LV2021: Deactivate Wire Auto-Routing

[Tyri]

LV2021 has a new "feature" called "Auto-Routing" (this is not Auto-Wiring, which can be deactivated in the options!). Auto-Routing moves wires around if you touch for example Sub-VIs.

Especially in compact VIs this function is a disaster right now. Sometimes for example wires will go "through" Sub-VIs so that an output leaves the Sub-VI at the wrong side resulting in a VI which is terrible to read:

1. Original Snippet of a VI:

2. Same snippet, I just moved the "Get Variant Attribute Function" by one pixel to the right:

First we thought this is a bug, but the support told us it is a feature. But please: Let us deactivate this "function" in the options. I have colleagues telling me they would stop using LabVIEW if this remains as it is right now.

[Fire]

Even worse! from the second image you get a complete wrong impression of data flow dependency! What could be worse than that in a graphical programming language?

[thols]

"this function is a disaster right now". I can only agree. I have to spend way to much time manually rewiring stupid and incorrect auto-routings. Wires that were perfectly fine suddenly instead are drawn behind nodes and such things. This feature was certainly release too early.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

This behavior is a bug, and it will be fixed in LV2021 SP1, scheduled for January. There is no shorter-term patch currently planned for LV2021, but if a bug big enough to trigger a patch is discovered, this fix is tagged for probable inclusion.

[Rich_Y.]

Workaround if dragging with the mouse (i.e., not using arrow keys): hit (don't hold) the 'w' key right after you start dragging.

[thols]

The 'w' workaround is nice, but the feedback that the auto-routing is undone doesn't happen until after the mouse button is released. Other routing modifications, like hitting 'a' or space while routing is displayed immediately. It would be nice if the undo was shown immediately when hitting 'w' too.

[Tyri]

Puh, good to hear that it is indeed a bug.

Yes the support also told us to press "w", but actually I somehow did not manage it. I think I did not use the mouse for that.

[flarn2006]

This should turn it off, if I'm not mistaken:

Keep in mind though that this is an internal setting that isn't officially supported, so YMMV. Also I don't think it'll save when you restart LabVIEW; there's probably some way to automatically run a VI when LabVIEW starts though so you can try that.

An alternative, equally-unsupported method is to add LVdebugKeys=True to your LabVIEW config file, then you can open the internal settings with Ctrl+Shift+D followed by Ctrl+Shift+N and change it from there.

[flarn2006]

Actually, I just found an even better way. You can simply add the line "DragAdjustWires=False" to the LabVIEW config file and it'll have the same effect, on a persistent basis.

[wiebe@CARYA]

>then you can open the internal settings with Ctrl+Shift+D followed by Ctrl+Shift+N and change it from there.

For first timers, that is CTRL down, SHIFT down, D down and up, N down and up.

SHIFT up, CTRL up are optionally, but recommended.

[CaseyM]

Looks like this has indeed been fixed in 2021 SP1! Thanks!