Numeric thumbwheel or similar

[rimfire44]

I am trying to create (or plagiarise) a thumbwheel type numeric control, similar to the notion of a thumbwheel on a mouse.  I want the output to increase/decrease indefinitely.  Any of the numeric controls like a slider, dial, or pointer force you to define a range on the visible scale, if not in the data entry.  For instance, my data entry limits can be plus/minus infinity, but the scale enforces a much more limited range. Of course it has to, but I don't want a two mile long control to get from x to x.  

I essentially want the performance of a simple numeric control, but I want a thumbwheel or similar to change the output instead of using the up/down arrows.  It can roll up or down as long as you care too. 

I suspect that I am missing something simple, but can't seem to find the answer. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[altenbach]

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@rimfire44 wrote:

I essentially want the performance of a simple numeric control, but I want a thumbwheel or similar to change the output instead of using the up/down arrows.  It can roll up or down as long as you care too. 

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You can use a slider that re-centers when released while using math behind the scene to simulate something similar to a multiturn knob (example).

Maybe a better option would be a slider input that modifies an existing control with a speed proportional to the value of the slider (positive or negative), i.e. the further you move it away from zero, the faster the control changes, falling back to zero on release.

[Bob_Schor]

It is not clear to me whether you are talking about a physical thumbwheel (like on an actual mouse, where it is often an "index-finger wheel"), or a Custom Control that you design in LabVIEW.  If the latter, it is (again) unclear what you want it to do -- a (physical) ThumbWheel has three (!!) basic actions, "roll up", "roll down", and "do nothing", which you could model as an Enum with three states ("Idle", "Roll Up", "Roll Down"). 

Note that with a Ternary control, you can add "Velocity" and "Acceleration" features by noting how much time elapses between User actions.  For example, a single "Roll Up" might advance the Control 1 "unit", but if a second Roll Up occurs within a second, the Control advances by 2 units, with "faster" advances as the User "Rolls" faster.

This is not difficult LabVIEW code to write, and gives you a chance to explore the Timing VIs, and learn how important "Time" is in the LabVIEW Universe, especially when it comes to reading and writing involving DAQ and other hardware.

Bob Schor

[JÞB]

I have not played with this!  And my phone doesn't have a LabVIEW IDE.  BUT, there are events for mouse over and scroll.   

I'd like to ask my 8-Ball~~~~~Will anyone post an example that demonstrates this?~~~~

Almost surely!  

"Great! And don't call me Sherrly!"

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