Darren's Weekly Nugget 05/04/2009

Question

One of the nifty features of LabVIEW 8.6 was the ability to edit the properties of multiple objects at the same time.  Most of the literature on this feature focuses on editing front panel objects, but did you know you can edit the properties of block diagram objects as well? 
For most diagram objects, the property list is pretty limited (or nonexistent). For the functions above, the only properties you can change are the adapt to source option on the Output Configuration of the functions, and whether or not the functions' labels are visible.  There are other objects (particularly constants) with more useful configuration options.  For example, you can change the items in multiple enum and ring constants at the same time.  For string constants, you can change several formatting options.
How has the ability to edit properties of multiple objects (either FP or BD) been particularly useful to you LabVIEW 8.6 users out there?  And what properties would you like to see be editable on multiple objects that aren't there yet?
Message Edited by Darren on 05-04-2009 04:06 PM
Darren Nattinger, CLA
LabVIEW Artisan and Nugget Penman
Attachments:
diagram_select.png ‏2 KB

Answer 1

Thoric wrote:
I created a mock-up of my application's panel (one of them, anyway) that has 48 identical controls within a large tab of an otherwise empty vi. It uses the same type-def for the controls. I tried using multi-property, and it worked with lightening speed! So, on the second tab pane, I created another 48 controls, from a second type-def. I tried multi-property for this new set of 48, and it worked, but slower. I re-selected the first 48 controls, and although it worked again, it was slower still.
So I created a third tab pane (my application has six panes by the way), and another 48 controls. Now it's starting to grind to a halt. Multi-select takes a long time to populate the Properties window, and a good long time to affect any changes too. A disproportionately long time. In fact, as I look at it now, LabVIEW has frozen
I do get trouble with my LabVIEW installation, with things like Quick Drop crashing occasionally, so maybe this slow behaviour won't be seen by others?
(Actually, while I've been writing this and playing with the multi-property tool, LabVIEW has frozen on me three times. I wonder if something more serious is amiss...)
Thoric,
I tried multi-select properties on 48 controls on the UI you gave, and I didn't see any of the slowness you've described (running a 2.4GHz(x4) quad core with 4 GB RAM here).  The first launch of the properties page took a few seconds, but each launch after that was very quick.  And applying the changes only took a few seconds.  I also tried the same operation in the LabVIEW 2009 beta and saw pretty much the same speed.
Also, I've never seen Quick Drop crash.  Do you have problems with other applications on your computer besides LabVIEW?
Darren Nattinger, CLA
LabVIEW Artisan and Nugget Penman