LabVIEW Idea Exchange
A while back, Dany Allard suggested merge and diff tools for projects and libraries. I have a request that is similar, but more specific:
When opening a project, if for various reasons LabVIEW is unable to locate dependencies of a build specification, it would be truly helpful if the user was prompted to locate said dependencies. As it stands, by my observation LabVIEW silently omits missing build spec dependencies - this can be frustrating and dangerous.
Here's some context: I have lots of projects with 5+ build specifications. When I move directories, files, or even change LabVIEW versions, my build specifications stealthily fall apart, sometimes very subtly. Often I don't realize that my build spec is broken until I attempt to build, only to realize that it's a hollow placeholder in my project file. The most insidious case is when the application builds successfully, but is missing dynamic VIs, etc. This omission might go completely unnoticed without rigorous testing. LabVIEW should, in my opinion, give the user some indication that the build specification is missing dependencies or is "broken."
One hypothetical way to indicate this status might be to list the build spec in red font within Project Explorer, and have dependencies listed in dimmed font within respective build spec dialogs. There ought to be a "resolve conflicts" button in the build spec dialog; Perhaps this functionality could be integrated in the main conflict resolution dialog somehow.
Furthermore, there ought to be an option to import build specs from other projects. (Okay, maybe this should be a separate request) When importing, the aforementioned conflict resolution process should be leveraged to make the import proceed smoothly.
Has this already been requested? Thanks for listening.
Jim
Any idea that has received less than 7 kudos within 7 years after posting will be automatically declined.