Does hiding controls/indicators on the front panel significantly effect computer resource consumption?

I remember reading something about transparent controls and indicators leading to overhead processing... does hiding controls/indicators have similar or ANY negative effects?

There's a difference between "effecting resource consumption" and "affecting resource consumption" - I assume you mean "affect".
There's a difference between a transparent control and a hidden control - Hidden means the VISIBLE property is set to FALSE, and certain optimizations can be done - it doesn't have to draw anything. If a control is set to transparent, it will still go through the motions of converting that integer to text (or whatever), and then draw nothing (the decision is made later, so more time is taken).
A transparent control can still react to mouse clicks. A hidden one cannot.
It shouldn't affect any memory consumption, except for a video frame buffer.
It's not clear from the question whether you mean the ACT of hiding t
hem (the turning OFF of the visible property), or the fact that they may be hidden.
Steve Bird
Culverson Software - Elegant software that is a pleasure to use.
Culverson.com
Blog for (mostly LabVIEW) programmers: Tips And Tricks

Similar Messages

Sizing 50 controls/indicators on the front panel to look similar

Hello
I have 50 bollean rectangular indicators on the front panel. For some reason the sizes of few indicator are slightly different than the others. If I resize them using mouse it oversizes it. Cant think of an intuitive method to achieve this.
Any ideas!
Kind Regards
Austin
Solved!
Go to Solution.

You can also create a 1D or 2D array of indicators in which case they'll be as big and the handling might be easier ... although you cant place them as freely.
/Y
LabVIEW 8.2 - 2014
"Only dead fish swim downstream" - "My life for Kudos!" - "Dumb people repeat old mistakes - smart ones create new ones."
G# - Free award winning reference based OOP for LV

Is it possible to use a Case Structure to hide numeric indicators on the Front panel when they are not in use?

I am rather new to LabVIEW, have only been using it for about 1.5 weeks as of this post, which means I may be missing something rather obvious due to ignorance, but is there any way to have my front panel change as my case changes due to user selection of a certain case via the front panel?
The goal of the program is to make a simple layout for a user that is using the digital multimeter that the proposed code is designed for and I don't want tons of numeric controllers and such clogging up the screen space that don't work with the function the user is using to measure with.
Thanks in advanced.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Check out the property node for the controls
Visible Property
Short Name: Visible
Requires: Base Package
Class: Control Properties
Displays the front panel control.
This property is similar to the Show Control and Hide Control options on the shortcut menu of a control.
Also look at the TAB control to control which controls are available to your user.
Omar

Is it possible to sort the controls and indicators on the front panel?

Programming events would be much easier in an application with lots of
controls and indicators, if there where a means to sort and group them.
Is there any means to do so such that you see a sorted list when choosing the control that triggers an event etc..?

I am not aware of a way to sort the list of controls (that are listed in the edit events dialog) by name. They seem to be sorted in the order they were created.
I agree, sorting could be useful for large VIs.
LabVIEW Champion . Do more with less code and in less time .

How does the bacepanel control the control value of the front?

I want to use a button as the control one in the front panel and use it as indicator one,I mean that the same button can be used as the controlor and the indicator!
How can I do? Please tell me experts!Thanks

Hi,
If I understand correctly your question, you can do so:
Make a control of your button. So you can press on it. In the diagram, create a local variable for this button. So you can modify the button value programatically.
See attachment.
I hope it will help you.
Attachments:
Toggle_control_button.vi ‏21 KB

How to display the status of a SubVI on the front panel?

