Scripting: find slide orientation programmatically

[_Y_]

Front panel of a VI has a numeric indicator belonging to class Slide (Class ID = 21). Can its orientation (horizontal or vertical) be determined programmatically, i.e. using scripting suctions? Unfortunately I'm out of guesses.

Thank you

[santo_13]

You can use the rectangular bounds to see if the width is larger than the height.

[_Y_]

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@santo_13 wrote:

You can use the rectangular bounds to see if the width is larger than the height.

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Yes, This is what do I use now. However, the method is not general.

For example a very wide vertical Slide can have the width larger then the height. Such a Slide will be detected as horizontal.

[raphschru]

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@santo_13 wrote:

You can use the rectangular bounds to see if the width is larger than the height.

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Won't work in case you have a tank that looks like this:

Regards,

Raphaël.

[_Y_]

Yes, exactly.

[raphschru]

The only way I found was by using the private "Basic Object Flags".

Not sure about the corner cases though:

An officially supported method would be better...

[paul_a_cardinale · Accepted solution]

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@raphschru wrote:

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@santo_13 wrote:

You can use the rectangular bounds to see if the width is larger than the height.

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Won't work in case you have a tank that looks like this:

Regards,

Raphaël.

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That code is risky because the bit definitions are subject to change between versions of LV.  The attached code is much less fragile.

[Bob_Schor]

I've not done enough with Scripting to be familiar with "Basic Object Flags".  Am I correct that Paul's "better solution" involves creating two "test cases", a "known horizontal" slider and a "Known vertical" slider and using their (known, and presumably different) "Basic Object Flags" to distinguish Horizontal from Vertical sliders?

Bob Schor

Noto to self -- learn more about scripting, which I used many years ago to write LabVIEW code that looked at a 4-Worksheet Excel Template and built LabVIEW code appropriate for using this Template to record multiple trials in a behavioral "Where is the Target?" study.

[alexderjuengere]

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@Bob_Schor wrote:

I've not done enough with Scripting to be familiar with "Basic Object Flags".  Am I correct that Paul's "better solution" involves creating two "test cases", a "known horizontal" slider and a "Known vertical" slider and using their (known, and presumably different) "Basic Object Flags" to distinguish Horizontal from Vertical sliders?

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I would say yes, it is using templates to distinguish between vertical and horizontal slides

[alexderjuengere]

to add my 2 cents, we could calculate the eigenvalues of the centered bounding box coordinates of the slide control, because:

- The larger eigenvalue indicates the direction of the longer side. If the larger eigenvalue indicates the variance in the y-direction, then the rectangle is vertically oriented.

- If the larger eigenvalue indicates the variance in the x-direction, then the rectangle is horizontally oriented.

- This is a simplification that assumes the eigenvalues correctly reflect the variance along the principal axes, which is the case for a rectangle with known opposite corners and orthogonal sides