Version 8.5 switches to front panel unexpectedly

[wb2nvy]

Since I started using my Labview 8.5, I noticed that after I perform an editing operation on the block diagram my view switches to the front panel quite unexpectedly. I haven't yet seen any pattern to what editing functions cause it. It appears to be random. It doesn't happen all the time, but often enough to be irritating. It happens maybe every 10 minutes or so. Anybody else seen this or know what I can do to stop it?

[Ben]

" Anybody else seen this or know what I can do to stop it?"

Now that you bring it up, I may have noticed that as well. I'll keep my eyes open.

Do you have auto-save turned on?

Ben

[wb2nvy]

I have the default - 'save before a vi runs' turned on, but I don't see how this would cause the problem. I'm still seeing this very annoying problem which occurs about every 10 minutes roughly, along with the other problem I posted, that when I INTENTIONALLY switch from block diagram to front panel, I always have to maximize the front panel because it doesn't stay maximized from the previous view of it. I can't believe I'm the only one seeing these problems in my LV 8.5. Any help?

[Charlie_P]

Good Evening wb2nvy,

I have not seen or heard of this behavior yet.  You said that it is randomly every 10 minutes or so.  What happens if you do nothing to the VI?  Will it still switch if just sitting there?

When it switches to the Front Panel, are any constants (or anything else) highlighted?  If so, this indicates having double-clicked on that particular control on the Block Diagram.

Are you using a laptop?  Many times an accidental touch of the trackpad will count as a double click and present itself of random behavior.

[wb2nvy]

Thanks for the response Charlie. Yes I'm using a laptop but I'm also using a wired mouse and external keyboard & monitor, and nothing's touching the trackpad. A colleague here also has the same problem but not nearly as frequently. We're using LV 8.5 Base Development System. I explained this problem to NI and they exhausted their resources & had no fix. I put it to our corporate IT dept and they found no problem with my laptop or operating system. All of my work is done on this laptop and I don't have this problem on any other app. Here are some more details: the switch to front panel was once a switch to the previously active Excel window, so the problem isn't so much switching to front panel as minimizing the block diagram. Most of the time the previous active window was the front panel. The switch occurs with a mouse click on a menu item or wire or block diagram object not necessarily a front panel object. Once I added a numeric vi, then clicked on menu item edit>undo create, and it switched to front panel. Immediately reproducing those click would not repeat the switch, but after leaving the laptop idle for 10 minutes I COULD repeat it with that sequence of clicks. It occurred once when doing ctrl-B to delete broken wires. I uninstalled & reinstalled to no avail.

Possibly related is a problem with the front panel not staying maximized as I toggle between it and block diagram. I almost always have to re-maximize the front panel.

Any help or clues would be greatly appreciated. Working with LV used to be a pleasure. Now it's a pain.

[elset191]

I've seen it in 8.6.  It is pretty annoying.  I think it happens when I do an undo mostly, but I can't get it to do it now.

EDIT: If I run my VI, then go to the block diagram and hit undo, then it switches to the front panel.  Or if I change the value of a front panel control, then go to the block diagram and hit undo it goes to the front panel.  However, moving a control, then going to the block diagram and hitting undo does not bring up the front panel.

Perhaps this is the solution

Message Edited by elset191 on 10-06-2009 09:20 AM

[wb2nvy]

Tim, thanks for that input, but your scenario parallels mine in only one instance. In the hundreds of other instances it's not related to undo.

[Charlie_P]

Good Afternoon wb2nvy,

Thanks for the additional details.  Unfortunately, none of them point in the direction of an answer.  For it to have switched to Excel at one point, it would seem that there is a more general problem with the OS (even if specifically related to LabVIEW).  Have you considered re-imaging this laptop?

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I explained this problem to NI and they exhausted their resources & had no fix.

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If reimaging is not an option, I think you might have to have to add me to that list.

If I may use a get-out-of-jail-free card...

1.  Have you considered upgrading to LabVIEW 2009?   OR

2.  Use a second monitor (use the laptop and the external monitor) to allow you have both the Front Panel and Block Diagram open at the same time.

Message Edited by AE Charlie on 10-07-2009 04:43 PM

Message Edited by AE Charlie on 10-07-2009 04:43 PM

[wb2nvy]

Thanks for your inputs AE. I may have muddied the water by mentioning Excel. As I described it, Excel is not related to the problem. I determined that LV is not switching from BD to FP, rather the BD is minimizing unexpectedly, and in 1 case it minimized to the previous Excel window I was using, instead of the previous FP window I normally toggle to.

[parthabe]

Just curious, not to annoy/irritate you...

Were you living with this problem for 2 years now... ?!