![]() left-click the VI on the block diagram to select it. ![]() Take, for example, the ‘Basic Function Generator’ VI we just placed on the block diagram – for most people the next step is to wire up constants to define the signal parameters – this requires hovering over the terminal, right-clicking, and mousing-over ‘create > constant’ for every single item we want to wire in. In addition to quickly placing items on both the block diagram and front panel of VIs, Quick Drop provides additional functionality that can save you time with common and repetitive tasks. Once you’ve mastered this, your LabVIEW workflow quickly becomes 1) type 2) click once 3) wire 4) repeat. ![]() However, I’ll discuss some techniques that will help you avoid this in a minute. Note: if the item you want appears lower on the list or is not auto-completed, you can explicitly click on it to select it before clicking on the diagram to place it. All you need to do is type the name and click once on the block diagram to place it. Try typing the name of a common function – for example, begin typing ‘Basic Function Generator.’ After only a few letters, the function we want will appear in the list – continue typing until Quick Drop has auto-completed the name (you should only need to type ‘Basic F’) At this point, you can quickly place this item on the block diagram by left clicking where you want it to go – to be clear, once auto-completed, you DO NOT need to explicitly click the item in the Quick Drop window. When you press CTRL+Space on the block diagram, you’ll see Quick Drop: Like the palettes, the items that are available from this dialog depend upon whether the block diagram or front panel was active when you launched Quick Drop – unlike the palettes, Quick Drop can also place items (subVIs, controls, classes) that you have in your Project Explorer. To launch Quick Drop at any time, simply press CTRL+Space. So what is Quick Drop? It’s an alternative to the palettes that allows you to place items (VIs, primatives, controls, indicators, etc.) by typing the name of the item you want. If you ever want to compete with him (or if you just want to save a tremendous amount of time in your day-to-day programming experience), I highly recommend learning Quick Drop. It’s worth noting that Darren currently has a trophy at his desk touting his place as the worlds fastest LabVIEW programmer, and his blazing fast speed is made possible by Quick Drop. The original version was written by my friend and colleague, Darren Nattinger (many of you may know him from the forums as dnatt) because he was tired of fighting with palettes to find what he needed. It’s been said that ‘necessity is the mother of invention,’ and this was especially true of Quick Drop. If you find yourself loosing a significant amount of time fumbling through palette after palette in LabVIEW looking for some dawg-gone VI (only to mistakenly hover over the wrong item and have to start over) then please read on – my singular and unabashed goal in today’s entry is to convince you that Quick Drop (a feature you already have in any LabVIEW version after 8.6) will save you a tremendous amount of time. Even some experienced LabVIEW programmers I’ve spoken with seem surprisingly skeptical that Quick Drop will make them faster, and the majority of novice LabVIEW programmers weren’t even sure as to what ‘Quick Drop’ is! Consequently, I felt the urgent need to post about the value of Quick Drop and how you (yes, YOU!) can easily make the switch and improve your programming experience. It has come to my attention in recent weeks that a shocking number of LabVIEW programmers aren’t taking full advantage of Quick Drop.
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