Hi,
I am writing a program to control an instrument through a serial communication port. The control and communication functions are integrated in a SubVI and they work fine.
In the front panel of the main VI, I want to add some indicators to display the status of those controls in real time, such as using some LEDs to show whether the program is running in some loops of the SubVI, or use some indicators to show some variables in the SubVI.
I tried using global variables, but I can't make them work in real time (or maybe I didn't do it right). The values of the global variables are actually changing on the fly, but the indicators on the front panel wouldn't reflect those changes until the program return
ed from the SubVI.
Is there a way to do this in Labview 6.0.2?
Your earlist help is very much appreciated.
Best regards,
Hua

Hua,
I have attached an example in which a front panel boolean indicator is toggled in the subvi. Also, a front panel stop button is used to stop the loop execution in the subvi. References are passed to the subvi instead of the actual control values.
Without seeing your code I'm not sure what was going on with the globals, but you had to have a data dependency somewhere which was keeping the code from running until after the execution of the subvi. The code must be totally independent of the subvi in order to run. Also, in order for the update to work it would have to be operating in a loop.
Attachments:
Main.vi ‏13 KB
subvi.vi ‏20 KB

How can I make a global change so all controls and indicators labels on the front panel change to another colour?

How can I make a global change so all controls and indicators labels on the front panel change to another colour?
I need to change the front panel so that it can be used in a dark environment.

Hi
The only way I see, is to use the "Controls[]" property and iterate through all of them. But don't forget about nested elements (i.e. clusters, tab-controls, ...).
Thomas
Using LV8.0
Don't be afraid to rate a good answer...

How do I get the Label for a Front Panel Control to appear in the Block Diagram but not on the Front Panel?

How do I get the Label for a Front Panel Control to appear in the Block Diagram but not on the Front Panel? On the Front Panel I am making a complex control that consists of a Slider and a Numerical Input box. Both Controls display the same information and either can be used for Input. When one changs, the other is made to display the same value.
But I only want the Slider to display the Label on the Front Panel, to avoid confusion. On the Block Diagram however, I want both controls to display their Labels so that I know what they are. How do I display the Label for a Control on the Block diagram, but not display its Label on the Front Panel?

No. The Label Visible property is separate for the front panel control label and the block diagram terminal label.
How did you start out with the block diagram's label not being visible? Whenever I drop a control or indicator, the label is always visible on both the FP and BD by default. Maybe there is a LabVIEW option that causes new controls/indicators not to have their labels visible by default, but I have yet to find it. I don't think an item should ever be dropped without the label visible, good LabVIEW coding practice demands that the labels for control terminals on the block diagram be visible so that you know what control or indicator a wire is going to.
That being said, I have seen a lot of VI's posted where the label for the terminal on the BD is not shown (against good programming practice.) I've gone to the BD and right clicked to show the label. Sometimes, the people have an empty label (which will turn off the visibility for both the FP and BD) and I'm forced to add some text of my own into the label so I can figure out what their code is doing. When I add some text to the label, at that time, I find both the BD and FP labels become visible.
Are you dealing with controls that have empty labels to start?
Good programming practices:
1. Always have a name for all of your controls, never use and empty label by deleting the text in the label.
2. Make the labels unique. For example, don't have two controls both called Stop. How do you know quickly know which terminal relates to which control?
3. Always show the labels on the block diagram, so you know the function of a control's terminal. If you want to hide the label on the FP, that's okay.
4. If you want a different label to appear on the FP than whatever you actually called the control, then use the caption. You can hide the label and show the caption. This is useful if you need to programmatically change what the "label" is on the front panel such if you are making an application that needs to change its user interface such as for a foreign language.

Missing controls on the front panel

Hello,
I am improving a GUI and I am having some problem with the Front Panel, I 've seen to be missing some controls:
see attachments, please.
LabVIEW Intermediate I level!
Solved!
Go to Solution.
Attachments:
MissDistancefrontpanel.jpg ‏751 KB
MissDistancefrontpanelnew.jpg ‏751 KB

Hello,
Excuse me they are actually indicators, however, they are already selected as shown, the problems is that if you take a look at the first pic, it shows all of them and in the second one not.
There are no errors on the VI that is why I think it should be something simple that I am not seeing, I am attaching a pic of the terminal that is supposed to be the one for all of them
LabVIEW Intermediate I level!
Attachments:
Spectrogram for MissDistance.JPG ‏73 KB

Why am I unable to select the boolean indicators on my front panel?

