LabVIEW Development Menu Shortcut

[klessm1]

Is there a way to make a keyboard shortcut to tool applications that are in the Tools menu in the LabVIEW development environment. This would make checking in and out of an SCC with custom tools much faster if you didn't have to mouse down to the correct application in the Tools menu. What would be even better is to have a keyboard shortcut and the ability to create buttons for the toolbar like you can in Microsoft applications. Maybe that needs to go into the wish list unless anyone know how to do it.

Thanks

[Jim Kring]

I have talked to developers within NI, to see if there is some hidden way to do this, and the answer I recieved is that it is not currently possible. However, it is a great idea.

[Khalid]

On similar lines, is there a shortcut to cycle through the Error list? I sorely miss this in situations where I have to go back to the Error list and double-click the next error to go to it. A shortcut -- similar to Ctrl+G for Search results -- would be nice.

-Khalid

[i2dx]

you can set the keyboard shortcuts in LabVIEW 8 in the "Options" Dialog

[Jim Kring]

you can set the keyboard shortcuts in LabVIEW 8 in the "Options" Dialog

Yes, this is a very nice feature. However, I don't think that it will solve either of the problems mentioned above.

[Michael Aivaliotis]

Yes, this is a very nice feature. However, I don't think that it will solve either of the problems mentioned above.

Ya, it seems like NI did a half a** job on this one. If they only showed the custom items placed in the Tools menu in the Options screen menu editor then this would be a good solution. Now, as it stands, you can only see the NI items.

[klessm1]

Ya, it seems like NI did a half a** job on this one. If they only showed the custom items placed in the Tools menu in the Options screen menu editor then this would be a good solution. Now, as it stands, you can only see the NI items.

Now that I have thought about it a little, there may be a way for me to implement a solution without making the shortcuts to the menu items. In the tools I am working with, the user has the option to log into a database of their choice so the checkin and checkout tools know right away what database they are working in. This tool is running all the time keeping the database connection in memory so I could possibly trap keystrokes within that application, find the top vi window and open the checkout, checkin, or add tool. This solution might work for me, but I don't think it is feasible for other tools. The ultimate solution is to get the update from NI for shortcuts for custom tools menu items...and options for tool bar buttons.

[davidwm]

Now that I have thought about it a little, there may be a way for me to implement a solution without making the shortcuts to the menu items. In the tools I am working with, the user has the option to log into a database of their choice so the checkin and checkout tools know right away what database they are working in. This tool is running all the time keeping the database connection in memory so I could possibly trap keystrokes within that application, find the top vi window and open the checkout, checkin, or add tool. This solution might work for me, but I don't think it is feasible for other tools. The ultimate solution is to get the update from NI for shortcuts for custom tools menu items...and options for tool bar buttons.

Since it seems Ni still has not changed anything in the support of Menu Shortcuts for Custom Tools and I did not exactly know how to Listen to global Keyboard inputs, I came up with another solution to this issue. Take AutoHotKey and Use the WinMenuSelectItem Function. can be read from WinActive and Menu is &6 (for Tools, might be a different name in other Languages, therefor use number), use Names for the SubMenus (you should know your own titles).

Done.

You would still have to code an additional Program (with AutoHotKey) and supply it with you Tool as well as automatically start it on Startup (which is not really neat, but it should work).

davidwm

Edited June 21, 2011 by davidwm

[davidwm]

Since it seems Ni still has not changed anything in the support of Menu Shortcuts for Custom Tools and I did not exactly know how to Listen to global Keyboard inputs, I came up with another solution to this issue. Take AutoHotKey and Use the WinMenuSelectItem Function. can be read from WinActive and Menu is &6 (for Tools, might be a different name in other Languages, therefor use number), use Names for the SubMenus (you should know your own titles).

Done.

You would still have to code an additional Program (with AutoHotKey) and supply it with you Tool as well as automatically start it on Startup (which is not really neat, but it should work).

davidwm

Well, never mind. Labview uses a customized menu and AutoHotKey cannot trigger Menu Items with WinMenuSelectItem ...

davidwm

[davidwm]

Well, I have found a way to "use shortcuts". Create a QuickDrop-Plugin.

Refer to this Blogpost on how to do this:

http://labviewartisan.blogspot.com/2009/08/write-your-own-quick-drop-keyboard.html

That way you will be able to get a Shortcut Combination, that will be like [Ctrl] + [space] --> [Ctrl] + [someKey]. You can also use Shift to further specify the Plugin's behaviour.

Cheers

David