LabVIEW Tips and Tricks

Here is the original link:http://www.vektrex.com/Systems/Labview%20Tips.html
Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl B: removes all broken wires

Ctrl C: Copy (same as Windows)

Ctrl E: Toggles between front panel and block diagram (also <Ctrl-Tab>, also <Alt-F6>)

Ctrl F: Find (text or VI)

Ctrl H: Shows/Hides context sensitive help window

Ctrl I: VI Properties

Ctrl L: Show error list

Ctrl M: Toggles between Run and Edit Mode

Ctrl N: New VI

Ctrl O: Open a VI

Ctrl P: Print dialog window

Ctrl Q: Exit LabVIEW

Ctrl R: Runs a VI

Ctrl S: Save

Ctrl T: Tile left and right

Ctrl V: Paste (same as Windows)

Ctrl W: Close current window

Ctrl X: Cut (same as Windows)

Ctrl Y: VI Revision History

Ctrl Z: Undo

Ctrl .: Stop

Ctrl /: Maximize screen

Ctrl ?: Online Help

Ctrl →: Step Over

Ctrl ↓: Step Into

Ctrl ↑: Step Out Of

Space bar: Toggle between the two most commonly used tools

Tab: Toggle between the four most commonly used tools

Front Panel

Press the <Shift-Tab> keys to enable and disable automatic tool selection.

To create more space, hold down the <Ctrl> key (with the positioning tool) and drag a rectangle where you need more space.

Drop and Resize:  When you place a new control/indicator on the front panel, keep the mouse button pressed down and you can resize it. (Hold the <Ctrl> key down as you drop it and will resize from the center, hold the <Shift> key and it will resize proportional to its original size.)

Even after you have placed a new control/indicator on the front panel, to keep an object proportional to its original size as you resize it, press the <Shift> key as you resize.

To restrict an objects direction of movement horizontally or vertically, press the <Shift> key while you move the object.

When entering text into a label or string, use the <Enter> key by the letters for a carriage return.  Use the <Enter> key by the numeric pad or <Shift-Enter> to finish the entry.  In Preferences…Front Panel you can set “End text entry with Return key” so that the Return key always is enter and not carriage return.

Pressing <Shift-Enter> when entering text in a ring control will accept the entry and position the cursor for the next entry (without having to right-mouse click and select “Add an item after”). 

You can increment/decrement a number by highlighting it and using the up and down arrow keys.  This is especially useful when you create a Constant on the back panel and need to change it to a low number and don’t want to have to toggle back and forth between tools.

Block Diagram

With positioning tool:

            Single click on a wire: Highlights just that wire section

            Double click on a wire: Highlights wire up to a junction

            Triple click on a wire: Highlights the whole wire

            Double click on a front panel object to be taken to its front panel location.

When wiring, press the space bar to change the direction of a wire by 90 degrees.

Wire-Swapping Tool:  If you have a node with two wire terminals, if you press down the <Ctrl> key while you have the wiring tool, you will see the wire-swapping tool.  Press once and LabVIEW will swap the wires.

When you are moving or wiring to the edge of the screen, you can press the <Shift> key for a speed boost (10 pixels at a time instead of just 1).

When copying Property Nodes or Local Variables, use the positioning tool and press the <Ctrl> key as you click.  If you use the Windows Copy and Paste it will create another control/indicator in addition to your Local Variable or Property Node.

Use the “Small Fonts” font when labeling your icons.  (Double click on the “A” to get the font selection box.)

You can drag any picture up to the icon area and use that picture as your VI’s icon.

Options…/LabVIEW ini file

Hide the extra LabVIEW window in windows taskbar with hideRootWindow=True in INI file.

ShowInplaceMenuItem=true.  Set to True to add "Show Inplace Set" to the popup menu you get when you right-click on a diagram terminal.  The option will be grayed-out until you run your VI (it complies).  Selecting this menu item makes the terminal, and all other terminals sharing the same data inplace, blink together. Pop up again and select "Hide Inplace Set" before moving to another set of terminals, since it won't automatically stop blinking the first set before showing a new one. 

When creating an executable file, if you want to transfer options that have been set up in LabVIEW, copy the LabVIEW.ini file, rename it to <exe name>.ini and change the first line in the file from “LabVIEW” to “<exe name>”.

Miscellaneous

Endless Loop/Can’t stop LabVIEW  <Ctrl-Alt-Delete>, end LabVIEW task, Yes/Quit to “Quitting will abort all running VI’s” and then “Cancel” on save dialog.

Can’t stop program to edit.  Open and break a Sub VI (broken arrow) OR open a new VI and place the main VI on the block diagram (Select a VI…) as a Sub VI.  Double-click it to open and it shouldn’t be running.

Need to debug/probe but can’t get to the back diagram since VI is already running.  From the diagram of another VI, use the Find dialog and search for some text that you know is on the block diagram.

To create a smaller icon, make sure that all three areas (B&W, 16 color and 256 color) in the icon editor have your small icon.  The actual icon border conforms to the largest of the three icon drawing areas.

Quit LabVIEW when executable; don’t quit when in development.  There is a property under the VI Server class Application labeled “Kind”.   One of the options is “Run Time System”.  Put the “Quit LabVIEW” primitive in a case structure for “Run Time System”.  Label the other case “Default”.

DAQ

Look at the Analog Output of a DAQ E Series card without manually wiring it back into Analog In line by using channel 21230.