Front panel resize delay

Hello,
I am developing GUI that needs to look nice and user will have option to resize it. Since scale as the window property works bad I wanted to use panel resize event.
But there is delay - controll is resized some time after I resize front panel and that looks bad. When I look on project window or error list it resizes instantly.
Why I can't achieve that result in Labview??
I could always read panel size lets say every 10ms and calculate ontrolls size based on that, but is there better option using this panel resize event??
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Right click on the pane (right click in the bottom right hand corner) and select the 'Scale objects while resizing' option.
That should fix it for you
Certified LabVIEW Architect, Certified TestStand Developer
NI Days (and A&DF): 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014
NI Week: 2012, 2014
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Similar Messages

Programmatically resizing Front Panel does not repaint

I am trying to extend the width of a front panel at run time when a user hits a button. The problem is
that the contents of the newly exposed front panel section are not redrawn. I have to either drag
another window over that section or minimize-maximize it to get it to repaint.
My issue is how can I get the front panel to refresh/repaint, or if that is not possible what other
ways are there to do resizing. I have tried changing the "Window Bounds" and "Panel Bounds" properties of
the VI (not at the same time) as well as using LVWUtil32 (Windows API Function Utilities (32-bit) for
LabVIEW). Each of these methods results in the same problem.
Thanks for the help!
Naveen

HI Naveen,
It seems to me that you are having Problem with your Graphics Hardware, rather than labview. Generally the window should be repainted by system.
If you go to Display Properties -> Settings -> Advanced -> Troubleshooting or Graphic Acceleration - You may see the slider to full Acceleration. Under this setting the OS basically relegates most graphic duties to Graphic Hardware.
What you may want to do is to Move the slider a couple of notches back. And then try your VI's. Infact try all the settings on your Slider. See if it works at No Acceleration.
The Problem for me is I do not Have this Problem and cannot even simulate it to try a solution.
Another Solution is this -
There is a vi Property Class called "Front Panel" Which can be access
ed from Vi Server. Under this Class you will see a Property "Defer Front Panel Update" Generally this Property is used to Prevent a redraw. But if this Property is set to False, Labview immediately redraws the Panel.
What you may want to do is after resizing to let you program go through this Property Node set to False and See if this Helps.
By The way, the way you have to wire this Property is to Open a Vi Ref, Wire it to Property Node, Select Property as "Front Panel". Right Click on "Front Panel" and Click on Create-> Property -> Defer Front Panel Update. Wire the Referneces of the these Objects, with the output of "Front Panel" going to "Defer FP Update".
I hope your ver of Labview has these Properties. I am Using 6.1
I hope you can take it from there!!
Please advise How you solved the Problem. Good Luck!!
Mache
Another Solution which you can try is this
Good Luck!
Mache

How to resize the front panel to fit different resolutions

I m using LabVIEW 8.2 on Windows XP SP2
I've tried both “maintain proportions of window for different monitor resolutions” and “scale all objects on front panel as the window resizes” selected but just messed up everything when i switched to another different resolution. It's annoying since I'm using 22 inch monitor to do the coding but the user supposed to run it on laptop or wince.
Any solutions to it?
Thx in advance.

Thank you all. Following is the reply from NI support. I think the best way is to edit vi in low resolution.
One of the easiest ways to tackle varying screen resolutions is to design
the front panel to the lowest resolution that you expect it to run on. It
should then look acceptable on any screen larger than that.
However, you can get a bit more tricky by programmatically determining the
computer's screen resolution and then dynamically changing the size of your
front panel objects. Use an Application Property Node and select
Display>>All Monitors to return the current screen size. Then, according to
the screen size, you can size the control or indicator programmatically
using the Size property node for your front panel objects.
Ultimately, these issues have often been a result of font size issues.
Specifically, this can be a problem when two machines have different
desktop theme/font settings. If your objects are coming out in different
sizes on different computers, you can setup up LabVIEW to use the same font
on different systems by modifying the .INI file.
The easiest way is to do this: use Tools->Options->Fonts from the LabVIEW
GUI. You can then set the system fonts to anything you want. After you
have done this on one machine, open your INI file (it is in the same
directory as the LabVIEW executable) with any text editor and copy the
corresponding entries to another file. Add these entries to the INI files
on any machines you want to lock to font. You will probably run into
issues if you are supporting different platforms (Windows and Mac or Mac
and Linux, for example), since the fonts you want may not be available on
both platforms. There are Windows fonts available for both Mac and Linux
platforms, so this can be somewhat ameliorated.
This is all I can think of, but that's not to say these are the only
solutions. You might check the Discussion Forums, as many of our LabVIEW
Champions have tackled similar issues and offer their expertise as well.
Here's just a few threads that I'd like to refer you to:
How to make the size of VI and controls unchanged irrespective of the
resolution?
http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=273613&requireLogin=False
How to program the front panel size to fit different monitor resolution?
http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=87160&requireLogin=False
I hope this discussion helps you along the way in your application
development. Please let me know if you have any further questions/comments
and I would be happy to discuss them with you.
Otherwise, it was a pleasure assisting you and thank you for choosing
National Instruments.

