Design Considerations for Dialog Boxes
- Updated2026-03-31
- 1 minute(s) read
Follow design guidelines when creating dialog boxes for LabVIEW applications.
- To keep from overusing dialog boxes, use a status text window to display less serious warnings or messages.
- To hide the menu bar and scroll bars, and to create VIs that look and behave like standard dialog boxes for each platform, you can the Dialog option at .
- If a VI contains consecutive dialog boxes that
appear in the same screen location, organize them so that the
buttons in the first dialog box do not directly line up with the
buttons in the next dialog box.
If the buttons align, users might double-click a button in the first dialog box and unknowingly click a button in the subsequent dialog box.
- Users might attempt to use the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+Z to
perform an undo operation while a VI is running. Using
Ctrl+Z while a
VI is running can cause unexpected behavior in dialog boxes, such as
reopening a closed dialog box.
To avoid this behavior, you can do either of the following:
- Create a custom menu that does not include the option.
- Add an Event structure to the VI and configure the Menu Selection (App) event to handle the command.
- Use the system controls located on the System palette in dialog boxes you create.