Limitations in Designing User Interfaces (Mobile Module)
June 2008, 371946C-01
Designing user interfaces for Mobile targets is different than designing user interfaces for targets running Windows because of the following:
- Mobile 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 Mobile device. Use default values, if possible, to reduce the amount of text you must enter in a Mobile application.
- Mobile VIs support some front panel controls and indicators differently than VIs that run on Windows.
- Mobile 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 Mobile 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.
- Mobile 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 Mobile VI is different than designing user interfaces for VIs that run on Windows. In addition to some general design considerations, the Mobile Module does not support all types of controls and indicators. Mobile 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 Mobile VIs are based on the Windows Mobile native controls to save memory, so the controls might not look the same on the Mobile target as they do on the host computer. The following controls and indicators are native to the Windows Mobile operating system:
- Button
- Checkbox
- Enumerated
- Listbox
- Numeric
- Ring
- String and path
- Tab
- Table
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