRUE = the control is disabled and grayed
  

I would suggest a 3-state ENABLE property

• ENABLED = the control is enabled
• DISABLED = the control is disabled but not grayed (like in LabVIEW)
• DIMMED = the control is disabled and grayed

For example if you mouse-click (or touch if you have a touch screen UI) over a numeric indicator, you can't modify the number (of course) but you see the numbers highlighted, and this is an ugly behaviour...

In such a situation, and in many other ones, it's really simple to set control DISABLED, and that's all: the user can't interact with the UI object, but you can modify it from the code

What do you think about this suggestion?

[LuisG]

Hi vix,

Thanks for your feedback. We've heard similar suggestions before, and we plan on addressing this on our next UI redesign.

The reason that text is selectable in indicator controls is so that the end user can copy that text to the clipboard. However, this also understandably can cause some confusion and is, admitedly, less than ideal. But, until we come up with a better solution, one thing you can do to prevent this behavior is to handle the left-click mouse event in the control callback by returning 1 from the callback whenever you receive it. That should prevent the control from responding to the click (or touch) in any way.

Luis

[vix]

Hi Luis,

your "return 1" suggestion is really nice, and I think it can work well for me!

If in the future you can find a better solution it would be a grest improvement.

Are you planning the next UI redesign for the next CVI release or for a following one?

Thanks

[LuisG]

A major UI redesign is not being planned for the next version. But there are plans for one in the not too distant future.

Luis