Smart Bundle\Unbundle nodes

[DrK.Jimenez-Marquez]

Many programming languages IDE are able to distinguish the cluster level. However, selecting a cluster element in LabVIEW requires covering the full path from the top cluster until the desired element. The consumed time for this actions is directly proportional to the cluster size. It would be great that the bundle\unbundle nodes distinguish the cluster level in LabVIEW to speed up the cluster item selection.

Currently, a selection of an item requires a full navigation:

With the improvement a selection would only require partial navigation:

[wiebe@CARYA]

You might be on to something. At first this sure seems great.

I have a reservation though. Will this be an improvement in all situations?

If you want to change from a deep item to an item deep in a different branch, the old method might be faster?

The new one will require clicking 4 times in the right spot.

This needs to be tested very thoroughly by many people.

We might need a way to get the old method and the new one. E.g. clicking for the new way, shift clicking to get the old one.

EDIT: I'll kudo anyway, as it should be considered. 

[thols]

This is one area where it is hard to beat text-based features like e.g. IntelliSense in VisualStudio. I'm sure I read about such feature suggestions before. What about a right-click plugin where you search for the element name and the appropriate unbundle node is selected for you? 

Such a plugin could perhaps even know on which level in the cluster you clicked on to only search below or at that level.

[DrK.Jimenez-Marquez]

@wiebe@CARYA: Maybe I did not express my idea correctly. I wanted to suggest keeping the current method with the possibility to start from the correct level to reduce the navigation time in the contextual menu, navigate always from the top level requires a lot of time.

@thols: Yes, great idea. Splitting a bundle node into levels graphically could be not so easy. Maybe, NI could integrate this funcionality in the quick drop some how to be able to select the correct cluster item using text based methos with the quick drop. I just wanted to open the topic to find the faster and powerful solution to speed up item selections.    

[wiebe@CARYA]

>@thols: Yes, great idea. Splitting a bundle node into levels graphically could be not so easy.

It won't be that hard. The text is easy to get, the font probably too. Then it's a matter of Get Text Rect to get the limits of the levels.

A right click menu is a different experience though. Especially when you want to eliminate a few clicks, this is significant. 

[wiebe@CARYA]

>@wiebe@CARYA: Maybe I did not express my idea correctly. I wanted to suggest keeping the current method with the possibility to start from the correct level to reduce the navigation time in the contextual menu, navigate always from the top level requires a lot of time.

OK, in that case I like the idea 👍.

I'm not sure if you can add images to the original post (some moderators can), but if you can, an image clicking the first level would help sell the idea. You'd need a bigger cluster (more items per level) to really show how it works.

[DrK.Jimenez-Marquez]

@wiebe@CARYA: Thanks for your suggestion but I cannot edit the original post. Anyway, the idea has no impact in the community.

[wiebe@CARYA]

>@wiebe@CARYA: Thanks for your suggestion but I cannot edit the original post. Anyway, the idea has no impact in the community.

6 kudo's in a week is pretty good!

Few are subscribed to the idea exchange. That resulted in the kodus you got.

Ideas get kodus if they are (appropriately) crosslinked in other forums, but that's a lot of work. Or if they are easily found by others searching for the same, but that's out of your control.

I'd expect the kudos to go up, slowly but steady.

[Petru_Tarabuta]

@thols: I'm sure I read about such feature suggestions before. What about a right-click plugin where you search for the element name and the appropriate unbundle node is selected for you? 

The BundleMagic right-click plugin (a.k.a. Shortcut Menu Plug-in) is an excellent tool that does just that. In fact, it also works for property and invoke nodes. It can be downloaded from VIPM (screenshot below).