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I recently got handed a new laptop to start developing on. The problem is that it's got a much higher resolution monitor than what I've been using. 1920x1080 vs. 1280x800. In order to actually be able to read any of my code without serious squinting, I've upped the font, etc. size to 125% (this is on a Win7 box). When I did this, thankfully, lots of stuff in LabVIEW got bigger. Local/global variables, bundle by name, etc. all are much more readable.

However, in the block diagram, all the LabVIEW primitives, subvi boxes, as well as controls and indicators stayed the same tiny size. Also, in Project Explorer, the descenders are cut off of any letters in a vi name. Same with the font name in the upper middle of the front panel.

So the question: Is there any way to make LabVIEW itself bigger? I can only see this problem as getting worse and worse as monitor resolutions get higher and higher.

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You, mi'lady, are asking for a feature we like to call "Zoom." And, no, there is no way to make LabVIEW itself bigger. Or smaller, for that matter. Your operating system might supply such features (use ctrl+scroll wheel on a Mac and you get the OS and all hosted apps zoomed in... quite nice). The feature to have LV able to zoom its diagrams/panels/etc is one that we are indeed working on, but when you have 20+ years of pixel manipulation code, it takes a monumental refactoring effort, and we are still a few years away from having that graphics layer reworked.

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The feature to have LV able to zoom its diagrams/panels/etc is one that we are indeed working on...

Really?! Then can I put on a request for "CTRL +" and "CTRL -"? It works amazingly on adobe apps, and after a few hours of icon editing I'm always disappointed to come back to LV and find that my muscle memory has disappointed me.

Reminds me of all those touchscreen projects... After a few hours of testing I've been caught out tapping the "normal" monitor back at my desk...

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... we are years away from even thinking about UI gestures for this. Keyboards may be obsolete by the time it is done. Years. No, I'm not joking, exaggerating, making stuff up or trying to set false expectations.

Just years? Excellent!! I was thinking it would be somewhere between decades and never... :P

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You, mi'lady, are asking for a feature we like to call "Zoom." And, no, there is no way to make LabVIEW itself bigger. Or smaller, for that matter.

[...] it takes a monumental refactoring effort, and we are still a few years away from having that graphics layer reworked.

Thank you for your answer, kind sir. I was afraid I was asking too much. Hopefully "a few years away" happens before I retire. :-)

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Embrace your age maturity Cat! Sounds like a visit to your local optician is in your near future...

No, it's age. I've never been very mature.

You could change the resolution to something lower (usually not as good looking as native resolution), use a separate monitor, or get IT to buy you something like a LCD monitor magnifier (yes, this is a real product).

I realized that the huge monitors we usually hook up to our fielded systems are actually the same resolution as my laptop. So I'm going to use one of those for development while I'm in the lab. Then I just have to squint a lot at my laptop screen when I'm scrunched up in a dark corner on some submarine trying to do code changes. It will make the experience even more wonderful. :rolleyes:

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Then I just have to squint a lot at my laptop screen when I'm scrunched up in a dark corner on some submarine trying to do code changes.

I know it's off-topic, but that sounds so cool!

Off Topic again; the reason for sub-routines got a much better explanation now.... :rolleyes:

Merry Christmas everyone

/J

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That's the main reason why most LV developers need an external monitor with a much lower pixel density when working with a laptop...

Or you go for a laptop with quite less than 150dpi! :yes:

But yes the 1920*1080 starts to get the standard by now since everybody produces those displays and they are getting cheaper and cheaper in comparison to the rest. Personally I find them very awkward on Windows (not yet Retina style resolution, which Windows can't handle anyways, but also not a comfortable dpi resolution below something like 23 inch). And I'm not sure how the GDI based Windows graphic system could really be adapted to support true retina operation.

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Or you go for a laptop with quite less than 150dpi! :yes:

I wish that was an option.  Personally, I was quite happy with 1024x768!  As you note, 1920x1080 is becoming the standard.  Plus, when I develop on my lower res laptop, all the front panels look tiny and the fonts are messed up on the standard monitors.  I've had to become very familiar with using multiple panes around GUI elements so my users can expand and contract FPs to something easier to view on different resolution monitors.

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