Resizing multiple front panel objects

Is there any way I can select a handful of front panel objects (in this case decorative lines) and size them together to make sure they're all the same length?

LabView 7 has a re-size button on the toolbar. Select all the objects you want to resize (either by drawing a rectangle around all the objects, or by shift-clicking on them one at a time), then click on the resize button and select one of the options.
In LabView 6, you'll need to initially get the objects to the same size manually or by copying them. But then, in LabView 6 or 7, if you group a collection of objects, they resize together. Get them to the same size initially, then group them. They'll resize together after that. The LabView User Manual, in a section titled Grouping and Locking Objects states "Grouped objects maintain their relative arrangement and size when you use the Positioning tool to move and resize them."
To group a collection of objects,
select all the objects, then click on the Reorder button on the toolbar and select Group.

VI Front Panel in SubPanel reacts slowly

In LabView 2010F2, I have a VI that has several buttons and other controls on the Front Panel. When I run that VI standalone, it runs very quickly, uses less than 20% CPU, and is very responsive. ALl of the controls react very quickly. But when I put that same VI FP in a subpanel in a small VI, all of the controls in the VI in the subpanel are now running very slowly. There buttons are slow to react. There is almost a 1/2 second delay on the buttons. The CPU is stall down around 25% usage. The hosting VI does not do much and should not be responsible for this delay.
If the CPU is not very busy, what is the cause for the delay in the reaction of a Front Panel of a VI that is placed in a subpanel?
What can be done to significantly improve the response of a FP that is placed in a subpanel?

dbaechtel wrote:
Ben wrote:
How is you memory doing?
Do you have "show Kernal time' selected?
Ben
CPU Usage and Kernel Time do not pudge much during Save All or Clean Up Diagram of large diagram. CPU usage stays about 25%, Kernel time stays about 50-75% of Total CPU Usage.
I don't see any reason why LV would show "not responding" under these conditions unless there are some long LV processes that are being executed that include significant I/O delays that do not relinquish the CPU to do other things while executing these long LV processes. If LV was not blocked by I/O (disk) delays then I should see near 100% CPU usage. If LV was being delayed by memory swapping, the I should see less than 50% memory free,
I'll leave the discusion of Internals and Data Structure for another thread.
Spoiler (Highlight to read)
Both of my copies of that book are much more worn.
Both of my copies of that book are much more worn.
It is going to take some work to narrow down the possiblitlites since you have presented this situation as an interaction problem.
Generally speaking there is one hot button that comes to mind and that is the UI (User Inteface) thread where all GUI updates are handled as well as those things that do not play well if left to run in their own threads (property nodes for example).
SO I would like to suggest you start by trimming it down to something that work good and then start adding stuff back until you can detect the performance hit. At tath point step back and look for contention issues.
If I remebe correctly you can't post code images so asking you to post images of teh code that does not play nice together is a no-go.
You could also run the performance monitor.
THe Trace Execution tool kit should aslo help you get a the root of this situation.
Trying to help, wondering if if I can,
Ben
PS Regarding the bug thread. I depend on that thread to stay on top of potential bugs. I asked and Laura moved the off-topic posts to the proper thread. Please excuse my "anal-retentive" side.
Ben Rayner
I am currently active on.. MainStream Preppers
Rayner's Ridge is under construction

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

What's the best way to put a programmatically sizeable transparent image onto a VI front panel

The problem is twofold: 1) how can programmatically read a transparent image (i.e. image with transparent background) and 2) how can I programmatically position and size that image onto a VI front panel. The best luck I had with item 2 was with a boolean custom control with an imported image. However, this control does not have a programmatic method for importing an image, so the image had to be manually cut&pasted into the custom control.

