[BUG] XControl allows you to shrink front panel window smaller than LV normally allows

If you set up an XControl, the facade opens up a normal window.
Which looks like this shrunk to smallest size. If you then load up a VI in to memory that calls the XControl, you can shrink it further:
Finally, once you close the VI which calls the control in memory, it unlocks the facade, resulting in:

That's why we need this idea.
LabVIEW Champion . Do more with less code and in less time .

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Enabling / Disabling graphs and opening a new Front Panel Window

Hi,
I have a simple application of showing 12 analog signals on 12 different graphs placed vertically in aligned position. I have to develop a user interface so that if user wants to display signal no. 1, 4 and 6 out of total 12 signals, he should make selection using check boxes and click a re-draw button. It should result in opening a separate window with these three signals displayed as separate graphs aligned vertically and adjusted to fit window size. Similarly later user can change his selection of displaying signals (from same acquired data) say 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 & 12 and click Redraw button. It should result in opening a new Window showing all these signals as separate graphs which are aligned vertically and resized to fit the window. Now I have two major issues in this context.
1) I have been searching LabView help to locate a way to open a new window for this purpose but I failed to locate any way for it. As per my limited knowledge, it seems that we cannot have multiple "Front Panel" windows in Labview.
2) For the graph I could not locate a control to enable/disable a graph so that it appears or vanishes. Is there any way to achieve it?
I shall appreciate your valuable advice. I shifted from "Lab View Signal Express" to "Lab View" in order to achieve this user interface design but I am still not successful in finding a good solution for this application.
Regards
Mnuet

Hi Mnuet,
You can do what was said above. Here is a KB on dynamically loading VIs. It looks something like this.
Dynamically loaded VIs are loaded at the point in code while running, as opposed to being loaded when the parent VI is loaded into memory like normal subVIs. You can make a reference to them and then control the front panel appearance, their run status, etc with property nodes and invoke nodes.
Jeff | LabVIEW Software Engineer

Front panel window:open ? property

can any one clearly explain about the use of front panel window property . i am not able to get with the examples given in ni . if possible explain with help of example please

It refers to the overall window, which includes the title bar, scroll bars, grow corner, etc. Have you looked at the available properties:
The LabVIEW Help provides information on each of these. If you have the Context Help Window open you will see a brief explanation of the property as you move the mouse over each one. You can then click on the Detailed Help link to bring up the Help.
So, for example, you can change the title in the title bar:
Attachments:
FrontPanelWindow.png ‏24 KB
title.png ‏7 KB

Readjusting front panel window.

Double clicking on terminals in the block diagram switches to their counterparts on the front panel. Frequently this leads to an unwanted shift of the front panel, in particular if objects (such as error clusters, ...) are placed outside the visible region of the front panel. Readjustment usually requires several scrollbar actions. I wonder if there exists a simple method to readjust the front panel coordinate system with respect to the top left corner of the front panel using a simple click action.
I am presently using a workaround which does the job if the misplacement is top-left (see attachment).
Reimar Spohr
Attachments:
Readjusting front panel window.png ‏11 KB

I am suggesting a modified version according to -lvABC to be dropped into a calling VI.
Reimar Spohr
Attachments:
Move Calling VI Front Panel to Origin.vi ‏25 KB
Move Calling VI Front Panel to Origin.png ‏43 KB

Moving controls about on a VI's front panel. How do you get a reference to a 'grouped' set of controls?

Basic problem (annoying, if not disasterous - but common - at least for me):
When you are trying to sktick two different VIs together and you copy the block diagram of one to the other, it sticks all the controls in the middle of nowhere. THen you have to spend about 10 mins dragging the controls screen by screen from one end of the diagram to the other - sometimes over 15 screens. Surely there has to be a better way?
** Incidentally you might think that labview would have these sort of settings in the 'properties' of the control on the right click menu - but no joy.
I guess the obvious thing is that you can write a VI which will get a reference for a particular control and then say set it's position (x,y) to zero. Only thing is that generally there will be a selection of controls, and often they will be organised nicely - after getting them to zero you don't want to have to reorganise them again. I tried grouping the controls, but then the problem is - how do you get a reference to a group of controls. If you move one of them it doesn't keep the spatial arrangement. At this point i have got lost - and easily spent more time than it is worth fixing this problem.
Any thoughts?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

