Bug with context help on tabs?

[SULLutions]

Yesterday I was exploring an unfamiliar VI and turned on the context sensitive help to try to learn more about it. I was puzzled when I hovered over what appeared to be Boolean buttons on a Tab control and the help window indicated "No description available" (not surprising), but on an I32! Reordering the controls didn't help. With some experimentation, I discovered that controls with no description on a Tab that also has no description show as I32s in the help window. The Tab also shows as a generic I32, rather than a Tab. If the Tab has a description, even a single space character, then it and undocumented controls on it show as Tab controls. Any control with even a single space character in its description is identified properly.

The NI forum requested a posted example and I supplied the following detailed description of an experiment instead:

I see it in 7.0 on the Mac and 8.6 on Windows and Mac. In 7.0, the I32 indication doesn't show but the Tab's label will show and you can see its help window has precedence over the control's if only the Tab has a description and that neither is active if neither has a description.

I don't readily see how to post an example, but just start a new blank VI, drop a Tab on it, and drop a Boolean (or any other control) on that. Place a different control type (an Enum, for instance) directly on the front panel. Turn on context sensitive help.

When the mouse is on the panel but outside all controls, the help window maintains its last display. If you move over the control that is directly on the panel, its label and "No description available" will appear. If you move anywhere on the panel, over the Tab, or over the control on the Tab, the help display does not change. Add even a blank to the description of the Tab and the help window will change to show the Tab's label when over it. Add anything to the description of the control on the Tab and it will become visible to the help window. Delete either of the descriptions and that control becomes invisible to the help window again.

Note that the (Enum) directly on the panel is always visible to the help window whether or not it has a description.

Looks like a bug to Yair and me. Any comments?

[SULLutions]

This has been reported as a bug, CAR # 154260.

The work around is to fill in the description--but you should have done that to start with.