Hi,
If the image is static, it's possible. You can drop a metafile on the front
panel, and use Panel>Decorations> to get a reference to the image. Resize it
as desired.
Changing the image (e.g. from file) is not possible this way, but you can
put multiple images on the screen and change the visibility...
If you want to make a picture viewer, I'd consider an activex control (this
way you can load several picture formats without any programming).
Regards,
Wiebe.
"Jim Campbell" wrote in message
news:506500000008000000AF4E0000-1023576873000@exchange.ni.com...
> The problem is twofold: 1) how can programmatically read a transparent
> image (i.e. image with transparent background) and 2) how can I
> programmatically position and size that ima
ge onto a VI front panel.
> The best luck I had with item 2 was with a boolean custom control with
> an imported image. However, this control does not have a programmatic
> method for importing an image, so the image had to be manually
> cut&pasted into the custom control.

Why doesn't LabView scale my objects properly in the front panel?

In LabView 6.02 (Windows 2000) I have experienced problems when using the "Scale all objects on panel as the window resizes" option under VI properties. Try the following example: Go to the front panel and draw two arrows (from Decorations), one vertical and one horizontal (make sure they are perfectly straight). Now, resize the window, using the bottom right corner several times. You will soon find that the two arrows become increasingly missaligned and are not perpendicular to each other anymore. The problem gets worse the more you play around with the window size and they will never return to their original state. Installing the 6.02 patch did not seem to help at all.

Dear Gustav,
First of all, some objects do not scale whatsoever in LabVIEW. These include refnum controls and text.
As far as the "scale all objects on the front panel as the window resizes" option goes, you have brought attention to an issue that I will announce to the R&D team. Currently, when you resize the screen, the objects on the front panel are resized at the same fraction of the original size, yet small rounding errors occur. As you move the window around, this small rounding error multiplies accordingly. Once you maximize the window, the small rounding error is translated into a large-scale degree change in the orientation of the (previously) perpendicular arrows.
What action are you trying to perform that caused this issue? If possible,
please post some screen shots of your front panel or give me explicit details as to your programmatic goal.
One thing that you may try in order to prevent this misalignment and orientation shift is to highlight the arrows. Then, click the "Reorder" button on the toolbar and select [lock]. This will lock the objects and prevent them from resizing while the rest of the screen resizes (see attached image).
Again, I'm sorry if the aforementioned phenomenon causes you any inconveniences, and I will be sure to announce this issue so that preventive changes are implemented in future LabVIEW revisions.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you need any further assistance. Have a great day!
Kind Regards,
Joe Des Rosier
National Instruments
Attachments:
lock.JPG ‏33 KB

How can I make sure the text size on front panel will be adjusted by itself from PC to PC?

In my VIs under VI Properties -- Window Size, I checked the two boxes:
--Maintain proportions of window for different monitor resolutions
--Scale all objects on front panel as the window resizes
It seems that it worked for everything on front panel except the pure text wording that I put there for instruction purpose. The size of those text stuff didn't get changed proportionally after my application was built and run on different machines so some of them got cut off and looked messy.
Does anyone know how to fix this problem?
Thanks very much!

Hi Andrew,
Thank you for looking at my problem!
Both my development system and test system are Window XP. The font size are all set to Normal. What other details do you need to know?
The text on front panel shows well on my development machine. But when the .exe runs on my test machine, the text size was not adjusted by itself so the text body got cut off.
I found a way to "fix" this problem: I had to drag the text box down and right so there is enough magin between the text body and the box on the right and at the bottom. I had to try it a few times until it finally shows well on my test machine. However, with those magins, it doesn't look nice on my development machine anymore. Also, I only tried on one test machine, if it looks good on one test machine, will it look good on all the other machines? Eventually my app is going to run on Window 7. I'll have to test that out and find out if it's still going to be a problem. Anyway, I don't feel this is the right way to do it. I hope someone knows what I'm talking about and have a soluction to it.
Thanks very much!

Is there a way to achieve 'Panel Resize Event Filter' like function?

Gopalakrishnan P
Hi all,
Panel resize filter is not available in Event structure. So if I use the below code, on pressing the maximize button, windows will maximize the front panel and later LabVIEW brings it back to the mentioned size. There will be a flicker during this operation. To avoid this flicker, is it possible to disable windows OS to perform maximize event or to set the default window maximum size in windows or any other way to implement this?
The maximize button should not be disabled, but have to maximize the panel to a specific size without that flicker. What I'm actually trying to do is to use windows messaging queue to capture the maximize event and then implement the same through LabVIEW. Related example is in this link http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/4394
Has anyone tried solving a similar problem by this method?
Also please suggest if there is any other way to achieve this.
Gopal
Thanks,

Hi Krishgopal,
Please try the following method
File»VI Properties and choose Window Appearance from
the Category pull-down menu.
Click the Customize button and Deselect the option : Allow user the resize window
Attached is a screenshot of the same.
Please let me know if this is able to help you out.
Regards,
Ankur
Attachments:
No_Resize_Front_Panel.pdf ‏274 KB
Sample_NoResize.vi ‏6 KB

Q:How to trim a VI's front panel at runtime?