If I understand you correctly, when you copy the block diagram from the second VI to the first, the controls of the second VI end up in far left field on the front panel of the first, correct? I think these added controls will maintain their relative locations among themselves so you should be able to find them all as a group out in left field. Then it's simply a matter of how to get them to enmasse join the rest of the controls on the front panel. There are a couple of easy ways to do this. There is a button on the toolbar at the top of the front panel window that allows you to reorder/group/ungroup front panel objects. You can select all controls/indicators out in left field and "group" them together. (As an alternative, you can also drop them all onto a tab control which will act as container for them). Then you select this group and with it selected scroll back over to the existing front panel and find and ALSO select (hold down shift key) a control/indicator from the existing group too. Then with BOTH the existing control selected and the new group (or tab control with the new group) selected you use the ALIGN buttons to quickly bring a corner of the new group into alignment with the old control. At that point you can ungroup the new stuff and move it where it needs to be.

How to set front panel size to be same as one led?

Hello All,
LV2010
In documentation reads that minimum front panel size is one pixel. I need to create front panel which have same size as one led (see attachment). I'm not able to make front enough small just by dragging window borders. I also tried to change front panel size from File->Vi properties ->Window size but that didn't helped. How I can set front panel to smaller size?
Attachments:
Small_front_panel.vi ‏6 KB

I think I got it
In the window apperance option I removed everything except "Allow user to resize window" And the Run options. Then I ran the VI (continuosly since there is no loop) and resized it. After I stopped it, I then removed "Allow user to resize window" from the window apperance options.
P.S! If you try to resize my Vi now, it will pop back out for some reason.
Regards,
Even
Certified LabVIEW Associate Developer
Automated Test Developer
Topro AS
Norway
Attachments:
Small_front_panel (1).vi ‏6 KB

VI locks up when front panel is displayed

Hi
Firstly, I apologise if I’ve sent this to the wrong forum – I’m not sure if this is a TestStand or Labview related issue or possibly both.
I have a test procedure developed using Labview 7.1 and TestStand 3.1. It’s run from TestStand’s Operator Interface VI (full version), and executes about a dozen TestStand sequences in turn which call lower level VIs that perform the actual tests.
The code was written on a Dell GX240 Pentium 4 PC, with Windows 2000 + SP4 installed and runs without a hitch. However, I also have a second PC, same model & spec, but running Windows XP + SP3 instead of Win2K. I’ve also installed the same versions of Labview & TestStand on it, and copied across all my TestStand sequences & VIs into the same working directory. However, when I run the program on this machine, again using the same Operator Interface, it executes until about half way through and then hangs up.
In several tests, I call up a graphical user interface VI which displays a picture and prompts the operator to click on either a ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’ button – the actual text being passed as a parameter. When the lock up occurs, the front panel is displayed, but there’s no picture and the buttons are blank. Up to that point, previous calls to the VI have executed ok.
If I modify the step that causes the problem, to call another VI - for example, a sub VI that doesn’t display a front panel - the new VI executes and the program continues to run. If I then change this VI’s configuration so that it’s front panel is displayed at run time, the problem re-occurs - the front panel outline appears but everything then freezes.
Attempting to close the front panel window, results in either error code –18001 and the message ‘an error occurred accessing the Labview ActiveX automation server’ being displayed or the Windows prompt to close Labview as it’s not responding. Usually, clicking ‘End Program’ causes the PC to crash out & re-boot.
Skipping TestStand sequences, whether they execute the GUI VI or not, just moves the point where the lock up occurs further down the list of tests, to the next step where the GUI VI is called. It’s almost as if something isn’t being closed properly when the program runs, and eventually reaches some limit, but why this doesn’t appear to effect the Windows 2000 PC, I’m at a loss.
Very much appreciate anyone’s thoughts.
Thanks
Bruce

