File Name: Mark Balla's Icon Editor
File Submitter: mballa
File Submitted: 17 Nov 2006
File Updated: 13 Aug 2008
File Category: LabVIEW Development Environment

File: Mark Balla Icon editor V2.3
July 7^th 2008
Author: Mark Balla
mballa@sbcglobal.net

Description:

This is the newest version of my vi icon editor and was created in LV8.2. The purpose is to help quickly create text base icons. The editor can be used in place of the standard NI icon editor or as a stand alone vi. see instructions. My original posting of the icon editor Ver. 1 can be found here
LabVIEW 7.0,7.1 http://forums.lavag.org/index.php?s=&s...ost&p=19022
LabVIEW 8.0 http://forums.lavag.org/index.php?s=&s...ost&p=12920

Instructions:

1: The icon editor was designed to be used as a replacement for the standard NI editor LV8.x only. To get LabVIEW 8.x to use the editor place the three files (lv_icon.vi, color templates.bin and the folder lv_icon_Subvis) in the LabVIEW 8.x\resource\plugins directory.
If you are using a LabVIEW version greater than 8.2 Open the lv_icon.vi and do a save all. Close the vi and restart LabVIEW.
The next time the icon editor is called LabVIEW will use the lv_icon.vi instead of the standard one.
There is a button on the editor that will allow you to use NI's editor when a text icon is not desired.

2: The icon editor can also be called from another vi or used as a stand alone tool. Make sure the "From Editor" control is set to false either via terminal in the lower left corner of the connector pane or manually in the FP. This setting indicates to the vi that a vi reference will be used to extract and save the icon information. If the "VI REF" input control is invalid at runtime a dialogue box will appear asking the user to select a vi.

Version 2.1:
Along with the auto drawing and Text compressing from version 1, version 2 has 2 new features.

1: In addition to the 2 color format in version 1 the icon editor now supports a 5 color format (Frame, Header text, Header Back, Body Text, and Body Back). This is the standard frame that many programmers use.

2: In version 2 the last 10 icon color sets are saved in a binary file and are recalled each time the editor is open. These color sets can then be selected and reused.


Version 2.2:

Along with the all the features from version 2.1, version 2.2 has several new features.

1: A new color picker was added. The standard NI color picker has been replaced by one that will only show the legal 221 colors allowed by LabVIEW for icons.
My thanks to Justin Goeres for the idea.

2:Key navigation has improved. The key navigation will only set focus to the text boxes to navigate between boxes use the tab, enter, up and down keys.
My thanks to boone_93 for the idea.

3:Improved UI. The buttons and current and previous icons have been relocated for a more intuitive look. I have also added tip strips to the buttons and history array.
My thanks to ahull for the idea.

4:Random color picker. A random color button has been added to help pick colors.
My thanks to Dave Graybeal for the idea.

5: FP auto centers. The icon editor will now open in the center of the primary display.
My thanks to tcplomp for the code.

6: The ability to read the text in the icon was added. If the icon to be changed was previously created by this icon editor the program will automatically detect the characters in the icon and convert them back into strings. This function allows for small changes like color changes and spelling mistakes to be changed without having to type all the text over.
This one was all mine.

7:Bug with Panel close fixed. When the user presses the x in the upper right corner the editor will shut down gracefully instead of locking up.

I made a avi file that shows some of the new features for Version 2.2 which I posted the support thread.

Version 2.3:

Along with the all the features from version 2.2, version 2.3 has several new features.


1: Icon Sizing and Positioning: Now Icons to be sized smaller than 32x32 by changing the "Rows" and "Width" controls. The icon can then be positioned using the "Position" control. My thanks to tcplomp for the Idea.

2: Static or Auto sizing Icons: If the "Icon Sizing selector is set the Static the icon will only draw the number of row indicated by the "Rows" control. If the selector is set to Auto the icon will adapt to the minimum number of text lines filled in.

3: Selectable Header: The icon header can be removed or enabled by changing the state of the "Header" checkbox.

4: Header and Sizing Information Saved: The header and sizing information are now save in the template files and are displayed at the bottom in the "History" array. The sizing and header settings are shown in the icon text of each template icon when room allows. The history array now saves the last 50 icon templates to the template file

5: Color Picker Will Save Current Color in History: To get the color picker to save a new color in the color history array click on the "Current Color" box and it will be added the color history.

6: Improved Text Fitting: Text fitting inside the icon has been improved

7: Improved Text Recognition: Text recognition of the icon characters had been improved

8: Other Improvments: all key presses are ignored until the icon is created and text is in the string controls.

Please feel free to give me feedback. This version has benefited greatly from ideas given to me by coworkers and other programmers.

License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

WARRING!!! the current version will not work with LabVIEW 8.6 (When the color selector is called the icon editor will lock up) the temporary fix can be found Here

Click here to download this file

Hi Mark,

I have an addition, to place the window in the center of the screen use this vi:
 Center.vi ( 16.98K ) Number of downloads: 203

Ton

I have another (more serious) issue where the editor is called from the palette editor.
I don't see the editor but it locks the GUI...
Only solution , maximize

Ton

Mark,

I believe I also remember something similar to what tcplomp was saying. If i remember correctly it happened consitently every time that the icon editor was opened from the block diagram and then closed. It's as if it really isnt exiting it properly when opened from there. If it wasn't related to where it was opened from, then the other thing that comes to mind is that it may have been if you closed the icon editor from the window bar using the 'X' rather than pressing one of the exit buttons. I'll test this here a little later to see if I can't get it to happen again.

Another interesting feature might be the ability to randomize the color patterns used. So instead of having to browse thru the color palettes and choose the colors, there would be a random button that randomly picked the colors from the palette and displayed the resulting icon. This would allow a less color savvy person to just keep hitting the randomize button until they found something they thought was attractive to the eye. I believe I saw this type of functionality in another tool, but I can't seem to remember what tool it was.

Thanks for the Great Tool!

Dave Graybeal

I became aware of this problem when I gave the editor to my coworkers to use. The program needs a "Panel Close?" event added to the top loop.
I am working on a new version that has the fix. If you want you can add the event yourself. (see below)




If I gave you a basic subvi that had the inputs and output setup would you be willing to write the code to make it work?

Here is a list of the added features in the next version.

1: Fixed Panel Close problems
2: Added New Icon Color Picker
3: Added OCR Function to fill in the text boxes from the icon.
4: Key navigation using tab, enter, up, and down keys
5: Improved UI

Thanks for the feedback now I am more motivated to finish the upgrades.

If anyone else has any suggestions I would be happy to consider them.

Mark

Mark,

Sure, sounds like a fun experiment. I'll have to give some thought as to how to do it (I've only seen it done to this point, not actually done it myself), but I think I can come up with something.

Dave Graybeal

There is a problem when trying to edit a sub pallet menu icon using mine or any other custom icon editor.
See here

I've updated the Icon editor to version 2.2

Here is an avi file that shows some of the new features.

 iconeditor.avi ( 7.74MB ) Number of downloads: 323

Mark,

what Codec have you used?

Ton

Not sure what you are asking for. If I did use a codec my program isn't telling me what it is.
I used Snagit video capture to make the avi file if that helps.

There was a problem with the download of version 2.2 in the Code Repository.
I reuploaded the files and they seem to work now.

Mark,

clicking on the link still shows up as broken..

Neville.