When you add splitter bars to the front panel, you separate the front panel into multiple regions, called panes. You can configure how panes appear and behave.

You can use splitter bars to create professional user interfaces, such as toolbars or status bars You can configure panes by right-clicking the visible scroll bar and selecting options from the shortcut menu.

Panes have the following characteristics:

  • Each pane acts similar to a unique front panel.
  • You can scroll each pane individually.
  • Each pane has its own set of controls on it.

The splitter bar can separate the controls on one pane from those on another pane, yet the terminals for all controls are on the same block diagram.

If there are no splitter bars on the front panel, you can configure some properties of the single pane in the VI Properties dialog box. However, if you add a splitter bar to the front panel, LabVIEW limits the menu options in the VI Properties dialog box because the configurations cannot apply to all panes. You must configure each pane individually. For example, adding a splitter bar to the front panel dims the Scale all objects on front panel as the window resizes checkbox on the Window Size page of the VI Properties dialog box.

To configure panes, complete the following steps.

  1. Select the pane to configure:
    • Right-click a scroll bar in the pane.
    • Right-click a splitter bar and select the pane you want to configure
  2. Select among the following shortcut menu options.
    • Visible Items: Adds the label for the pane to the front panel. LabVIEW hides the pane label by default.
    • Create: Allows you to create a Property Node, VI Server reference, or Invoke Node to configure the pane programmatically.
    • Horizontal Scrollbar: Allows you to select if the horizontal scroll bar is always visible, never visible, or not visible while the VI is running.
    • Vertical Scrollbar: Allows you to select if the vertical scroll bar is always visible, never visible, or not visible while the VI is running.
    • Pane Sizing: Allows you to control how resizing the window affects panes. You can choose to have the objects in the resized pane remain at the bottom, top, left, or right of the pane. You also can choose to scale the objects in the pane when you resize the window.
    Note If you turn off the horizontal or vertical scroll bar by right-clicking the scroll bar in the front panel window, you can display the scroll bar again by enabling the Show horizontal scroll bar option or the Show vertical scroll bar option in the Customize Window Appearance dialog box.

You also can use the Pane properties to configure panes programmatically.