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Ken_Brey

Attached Label option for Shift Registers.

Status: New
Putting a comment next to a shift register item is something that I frequently do, and is frequently done in NI sample code.  (See Quadrature Decoder with Position & Velocity - NI 9505 (FPGA).vi as an example of this.)  The trouble is that when you move the shift register, the label doesn't go with it.  I would like a right-click option to add a label to a shift register.  The label should have a default position on the inside of the loop above the shift register, but options to locate it on the left or right, and inside or outside the loop.  It should also be able to be moved around like any label in labVIEW.  But is should stay in the same relative position to the shift register when the shift register is moved.  And if a labeled shift register is duplilcated, the label should also duplicate with an added extension number to make them distinct, just like duplicating a control or indicator.
11 Comments
Manzolli
Active Participant
This idea may become not necessary with the implementation of the idea Add label to wires. But is still a good idea. Kudos!
André Manzolli

Mechanical Engineer
Certified LabVIEW Developer - CLD
LabVIEW Champion
Curitiba - PR - Brazil
CrystalTech
Member
Occasionally I find this to be needed (I gave it Kudos), but if you are using many shift registers in a State Machine, you may want to place all of the varibles in a cluster.  This allows you to use one shift register, and you may use "Cluster by Name" to retrieve and update values.  This makes the code extremely readable, and gives you more real estate by eliminating all the Shift Register lines within each panel.
muks
Proven Zealot
Nice point crstalTech. Alas no kudos for replies here...
JackDunaway
Trusted Enthusiast

CrystalTech is mentioned a construct I colloquially refer to as State Data Conduits ("Conduit", because it keeps your wires organized and neatly bundled). The often use of this construct, the ability to label wires, and my feedback node addiction have diminished the benefits of having shift register labels.

 

Below is an image showing free labels on the wires (will be replaced by wire labels when they debut!) next to the feedback nodes. If I used shift registers, there would not be room for the labels - as is the case most of the time, where shift registers are in tight quarters. (The other beauty of the FN is not having to short the wires through all the nested case structures - you see no trace of those buffers in the "Error" case or the "True" case.)

 

 

FeedbackNodeLabels.png

Dave_Thomson
Active Participant
I've been suggesting this for roughly the last half dozen versions of LabVIEW.  Given that "good practice" is to document code, and that NI trie s to encourage good practice, I'm surprised that it still doesn't exist.  Another extension of this idea is to have labels tied to Sequence Locals (though WHO would EVER use a sequence local???).
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David Thomson Original Code Consulting
www.originalcode.com
National Instruments Alliance Program Member
Certified LabVIEW Architect
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X.
Trusted Enthusiast
Trusted Enthusiast

Why don't we have that in LV 2011? Why is this not "In Development"? Why has LabVIEW's chief user interface architect not yet agreed that yes, having uninitialized shift registers leading to a case structure and no way to figure out what the attached wire is, is a problem in a graphical programming environment? At least let us group object in the block diagram!

Ken_Brey
Member

Since posting this request, I have discovered the wonders of the Feedback Node, so I use far fewer shift-registers, and rarely an uninitialized one.  So, in conjunction with Wire Labels, I think this need is covered pretty well.

mike4
Member

A great outcome of this feature would be consistent SR labeling on BOTH sides of the loop.  

 

For those wonderful loops that are wider than your monitor.

X.
Trusted Enthusiast
Trusted Enthusiast

Note: labels can  "point" at shift register in LV 2013, so this suggestion might be construed as "Available".

AristosQueue (NI)
NI Employee (retired)

X.: I think we'll leave it open given that using the attaching comments, duplication doesn't happen on copy and it doesn't maintain alignment.