Allow Timeout Terminal on Event Structures to Move

[JackDunaway]

Sometimes, it would be handier to have the timeout terminal move along left side of the Event Structure, not tied to the top-left corner. Also, when you wire internally to this terminal, the wire is obscured by the top of the Event Structure border (where did that mysterious wire come from?? Double-click to highlight... oh, the timeout terminal)

For completeness, I think this idea should also be applied to the Count Terminal of For Loops. (You might consider it a companion - or the opposite! - of the Option to Show/Hide the Iteration and Count Terminals of For Loop).

Oh, and certainly, if this terminal can move, make the structure corners non-magnetic!!! 

[RavensFan]

That does seem to be a design flaw of the location of the timeout node.  I never noticed before because I rarely have needed the timeout value within the event case.  I wouldn't want to move the timeout value too far from the corner.

This got me thinking.  Suppose the wire left from the corner of the timeout node?

Why are all LabVIEW wires either horizontal or vertical?  Why can't we make diagonal wires?  Can you imagine the spaghetti code that would create?

[JackDunaway]

I have been juggling the idea of a 45deg angled wire Idea for about the past 6months, but I have been reluctant to post that idea - it's just a silly. If I ever do make the post for non-orthogonal wires, it's going to be on April 1st.

Also, I never noticed the flaw until today either. It's not very often that I wired the Timeout value from the inside of the terminal (I think today was the first time ever?), but it hit me when I noticed the flaw... it sure would be nice to move this thing around, and would allow cleaner code in many other places.

[elset191]

I've seen some scripting code that created diagonal wires.  I think it was a swingset.  I'd be hardpressed to find it again though...

[DFGray]

You can create a diagonal wire by building it up pixel by pixel with many short wire segments.  This is fairly easy with scripting.  However, it will also bloat the size of your VI, since those control points have to be stored somewhere.

[tst]

I don't think I would want the timeout terminal to move, because I already have a problem with the walls of event structures being too crowded (data terminals, dynamic events, tunnels, etc.). I didn't even know you could wire to the inside of the timeout terminal, and whenever I needed the value, I passed it in through a separate tunnel.

> I'd be hardpressed to find it again though...

I wouldn't - http://lavag.org/topic/10670-wired-wires/

I also thought more than once about non-straight wires. I'm not at all sure the idea is inherently bad, but it has potential for so much abuse I doubt it would ever happen, even if it can produce better code.

[johnsold]

I often find myself using the timeout value inside an event case and always thought it odd that you had to create a hidden wire to make the connection.  If not movable, perhaps its permanent location should be far enough down from the upper left corner to allow a wire to pass across the structure without being hidden by the event description.  At least nothing is in the way of connecting to N in a for loop.

Lynn