The occupied front panel space can be obtained by calling
"GetPanelImage" via an invoke node. The resulting cluster "bounds"
describes the union of all front panel objects. The front panel can then
be resized to fit these bounds. The content of the front panel can be
repositioned by manipulating "FrontPanelWindow.Origin". This "...Origin"
points with an _unknown_ _offset_ (which varies with the FP´s layout) to
the upper left corner of the front panel content.
How to exactly calculate the origin from other front panel values?
Thanks,
TC

You can use a VI Server to position the front panel of your subVI. Look at the Ghost in the Machine.vi example that ships with LabView.
To see where to position the subVI, you need to know the position of the calling VI or of something on it. You could use a property node of the Get Details button.
1. On the front panel on Panel.vi, right-click on Get Details and select Create >> Property Node
2. Right-click on the Property Node and select Properties >> Position >> Left.
3. Point to the bottom edge of the property node and pull it down to add another element. That element should default to Top.
That will give you the coordinates of the Get Details button. Now use a VI server (based on Ghost in the Machine.vi) to place the subVI front panel the desired distance
from the Get Details button.

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

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

Set front panel size to fit different monitor ( 2 monitors-pattern to 1 monitor-pattern)

Hello, Everybody,
I have here some questions about front panel size.
At first I have create my LabVIEW programs with 2 monitors and run them with 2 monitors, because of this reason I have created a huge front panel with many objects.
But sometimes I will run the program only with 1 monitor, the problem is, the front panel is too big, I can not see the front panel with all objects completely on one monitor! I know, I can scroll aroud it, but I don´t like this way. I would like to set the front panel size automatically to fit the window ( to differenz window sizes or resolutions), how can I do that?
I have tried with "Maintain proportions of window for different monitor resolutions" and "Scale all objects on front panel as the window sizes" to finish that, but they did`t work, I can not see the front panel at once on one monitor;-(
Can you help me?
regards,
Johnny

As noted in the KB article What Is the Difference Between the Options
"Scale All Objects on Panel" and "Maintain Window Proport..., the "Scale All Objects on Panel causes all the objects inside the panel to scale when the panel itself is resized". If the panel isn't resized, the objects arent's scaled. You may also want to read the KB article How Do I Scale All of the Objects of My Front Panel with the Window Size?.

Limit Front Panel Bounds programmably

Hi,
My front panel contains a picture control that fills the panel. I allow the user to resize the window and also apply zoom factors to it. At times, I have to limit the panel size to prevent the panel from being larger than the drawing area of the picture. This is easy to do when the zoom factor is changed, but I'm having trouble finding a good solution when the user reszes the panel.
Currently I am using the "Panel Resize" event to detect when the panel size has changed and if it is too big I use a property node to reset the front panel bounds. This works but is not ideal. Since this is not a filtered event, I can only fix it after it has been moved which means the user can see the front panel background momentarily before I can properly set the size.
Is there a more elegant way to accomplish this task?
Ideally, I'd like to programmably set a limit on the maximum front panel size such that as the user resizes then panel, it just stops at that limit.
Thanks in advance,
steve
LV 8.2 but soon 8.5
Help the forum when you get help. Click the "Solution?" icon on the reply that answers your
question. Give "Kudos" to replies that help.

Thanks for the responses so far,
Here are some examples to better illustrate the issue.
The first one (res_win) shows the default behavior with the picture set to fill the panel and to Scale object with pane. The picture control displays a circle that fills the front panel. When you drag the right side of the front panel, first you see some of the background, then the picture is resized and the background is covered. This is sort of ugly imho plus I only want the customer to see the circle, not the empty space next to it.
The second example (res_win1) uses the Panel Resize event to check for and limit the front panel size, but it still shows the background momentarily which I don't like.
Thanks again,
steve
LV 8.2.1
Help the forum when you get help. Click the "Solution?" icon on the reply that answers your
question. Give "Kudos" to replies that help.
Attachments:
res_win.vi ‏21 KB
res_win1.vi ‏36 KB

Front panel resize delay

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