Hi Bruce,
I found a KnowledgeBase article relating to the error you are seeing.
It describes error 18001 "Error occurred accessing LV activeX automation server".
Let me know if this helps you out.
This problem may also be due to how you have configured the Distributed COM (DCOM) settings on your machine. You will need to ensure that your DCOM settings allows the LabVIEW ActiveX Server to be launched and accessed through ActiveX automation. Even Administrator accounts can be denied launch and access permissions. To modify these permissions follow the steps below for Windows XP:
Login to Windows using a UserID that has administrator privileges.
Select Start»Run and enter dcomcnfg.exe. This displays the Component Services dialog window.
Navigate to Component Services»Computers»My Computer and select DCOM Config. Ignore the warnings that may appear.
Right-click on LabVIEW Application, TestStandLVRTS or the name of your LabVIEW ActiveX Server and select Properties to open the LabVIEW Application Properties dialog window. Select the Security tab.
You must give permission to the appropriate users so that they can access the LabVIEW server. You should give everyone access permissions and appropriate users launch permission. Only users who have launch permission will be able to access the server. Add permissions by selecting Customize and Edit for each of the three permission settings and manually adding permissions for each user.
I doubled checked that LabVIEW 7.1 and 3.1 are compatible with windows XP and they are. Just to make sure, it is 32bit or 64bit you are using?
Let me know how you get on.
Kind Regards
Lewis Gear CLD
Check out my LabVIEW UAV

Executable front panel can't be restored, but continues to run

I have an executable that gets in a state where I can't get the front panel window to display. It was running for a couple of weeks without any problem. When the problem occurs and I click on the Windows taskbar the focus seems to shift to that executable, but no front panel window comes up. Also, if I try right clicking on the taskbar I don't get the context menu. I've tried going into the task manager and switching to this application, but that doesn't work either. The task was built with Labview 9.01 and is running under Windows XP.
Anyone seen a problem like this?
Cindy

Without seeing your code it is difficult to give you any specific advice. I have given you th emost common things that happen in an application that result in the type of behavior you are describing. Any other suggestions would require seeing the code.
In light of that, is your state machine building arrays dynamically? Are you certain that your state machine itself is correct? Can it be getting into some mode where you no longer process the state that contains the event structure? If you don't call that state you will not process any of the events. I suspect that you are getting into some state that is causing you to stay stuck in one or a very few states without getting out and allowing you to call the state that has your event structure. Check all of your state transitions to make sure they are handling whatever decisions to determine the next state are correct.
Mark Yedinak
"Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?"
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

HIde Front panel - enjoy Ctrl-Key shortcut

It is not a question, it is a link to a good old idea:
http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Allow-ONLY-the-Block-Diagram-to-be-opened-Without-Fron...
and Ctrl-Key shortcut attached.
Shortcut hides (including taskbar) and restores front panel window.
It always activates block diagram after all:
If you use shortcut with the hidden FP, it will activate block diagram (unlike simple Ctrl+E activates front panel)
Attention! It will be hard to find VI, if you have hidden it's front panel and closed block diagram - that is why we still need this to be integrated into LabVIEW
PS Use: Place into C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2011\resource\dialog\QuickDrop\plugins and set shortcut in VI Shortcut window (Ctrl+Space -> Shortcuts -> Ctrl-Key Shortcuts)
Attachments:
Hide front panel.vi ‏19 KB

It is a custom quick drop shortcut: Labview description is here:
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361L-01/lvhowto/qd_keyboard_shortcuts/
Place the vi to C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2011\resource\dialog\QuickDrop\plugins
Next time labview launches, it will be available, but you need to set a quick button for it:
Press Ctrl+Space, it will open Quick drop window.
Press Shortcuts..., switch to Ctrl key shortcuts tab (see picture)
Set the button (E) for the selected plugin vi.
Next time you press ctrl+space, followed by Ctrl+E, LabVIEW executes plugin vi.
Correction for my description: if the front panel is hidden, closing block diagram closes the vi (with confirm dialog, as usual). This is not a problem
Attachments:
Untitled.png ‏28 KB

