Limitations in Designing User Interfaces (Windows CE, Touch Panel Module)
June 2008, 372505A-01
Designing user interfaces for Touch Panel targets is different than designing user interfaces for Windows targets because of the following:
- Touch Panel devices have a smaller screen and a significantly slower CPU than desktop computers.
- The input device generally is a pen, a stylus, or a finger, which makes inputting text slower on a Touch Panel device. Use default values, if possible, to reduce the amount of text you must enter in a Touch Panel application.
- Touch Panel VIs support some front panel controls and indicators differently than LabVIEW for Windows.
- Touch Panel VIs do not support all types of controls and indicators.
- Some controls and indicators use native controls, so the controls might not look the same on the target as on the host computer.
- You cannot use the <Tab> key to navigate the controls or indicators or use keyboard shortcuts in Touch Panel VIs.
- You can hide controls and indicators in edit mode, but you cannot disable them. Use the Visible property to hide controls and indicators programmatically.
- Touch Panel VIs do not include toolbar icons or standard desktop menus, but you can create custom run-time menus.
Front Panel Controls and Indicators
Use the front panel controls and indicators located on the Controls palette to build the user interface. Designing user interfaces for a Touch Panel VI is different than designing user interfaces for Windows VIs. In addition to some general design considerations, Touch Panel Module does not support all types of controls and indicators. Touch Panel Module supports the following front panel controls and indicators differently than VIs you create for Windows:
- Array controls and indicators
- Boolean controls
- Charts
- Cluster controls and indicators
- Combo boxes
- Decorations
- Enumerated type controls
- Graphs
- Listboxes
- Numeric controls and indicators
- Path controls
- Picture controls
- Refnums
- String controls and indicators
- Tables
- Tab controls
- Tree controls
- Time stamp controls and indicators
- Variant controls
- VISA resource name controls
Native Controls
Most controls and indicators you can use in Windows CE Touch Panel VIs are based on the Windows CE native controls to save memory, so the controls might not look the same on the Touch Panel target as they do on the host computer. The following controls and indicators are native to Windows CE:
- Button
- Checkbox
- Enumerated
- Listbox
- Numeric
- Ring
- String and path
- Tab
- Table
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