Control: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:09, 12 May 2020

A Control is an input element on the Front Panel of a VI that allows users to interact with (control) a VI at runtime. When a control is connected to a terminal on the Connector pane, it serves as an input terminal to pass data into a VI. A control can also be changed into an indicator via the right-click menu option Change to Indicator. Controls on a front panel are always stored as part of the owning VI. Individual controls can be stored in a control file on disk for later re-use. Control files are created and changed in the control editor.

Controls include: Knobs, Push Buttons, Strings (text input), Dials, etc. Controls to place on a front panel are accessed through the Controls Palette or through Quick Drop.

Styles of Controls

There are many styles of controls that come with LabVIEW. These sets of controls are listed below; however, there are also many third-party toolkits with various styles available and a Control editor that allows for the creation of custom controls.

Classic Controls

The Classic controls are the original set of controls. See the Classic Controls Palette.

Modern Controls

The Modern controls came out in LabVIEW 6i to incorporate a more 3D look of controls. See the Modern Controls Palette.

System Controls

The System controls uses the control style from the Operating System (OS). If these are used, be aware that the look of the application could change if used in a different OS (for example: developing in Windows 7 and then upgrading to Windows 10). See the System Controls Palette.

Silver Controls

The Silver controls came out in LabVIEW 2011 to try to address the concerns that user interfaces were beginning to look dated. See the Silver Controls Palette.

NXG Controls

The NXG controls came out in LabVIEW 2018 to allow creation of LabVIEW user interfaces that look like LabVIEW NXG user interfaces. See the NXG Style Controls Palette.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-A '''Control''' is the main input on a [[Front Panel]].  There are two ways a control can be saved: as a basic control, or as a control file.  Controls can be changed to [[Indicator|Indicators]] on the [[Front Panel]] by right-clicking and selecting '''Change to Indicator'''.
+{{TOCright}}
+A '''Control''' is an ''input element'' on the [[Front Panel]] of a [[VI]] that allows users to interact with (control) a VI at runtime. When a control is connected to a terminal on the [[Connector pane]], it serves as an input terminal to pass data into a VI. A control can also be changed into an [[Indicator|indicator]] via the right-click menu option '''Change to Indicator'''. Controls on a front panel are always stored as part of the owning VI. Individual controls can be stored in a [[CTL File Extension|control file]] on disk for later re-use. Control files are created and changed in the [[Control editor|control editor]].
-==Basic Controls==
+Controls include: Knobs, Push Buttons, Strings (text input), Dials, etc.  Controls to place on a front panel are accessed through the [[Controls Palette]] or through [[Quick Drop]].
-Basic controls are saved with the owning [[VI]].  There are many data types to basic controls and many UI styles.
-==Control File ([[CTL File Extension|''.ctl'']])==
+== Styles of Controls ==
-The control file, or ([[CTL File Extension|''.ctl'']]) file, is the method to create a custom look to a control (including adding decals to buttons) and/or create a data type definition.  The controls can have one of three different types of behavior:
+There are many styles of controls that come with [[LabVIEW]].  These sets of controls are listed below; however, there are also many third-party toolkits with various styles available and a [[Control editor]] that allows for the creation of custom controls.
-# '''Control''' - saves the control as a custom control with no linking
-# '''Type Definition''' - saves the control as a custom control with data type linking
-# '''Strict Type Definition''' - saves the control as a custom control with both data type and UI style linking
-===Control===
+=== Classic Controls ===
-More to Come
+The '''Classic''' controls are the original set of controls.  See the [[Controls Palette/Classic|Classic Controls Palette]].
+{{ambox|text=Example Picture Place Holder}}
-===Type Definition===
+=== Modern Controls ===
-More to Come
+The '''Modern''' controls came out in [[LabVIEW 6i]] to incorporate a more 3D look of controls.  See the [[Controls Palette/Modern|Modern Controls Palette]].
+{{ambox|text=Example Picture Place Holder}}
-===Strict Type Definition===
+=== System Controls ===
-More to Come
+The '''System''' controls uses the control style from the Operating System (OS).  If these are used, be aware that the look of the application could change if used in a different OS (for example: developing in Windows 7 and then upgrading to Windows 10).  See the [[Controls Palette/System|System Controls Palette]].
+{{ambox|text=Example Picture Place Holder}}
-==Customizing a Control==
+=== Silver Controls ===
-More to Come
+The '''Silver''' controls came out in [[LabVIEW 2011]] to try to address the concerns that [[User Interface|user interfaces]] were beginning to look dated.  See the [[Controls Palette/Silver|Silver Controls Palette]].
+{{ambox|text=Example Picture Place Holder}}
-==See Also==
+=== NXG Controls ===
-*UI Toolkits
+The '''NXG''' controls came out in [[LabVIEW 2018]] to allow creation of [[LabVIEW]] [[User Interface|user interfaces]] that look like [[LabVIEW NXG]] [[User Interface|user interfaces]].  See the [[Controls Palette/NXG Style|NXG Style Controls Palette]].
-*[[XControl]]
+{{ambox|text=Example Picture Place Holder}}
-*[[QControl]]
+== See also ==
+*[[Indicators]]
+* [[CTL File Extension]]
+* [[Type Definition]]
+* [[Strict Type Definition]]
+* [[Control editor]]
+* '''UI Toolkits'''
+** [[XControl]]
+** [[QControl]]
 [[Category:LabVIEW fundamentals]]
+[[Category:Front Panel]]