Open and close a vi front panel dynamically

I created a main vi panel that display all the signal names. I like the main vi to open a new plot screen when I double click on the signal name. I was able to do that using invoke node. But I when I close the plot screen by clicking on the Window "Close" button, the main vi was not able to open a new one again. So I disabled the Window "Close" button and only use the "Stop" button coded in while loop in the blockdigram of the plot screen. It worked, but the plot screen is still open and changed to editing mode. Is there an easy way to close the plot screen by only one click. Another question is that how does the main vi can open multiple plot screens. Thanks for your advice.

I think I know what happens:
If you close the front panel of a sub-vi, the code is still running, so the VI doesn't terminate and somehow you can't address it (it don't know how you communicate with your sub-vi).
So in your sub-vi you should monitor the panel-close event, and finish the code of the VI and finish the VI
Ton
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My LabVIEW Ideas
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Open and close front panel

Hi,
I wish to have a VI that works as a main menu from which you start new
VI's depending on your choice. When the new VI start I want the main
menu to hide it's front panel temporarily until it the second VI
returns.
Anyone has a solution to this?
/Nimrod
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

[email protected] wrote:
When the new VI start I want the main menu to hide it's front panel temporarily
until it the second VI returns.
If you are using LabVIEW 5.1, you can use the VI server attributes to hide
the VI by moving it off of the desktop. I will send you a sample in private
mail.
The attribute (property) you need to use is Front Panel Window -> Window
Bounds.
Set it to something that is larger than your window size, like 2000, 2000,
2200, 2200.
I hope that this helps,
Bob Young
Bob Young - Test Engineer - Lapsed Certified LabVIEW Developer
DISTek Integration, Inc. - NI Alliance Member
mailto:[email protected]

I try to open two sub vi front panel in third - main vi front panel.

I have two sub vi, and I`d like to see this two vi front panel in main vi front panel window. Does anybody can answer me , If it`s possible?

Click here for a recent related discussion.
Or have you thought about using a tab control? You can organize controls in pages and have those controls call sub-VIs with or without displaying the front panel of the sub-VI. See the Tab Control Properties.vi example that ships with LabVIEW.
From any LabVIEW window, select Help from the window menubar, then Find Examples >> Search, then enter "tab control" (without the quotes) in the box labeled Type a keyword to find:

Front Panel objects do not stay in place after saving, closing, and reopening the VI.

I have been working with a couple of versions of a main VI. The original VI was given to me so that I could add additional functionalities to it. I had been designing the front panel of the latest version of the VI on a Dell laptop running Windows 7 and LabView 2011 SP1 using a monitor with a resolution of 1920x1080. My booleans, numerics, and plots on the front panel had always stayed in place after saving, closing, and reopening the VI. Once in the field, I connected my laptop to a cRIO9073 and used my laptop screen with a resolution of 1366x768 to operate the VI. I made some changes to the VI, saved it, and reopened it. This time I noticed that the front panel objects had become overlapped, resized, and generally rearranged. I tried fixing the objects but I noticed that they reverted back to the incorrect positions after saving and reopening the VI. I was successful in keeping the objects in position a couple of times, but when I would open the VI at a later time, the objects were again rearranged. This is happening on both my monitor and laptop screen. The original version of the VI, however, does not behave this way and I have opened it on both my monitor and laptop screen. In this version, the front panel objects always stay in place. Both VI's have the same window size properties. Could I have corrupted the latest version of my VI somehow? Below are screenshots of the front panels of both VI's.
Attachments:
Blender Controller Original.PNG ‏140 KB
Blender Controller.PNG ‏203 KB

