A question on LAVAs CCT

[JÞB]

I just noticed that all of my code capture snippets are automagically back-saved to LV 2013 when the version I'm running is 2014.  

1. Can anyone explain why or what causes that?
2. Can it be controlled to Save For 20xx?

Seriously, I almost only use it to post to the forums.  I noticed this unexpected behavior when I when back to a thread I remembered had contained to info that the OP was running 2013 and, well went back to see if I should backsave and repost.  Turns out I didn't   I couldn't believe it untill I auted a few more posts and saw that ALL CC's showed the same backsave behavior.

[GregSands]

The "Snippet Configuration" button lets you choose which version to save the snippet as.  Very handy for providing code to the forum in the most accessible version.

[JÞB]

---

@GregSands wrote:

The "Snippet Configuration" button lets you choose which version to save the snippet as.  Very handy for providing code to the forum in the most accessible version.

---

OH WOW!  That is so cool!  I never even noticed that button!

[GregSands]

---

@JÞB wrote:

---

@GregSands wrote:

The "Snippet Configuration" button lets you choose which version to save the snippet as.  Very handy for providing code to the forum in the most accessible version.

---

OH WOW!  That is so cool!  I never even noticed that button!

---

And in one line, all the "benefits" of a Graphical User Interface!

[tst]

---

@GregSands wrote:

And in one line, all the "benefits" of a Graphical User Interface!

---

You can also configure it by pressing F5.

OK, not really, but we designed (and I use that term in its loosest definition) the CCT UI to be functional, not to be Jeff-proof. The CCT does actually have a reasonably extensive help system, but it doesn't help if users don't read it.

I believe I usually have the backsave feature set to 8.0 and only change it if I know I'm using a feature that won't backsave. Note that I'm pretty sure you don't get an alert if this happens, so that requires knowing which features were added when.

[Ben]

---

@tst wrote:

---

@GregSands wrote:

And in one line, all the "benefits" of a Graphical User Interface!

---

You can also configure it by pressing F5.

OK, not really, but we designed (and I use that term in its loosest definition) the CCT UI to be functional, not to be Jeff-proof. The CCT does actually have a reasonably extensive help system, but it doesn't help if users don't read it.

I believe I usually have the backsave feature set to 8.0 and only change it if I know I'm using a feature that won't backsave. Note that I'm pretty sure you don't get an alert if this happens, so that requires knowing which features were added when.

---

That is similar to one of my observations about code in general that I will adapt for this thread.

An intuitive GUI is like a perfect sub-VI, chances are no one will actually read the documentation.

Ben

[JÞB]

---

@tst wrote:

OK, not really, but we designed (and I use that term in its loosest definition) the CCT UI to be functional, not to be Jeff-proof. The CCT does actually have a reasonably extensive help system, but it doesn't help if users don't read it.

---

OH MAN! 

I get one RTFM miss-cue in my life and the hounds are un-leashed! 

Hey, I know where all the buttons are now and what they do.  Thanks

[GregSands]

tst, I wasn't intending the comment to be a slur on CCT, not at all.  I'm really grateful for such a useful piece of software.  It was just an observation that even when a program has been well-designed, with appropriate icons and tip texts and help, there's still no guarantee that a user will notice what's right in front of them.  I certainly don't think CCT needs to change.

But I've been trying to think of solutions to this sort of issue in general.  One might be to put everything on the front panel.  This has the obvious downside of being cluttered and not being able to find what you need.  Another could be to show the configuration programatically.  In this case, when changing from "non-snippet" to "snippet", a section could pop into the front panel (growing it) with the configuration options, which the user can set then hide.  Text rather than (or as well as) an icon is useful here I think.  So you might have a line with a summary of the configuration:

► Snippet configuration: LV 8.0

which opens up automatically or on clicking to:

▼ Snippet configuration

  ● Version:    LV 8.0      ▼

  ● Directory:  ....\Temp   □

  ● ....

 The balance is between making the information easy accessible and not being cluttered.  The largest software program I've written lately is for controlling a custom-built microscope, with quite a number of individual components having a lot of configuration parameters, and I must have gone through a dozen different ways of showing these.  Even now, I'm not satisfied that it works as well as it could.  Plus it's a research instrument (always in development!) so I have only the bare-bones help! 😞

[tst]

---

@GregSands wrote:

tst, I wasn't intending the comment to be a slur on CCT, not at all.

---

Yeah, I got that, but too many details do not a humorous remark make, as demonstrated below, so it was hard to convey. I generally try to be at least 4.5 times as clear as Jeff, but it doesn't always work.

Anyway, we did do a bunch of variations for the CCT UI and ended up settling on that one. Ton did most of the actual work and I helped mainly with the design and feedback. While I'm certain there are things which could be improved, I was not really putting much of an effort into it myself and was mainly concerned with covering my usage pattern, which is not using the CCT often and usually opening it and almost immediately closing it, because the previous setting is exactly the one I need.

If you do want to play with designs (that's why it's open source), I can say that I remember that the main considerations were screen size (work with reasonably low resolutions and show the preview clearly enough) and showing all the main selections at a glance. The backsave version does appear at the top of snippet in the preview and the current folder wasn't really considered a priority, because normally the path is copied into the clipboard (also, you can see the current folder by hovering on the browse button).

[JÞB]

At 4.5 times less clear and, in my own self-defense.  I normally use "Ctrl+A" "Ctrl+/"  with the "Ctrl+/" being a custom menu short-cut "Create VI Snippet from selection."  It fast as hell and my post is up!  The CCT is a tool I adopted because the flipping "Create VI Snippet from selection" sometimes fails.  

That being said, The CCT does offer advatages but, you need to:

• Pull-down the tools menu
• Navagate down off-sreen to LAVA
• slide over to CCT
• Wait for launch
• Click here and here
• inspect the preview
• click here

Then the UI poofs out of existance like a good utility.

So, happy with the result, I never really explored the UI before other than what was essential to the workflow of posting example code.  That is in no way a criticism of the CCT!  Rather, praise for it!  Thanks for making me go back and look over some features I had not seen before!