Building a User Interface

 Download the Step-by-Step Procedure PDF

1. Place a numeric control on the front panel
   1. Right-click the front panel to open the Controls palette and select Modern»Numeric»Numeric Control
   2. Left-click to place on the front panel
2. Place a numeric indicator on the front panel
   1. Right-click the front panel to open the Controls palette and select Modern»Numeric»Numeric Indicator
   2. Left-click to place on the front panel
3. Wire the numeric control to the numeric indicator on the block diagram
4. Place a horizontal pointer slide control on the front panel
   1. Right-click the front panel to open the Controls palette and select Modern»Numeric»Horizontal Pointer Slide
   2. Left-click to place on the front panel
5. Place a gauge indicator on the front panel
   1. Right-click the front panel to open the Controls palette and select Modern»Numeric»Gauge
   2. Left-click to place on the front panel
6. Place a thermometer indicator on the front panel
   1. Right-click the front panel to open the Controls palette and select Modern»Numeric»Numeric Control
   2. Left-click to place on the front panel
7. Wire the pointer slide control to the gauge and thermometer indicators on the block diagram
8. Place a horizontal toggle switch control on the front panel
   1. Right-click the front panel to open the Controls palette and select Modern»Boolean»Horizontal Toggle Switch
   2. Left-click to place on the front panel
9. Place a square LED indicator on the front panel
   1. Right-click the front panel to open the Controls palette and select Modern»Boolean»Square LED
   2. Left-click to place on the front panel
10. Wire the toggle switch control to the square LED indicator on the block diagram
11. Place a tab container on the front panel
    1. Right-click the front panel to open the Controls palette and select Modern Containers»Tab Control
    2. Left-click to place on the front panel
    3. Resize to account for all front panel objects
12. Place controls and indicators within the tab control
    1. Drag and drop the waveform graph indicator onto the Page 1 tab pane of the tab control
    2. Navigate to Page 2 of the tab control by left-clicking on the Page 2 tab
    3. Drag and drop the remaining controls and indicators into the Page 2 tab pane
13. Run the VI and navigate between the tabs during run time to observe the results
14. Navigate to Page 2 of the tab control
15. Open the Tools palette
    1. Navigate to View»Tools Palette
16. Change the color of the square LED indicator to red
    1. On the Tools palette, select the Coloring tool
    2. Left-click the foreground color swatch
    3. Left-click the color red
    4. Left-click the square LED indicator
17. Change the color of the toggle switch control lever, thermometer indicator background color, and outer ring of the gauge indicator to blue
    1. On the Tools palette, select the Coloring tool
    2. Left-click the foreground color swatch
    3. Left-click the color blue
    4. Left-click the toggle switch control lever
    5. Left-click the thermometer indicator background
    6. Left-click the outer ring of the gauge indicator
18. On the Tools palette, select the Automatic Tool Selector
19. Navigate to Page 1 of the tab control
20. Change the color of the waveform graph background and legend to be transparent
    1. On the Tools palette, select the Coloring tool
    2. Left-click the foreground color swatch
    3. Left-click the (T) in the upper right corner to select a transparent color
    4. Left-click the background of the waveform graph
    5. Left-click the plot legend of the waveform graph
21. Select the Automatic Tool Selector and run the VI

To see a community of LabVIEW users who are interested in developing and sharing custom controls and GUI items, visit the LabVIEW User Interface Interest Group.