Hi Miguel,
It is possible to programmatically set or change the position of front panel objects. (for example: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/4D0DA06B43195B3F862572F3000AF2D3?OpenDocument) However, if you haven’t intentionally done that, it seems unlikely that it is the problem.
Have you tried copying the entire block diagram in to a new VI to see if the problem persists? While it is unlikely, you are right that it is possible for VIs to become corrupted. I’ve never heard of a situation like this except in the situation where the settings Tom had you check have been changed. Here is some information about those settings:
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/7567EF257B9CFDF986256F630073228F?OpenDocument
Since there was no rearrangement when you copied the front panel to a new VI, you might try copying the block diagram a little bit at a time to see if there is some particular part of it that creates the problem somehow.
K. Johnson

VI Analyzer Front Panel Size and Postion Test fails

Hi
We make a lot of use of the VI Analyser and I have been playing with the configuration settings to try and make it only fail the tests that matter to us and I have one test I do not understand correctly.
From the LabVIEW help
Panel Size and Position—Checks that a front panel
completely resides within the bounds of the screen. The test also checks whether
the front panel is larger than the maximum specified width and height. If you
are using a multi-monitor system, the test fails if the panel does not reside
entirely within the bounds of the primary monitor. This test works only on
standard, control, and global VIs.
I would like to apply this test, a simple check developers are not creating huge VI, it sounds simple enough, but I cannot seem to get this test to pass.
I am working with two monitors and this test fails when my VI is on either monitor with the message "This VI's front panel does not reside entirely within the specified bounds (1280 x 1024)" my current screen resolutionis 1280 x 1024, so I assume as long as my VI front panel fits within one screen it should be a pass.
I can clearly see my that VI front panel (and block diagram for that matter) fits within the screen of either monitor. If I look at the VI properties of my VI the Window Size is 474 x 513, could anybody please suggest when why this might be failing.
cheers
Dannyt
Danny Thomson CLAD
Sub10 Systems Ltd
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi Norbert,
Thanks for the prompt reply, my asking the question and your reply has made me play with this a little deeper and I have managed to solve my problem.
In case anyone else has a similar problem here are the details.
When you have two monitors and look at the Windows properites you see one monitor is identified as 1 and the other as 2, thses identities are based on the graphics card and the which monitor is plugged into which ouptput connector. You can then chose which monitor you wish to act as your primary monitor. You would suspect it would not matter once you have selected your primary monitor BUT IT DOES.
My inital set-up
Left Hand Monitor    - idenity 2 selected to be primary monitor
Right Hand Monitor - identiy 1
With this set-up everything looks and acts as I expect it to task bar, icons etc on my primarry monitor. However if you run the VI Analyser it will fail Panel Size and Position on BOTH the left and right hand monitors.
I crawlled under my desk and swapped the monitors cables round so now the set-up is
Left Hand Monitor    - idenity 1 selected to be primary monitor
Right Hand Monitor - identiy 2
Now the VI Analysers Panel Size & Position Tests will pass on the left hand monitor but fail on the right hand monitor, just as would expect.
It appears that LabVIEW is looking not only at the windows "Primary Monitor" setting but also the identies, this does not seem the behaviour I would expect nor the correct behaviour.
cheers
Dannyt
Danny Thomson CLAD
Sub10 Systems Ltd

Front panel is not shown completely.

Hi.
I have worked on a project more than three months and last week I was faced with a strange problem. When I switch from 'block diagram' to 'front panel' window it is not shown completely. I had this problem in LabVIEW 8.0 then I removed it completely and installed LabVIEW 8.5 but after two or three days it happened again. I do not think it is related to my laptop because I tested it on three different computers. I deleted all objects in 'block diagram' and 'front panel' windows but the file still has this problem. I attached my file and some images. When I compile and make an executable file it still has the problem. The 'image3.jpg' shows that file. When switch from another window like word to this window it is not shown completely. I do not know what to do.
Thanks a lot.
Attachments:
Main.vi ‏5 KB
image2.JPG ‏147 KB
image3.JPG ‏127 KB

I tested your VI in 8.6.1 and observe similar redraw problems. I suspect something is corrupt.
Have you tried starting with a new VI and copying you old code over?
LabVIEW Champion . Do more with less code and in less time .

[BUG] XControl allows you to shrink front panel window smaller than LV normally allows

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