Is it possible to force a refresh of the front panel?

[Mike Le]

In the past, I've refreshed Graph Indicators, but now I find a need to refresh the entire front panel.

 

The issue is this:

 

I have a "primary" front panel with several subpanels. The subpanels load modules on start-up and the modules arrange themselves around each other (automatic layout).

 

The primary front panel does some initialization on itself when it starts. It zeroes its panel origin, hides scrollbars, etc. Depending on how it's called, it may perform other initialization steps.

 

These initialization steps must finish before any modules are loaded into subpanels, or the subpanels may not arrange themselves in the correct layout.

 

I have error wires going from the primary initialization and then to the VI that launches the modules. But it seems like, even though the error wires force the front panel's property/invoke nodes to execute first, that the layout of the main front panel doesn't finish updating before the modules load: they are consistently offset.

 

Placing a 100ms wait between the two VIs solves the problem, but I hate artificial time delays. This is something that pure data flow should be able to handle.

 

I've searched for a way to force a refresh/redraw of the front panel and come up empty. Any suggestions?

[PiDi]

Quick idea from the voice in the back of my head: Defer Panel Updates before the initialization steps, then enable it before inserting plugins. Maybe it will force LV to redraw the panel.

[shoneill]

A small tip: You don't even have to re-enable Panel Updates (Defer = False).

 

Every time you set "Defer Panel Updates" to "True" it will actually refresh.  So you could initially defer updates and then, if you want, refresh at regular controlled intervals by repeatedly calling "Defer Panel Updates" = True and only setting it to "False" once all of your work is done.