Hello all,
This has to be an easy one for you guys, but here goes...
I created a front panel with approximately 20 boolean indicators on it (LEDs). I realized that I only had 10 functional, so I made the others 'greyed out and disabled'. Well, now the ones I disabled are functional again, so I want to enable them. Problem is, when I go to the diagram and select 'show indicator' it is still grayed out. I cannot click on the indicator on the front panel to 'enable' the indicators. I cannot select them at all.
I've tried creating property nodes and enabling them that way. They are no longer grayed out when I do this, but I still cannot click on them to move them about the front panel.
All
I want to do is select them so I can rearrange the way they look on the panel, but I cannot click on them.
And, yes, I've had my tool palete on both 'Automatic Tool Selection' and 'Position/Size/Select'. It is also interesting that I can select and move the indicators which I never disabled in the first place.
Any help would be great!
Thanks in advance,
Dave Neumann
[email protected]

"Neumannium" wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> Paul,
>
> Part of the problem is that I cannot click on them at all. If I try
> to right click, the Controls palette pops up (like it would if there's
> nothing on the front panel).
>
> If I drag a box around them, they are not selected. It's as if they
> don't exist, but they do! They still function -- I can still run the
> test and the booleans react as they should, but they are not where I
> want them to be (the user cannot see them all without scrolling).
What happens if you go to the diagram and double click on the control? It
should take you to the front panel and highlight/select the control.

How do you control LED lights on the front panel to identify the number of steps a stepper motor has taken?

I am controlling a stepper motor that is coupled with a valve with four outlets (using an Arduino). I've got a general understanding of how to control the motor, but I want LED lights on the front panel to light up that indicate which outlet the valve is currently at after the steps are taken. The method I'm thinking about involves a lot of repetitive code. I'm not that experienced with LabVIEW, I'm assuming I need some sort of loop structure but I don't know how to set it up in order to control the sequence of the LEDs. I've attached my current block diagram for a visual aid if needed.
Attachments:
Capture.JPG ‏33 KB

I was thinking about using the Stepper To Go and Stepper Write functions four separate times, using the same constants for the steps each time since the distance between each outlet is equivalent. The only difference would be what's connected to the "steps remaining" node, which would be the function that activates one of the four LEDs (if that makes sense). I was thinking that doing it this way would be a little counterintuitive since the only thing that needs to be changed is the LED indicator.

How to find VI's connected terminals when controls are hidden on the front panel?

When working with a sub-VI which has terminals connected to hidden controls is there a straight-forward way to find the terminals on the block diagram?
I click on the terminal and an outline appears on the front panel but when I try to click on that outline I can not unhide the control.
The only way I have discovered to find the terminal of the connected control is just check each terminal on the block diagram which looks like it might be connected.
I'm using LV7.1 but also use 8.5.
Thanks,
Davey

Ben wrote:
smercurio_fc wrote:
If I understood the premise of the question it sounds like you have controls/indicators wired to the VI connector pane, but for some reason these controls/indicators are hidden. If this is a VI you wrote slap yourself. If this is a VI someone else wrote, go slap them.
One way that you can find the terminals on the block diagram by performing a search by text. The context help will show you the names of the controls/indicators. The only problem with this approach is that if the control/indicator has the caption visible rather than the label, then the context help will show the caption, not the label.
Another method is to use scripting. Not sure if it's worth the effort for just one VI, though.
Before we get all slap-happy I have to ask...
If I have a sub-VI which is set for Print on completion and the controls in/out for the icon connector are NOT supposed to show up on the final report, isn't setting those objects as hidden a viable option?
Ben
Well, of course, Ben. My comment was not meant to be taken seriously... hence the smiley happy icon. To respond to your question in a more serious matter, though, there's always exceptions to rules. That's why they're rules - they're meant to be broken. Otherwise they wouldn't be rules. It's a strange state of the universe, isn't it? Although, one could probably just place the control behind another object. That sort of hides it, doesn't it?

