How do I "easily" open the reentrant original?

[Michael Aivaliotis]

When you open a reentrant subVI from the block diagram (double-click), LabVIEW opens a clone of the VI instead of the source VI. The title bar of the VI contains (clone) to indicate that it is a clone of the source VI. Does anyone know of a shortcut way to open the reentrant original (not the clone)? Currently it's a pain in the rear! I have to double-click the subVI which opens the clone, then I have to hit ctrl+M to go into edit mode. LabVIEW then opens the reentrant original (in addition to leaving the clone open) then I have to perform a slight of hand and somehow click on the X of the clone VI panel so I can close it then switch back to the reentrant original for editing.

It's obvious that no-one at NI went through this scenario too often because if they did, they would realize what a pain it is and would have probably come up with a shortcut already.

[crelf]

I thought there might be a key stroke (hold down something when you double click), but I think you're out of luck:

If you need to edit a reentrant VI, you must open the original reentrant VI instead of the clone. You can open the reentrant VI from the clone by selecting Operate

[Aristos Queue]

It's obvious that no-one at NI went through this scenario too often because if they did, they would realize what a pain it is and would have probably come up with a shortcut already.

Ctrl+m opens the original.

If you then start editing, the clone goes away on its own. No slight of hand needed.

[crelf]

If you then start editing, the clone goes away on its own.

That's kinda spooky

[Michael Aivaliotis]

Ctrl+m opens the original.

If you then start editing, the clone goes away on its own. No slight of hand needed.

Oh, great! This saves an extra step. Thanks :thumbup: for the undocumented tip. (At least I didn't find it).

[Ton Plomp]

Oh, great! This saves an extra step. Thanks for the undocumented tip. (At least I didn't find it).

One other option (haven't checked) but I think the project explorer would be the answer.

Ton

[Michael Aivaliotis]

One other option (haven't checked) but I think the project explorer would be the answer.

Ton

When you're knee-deep in coding\debugging, and the VI is staring you in the face, the easiest thing is to double-click the VI. That's how I work.

A side note: It seems like NI is putting in more and more hinderances with every new LV release to "force" people to use the Project Explorer more. Maybe I'm wrong but i can give a list of changes that are making me frustrated.

[Aristos Queue]

When you're knee-deep in coding\debugging, and the VI is staring you in the face, the easiest thing is to double-click the VI. That's how I work.

A side note: It seems like NI is putting in more and more hinderances with every new LV release to "force" people to use the Project Explorer more. Maybe I'm wrong but i can give a list of changes that are making me frustrated.

FYI, ater having been in the public domain for 2 releases, we've collected enough feedback that the project should be getting a nice polish in one of the next releases. Not sure which one, but there's work actively going on there.

On your comment that we're forcing you into the project: It is certainly true the that the project is now *the* place for configuration of LabVIEW deloyments -- whether that be deploying to an RT target, building an EXE, or configuring a remote machine. That was a deliberate decision because the complexity of many tasks was too much for simpler command structures. We had bug reports and feature requests galore, and LV needed a richer environment to respond to those reports/requests. Everyone has complained for years about every VI being its own window and there not being a central place to look at to see your application as a whole (the VI Hierarchy window doesn't count for most people). The project provides that (and will provide that better as time goes by).

Reentrancy raises another issue. The demand for debuggable reentrant VIs was huge. That requires that each clone have its own front panel and block diagram, so they can be individually inspected/probed/stepped/etc. So now you have a window management issue worse than before. We did provide ways of working out side of the project -- there's a major faction of LV developers dedicated to making sure that LV stays usable without the project window, at least for general editing of VIs. But the project does a nice way to guarantee that you got the original VI. That's not NI forcing the use of the project. That's the project being as useful as it can possibly be.