Improve comfort when working with graphs

[PhilipT]

When operating graphs in Labview, it is easy to change the scale of an axis of a graph (at runtime): to change e.g. the maximum value, you select the current maximum value with your mouse, type in the maximum number you want and hit enter. To achieve the same in Labwindows, you have to use a numeric control and a button, which is a bit cumbersome. The same applies for zooming: In Labview, you can click a small button attached to the graph and select the way you want to zoom, and then just use the mouse. In Labwindows, you have to know that zooming is done using the ctrl button, ctrl+space restores the previous setting, etc. It would also be nice to be able to enable autoscale by right-clicking on an axis and having a popup menu which allows to do so (just like in Labview). And if the user changes e.g. the maximum value while autoscale is enabled, it would be nice to automatically disable autoscale (unlike in Labview).

So in general, it would be nice to have more comfort in operating graph controls.

Thanks.

[RobertoBozzolo]

While I second your request for a more user-frinedly graph control, it is to be noted that if the graph option "Editable Graph Axes" is checked and one axis is in manuale scale, you can actually double click on min and max value of the scale and input the value you want.

[PhilipT]

Roberto, thank you for pointing this out!

Since the cursor doesn't change when you place it over the min or max value, I've never tried to double-click. I think this could be improved by making the cursor change to an edit-cursor type of cursor when you place it over an editable graph axis.

[ASIC_LabRat]

not able to zoom / resize or move around on Log - Log graphs

[RobertoBozzolo]

Log scales are editable as normal ones but you must disable the auto-scale on them.

[LuisG]

Also, you might find the graph cursor custom control useful, since it gives you an alternative to the built-in zooming of the graph control: by selecting two cursors and then clicking the zoom button in the custom control.

Check out samples\userint\custctrl\graphcursors\graphcursorctrl.prj.

Luis

[PhilipT]

Thank you for the comment, Luis.

Using two cursors and two buttons to zoom does work indeed, and it is more intuitive than using ctrl+... . You can zoom to a rectangle by default, and if you just want to select a region on the x-axis, you can move the cursors to the top and bottom of the graph and click "zoom in".

But this exactly shows what I was trying to say: It is cumbersome. The same applies for setting min/max values: You can use two numeric controls and a button to set them, as well as a checkbox to disable autoscale. But this requires extra controls on the gui and extra mouse clicks.

It would be much easier if you e.g. rightclicked on an axis to select from a menu "disable autoscale". As I learned, you can enter new min/max values directly by double-clicking, so it would be nice to change the cursor type to tell the user that he can do so. And for zooming, it seems much more intuitive to me to select from a small control attached to a graph (like in Labview) the way you want to zoom, and then just select a region with the mouse and it zooms in.

[Wolfgang]

---

PhilipT wrote:

It would be much easier if you e.g. rightclicked on an axis to select from a menu "disable autoscale".

---

Initially I thought that clickable axes might be a nice feature, but then I got some doubts: the axes are adjacent to the graph region, not separated from it, this bears some problems. For example, right now I am using a right click run popup menu to define regions of interest and some other graph properties. It might get messy to distinguish between a click still within the graph region and a click on the axis (1 pixel makes the difference...). So may be the axes labels should be clickable instead? Also, personally I'd prefer having my own right click menu, so it should be possible to not show the then built-in menu item (similar to the table control).

[PhilipT]

Wolfgang,

you are right that it might be difficult to actually right-click on the axis itself. What I meant was making the axis labels clickable, as well as the values / scale of the axis. And I agree that it would be nice to have this menu optional.

[Wolfgang]

OK, so I am going to support clickable axis labels