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A Bridge (of the Enterprise) Too Far

11/9/2022

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User interface design has to balance a number of competing goals, mainly:
  • Functionality
  • Responsiveness
  • Aesthetics

That was  the case with this project for an in-vehicle data collection system. The interface was a touch screen that requires input from the same person driving the vehicle. It was very important that the interface be simple and easy to understand and fast to work with, to keep the driver's eyes on the road.

We started with a typical LabVIEW interface. It worked, but it was a bit boring. It also suffered from being difficult to see. The gray background did not provide much contrast while day driving.
Picture

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LabVIEW Background Image

6/22/2020

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Here is an easy way to dress up a VI with a background image.

It isn't intuitive or easy to find, but it is simple:
  1. Right click on the vertical scrollbar of your VI
  2. Select "Properties"
  3. Choose your image
  4. Consider using a tile-ready image
Picture
Be aware that a custom image is stored as part of the VI, so your VI can grow in size quickly if you use a big image.

Click Read More to watch the demo video.

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Ending Well

5/8/2020

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A good rule to remember when designing a user interface is to do things in standard ways whenever possible.
​
For example, if you want to close a program in Windows, you click the X button in the upper right-hand corner of the window. 
Picture
Most LabVIEW apps have a tell-tale “Stop” or “Done” button. That always bugs me. Why shouldn’t a LabVIEW program end the same way any other Windows program ends?
​

They should. ​Here’s how to close your program the right way.

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Better LabVIEW Listbox Icons

5/8/2020

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​The standard LabVIEW listbox control has very archaic icons. So I made some improvements. You can use this control as a direct replacement for the standard control, but it looks a lot better.

This takes advantage of the properties for the listbox to load your own custom graphics.
Picture
listboxicons2.0.vi
File Size: 32 kb
File Type: vi
Download File

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BETTER LabVIEW MULTICOLUMN LISTBOX ICONS

5/8/2020

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Previously, I posted a listbox control with improved icons. Some have asked if it can be used for multicolumn listboxes, too. Well, yes it can. And here it is.
​
(Actually, you can just use the listbox control. Right click and select Replace. Replace it with a multicolumn listbox. The new multicolumn box will maintain the improved icons.)
Picture
multicolumlistboxicons2.0.vi
File Size: 32 kb
File Type: vi
Download File

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iPhone Toggle

5/8/2020

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Here is a nice little custom control to make LabVIEW more like your iPhone.
Picture
iphone_switch.ctl
File Size: 6 kb
File Type: ctl
Download File

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  • Solutions
    • Product Design
    • Engineering Solutions
    • Automated Test Equipment (ATE) >
      • What is ATE?
  • Case Studies
  • Tools
    • ALOHA
    • MLA
    • LabVIEW & TestStand >
      • LabVIEW Basics
      • TestStand Basics
      • Learning LabVIEW
      • Getting Started with OOP
  • Blog
  • Contact