Is creating multiple indicators on a front panel the best way to go?

I have a control panel with over 40 buttons that I would like to create a labview test
for that will display which button is pressed.
Would this be easiest to create a front panel with individual indicators for each or
is there a simpler/ more efficient way to do this so that the front panel gives a visual
indication of the actual button pressed and its location?
Because the control panel is a serial RS232 line but was designed for use with a certain
assembly, I wish to simplify this so I do not need to include as much hardware and have
decided to use and arduino to communicate to the control panel and hen use labview to
communicate to the arduino via the USB port on the PC.
Also, any thoughts on how to best parse the data from the arduino to enable the indicator on the front panel
is appreciated.
thanks

My first thought was just having a string indicator instead of the large number of indicators. I would probably also have a large string indicator to show a log of the states that you recieved.
There are only two ways to tell somebody thanks: Kudos and Marked Solutions
Unofficial Forum Rules and Guidelines

How to get the position of the stem in control valve using slider control in the front panel

I have created a calibration program for a control valve. Signal (4-20mA) is generated from labview using slider contorl which is given to the valve via DAQ(module 9265) and again the feedback signal from the valve is acquired using DAQ(module 9203).. . There is an input ISO/ISC(Increasing signal to open/ Increasing signal to close) in the front panel.
ISO would set the output to increase from (4-20)mA further opening the valve
ISC would set the output to increase from (4-20)mA further closing the valve
I have doubt, how can i get the position of a stem

Ravens Fan wrote:
If the position of the stem is being sent to the PC through a 4-20 mA signal into your DAQ 9203 module, then you just need to do an analog input read in order to get the signal.
When reading this post, that is what came to mind... So let's see if both RavensFan & I are trying to understand the same thing... Are you saying that the position of the stem is linear (or scaled) to the amount of current sent to it? Meaning a 4mA signal would move it a certain distance, and 10mA would move another given / known distance? Or are you saying that it is calibrated so that a 20mA signal for a certain duration (ms) would move it a given distance? So the scale would be time and not current unless a lookup table is used to adjust the time duration based on the current being drawn...
It's just that I am not familiar with solenoid / drive devices that related to current.. To voltage, yes. To time, yes.. To current, I'm simply saying that I am not familiar with that. Can you tell us more about this stem (mfg / model designation)?

Analog output to the DAQ that changes when controls on the front panel change

I'm using the PCI-6024E, and trying to output an analog waveform that can change when one of the two controls on the front panel change. It outputs fine setting it to continuous output and using a simple while loop around the "Is Task Done" VI, but if I put the "Write" VI in the while loop, it doesn't output steadily. I then tried to use an event structure, so that I'd only have to write every time something on the front panel changes, but for some reason it was writing finite samples, even though I set the Timing VI to continuous. I looked around the NI site, and found an article about this with an example. I tried to change it around to use my waveform, but whenever I run it, I get a memory underflow error. Has anyone needed to do this before? Thanks in advance.
-- Josh Matloff

Hi Josh-
It looks like you forgot to post the code still, but I'll take a stab at the problem anyway. It sounds like you're looking for a way to update a continuous waveform at runtime.
You will need to stop the task in order to replace the write buffer information, but this will only be a small gap in operation. I have attached a modified LabVIEW shipping example that shows how to use value change events for any of the pertinent waveform parameters to either programmatically stop the task, replace the buffer, set timing and restart or to just pass the task information straight through. This will lead to continuous operation with no breaks at the output.
Please let us know if this clears up your questions.
Thanks-
Tom W
National Instruments
Attachments:
Cont Gen Voltage Wfm-Int Clk with Runtime Update.vi ‏134 KB

Does hiding controls/indicators on the front panel significantly effect computer resource consumption?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for