What are Quick Drop Plugins?

Quick Drop plugins are small programs (or macros) which can be activated through Quick Drop menu (Ctrl+Space). They are designed to accelerate your code development process by automating menial and repetitive tasks. Quick Drop Plugins are activated by pressing their associated Ctrl-key shortcut, while Quick Drop menu is opened. List of all installed plugins and their respective Ctrl-key shortcuts can be accessed (and modified) via “Configure…” button on Quick Drop Menu.

Recommended Plugins

While LabVIEW comes with a selected few Quick Drop plugins preinstalled, but a lot more useful plugins can be found online. Below is a list of plugins we find most useful, and have integrated into our daily LabVIEW coding routine.

Move and Size

Works on: Front Panel, Block Diagram

Moves content of Front Panel or Block Diagram to the origin, then resizes window to neatly fit its content.

Available for download here.

Align to Connector Pane

Works on: Front Panel

Aligns Front Panel controls and indicators according to their connector pane position. Works great with Move and Size plugin allowing to quickly tidy up front panels of subVIs!

Available for download as part of SAPHIR ViBox.

Set Connector Pane

Works on: Front Panel

Connects controls and indicators to the connector pane according to their front panel position.

Available for download as part of SAPHIR ViBox.

Better Move

Works on: Block Diagram nodes

When activated, displays window allowing to select direction. Then moves affected nodes in selected direction, to remove wire bend.

Available for download as part of SAPHIR ViBox.

Replace or Insert

Works on: Block Diagram nodes and wires.

Combines 2 default LabVIEW plugins: Replace and Insert into one. When activated on node acts as a “Replace”, replacing selected node with item selected from quick drop list.

When activated on wire, acts as an “Insert”, inserting item from quick drop into the middle of the wire.

Available for download as part of SAPHIR ViBox.

Open Class

Works on: Front Panel control and indicators, Block Diagram wires and nodes.

Highlights selected class or library in project window. Works similar to right clicking on Class Constant and selecting “Show Class Library”, but works on almost any FP or BD element. If selected element is not a class, containing library is highlighted.

Available for download here.

Rename Class in / Class out

Works on: Block Diagram or Front Panel of VI owned by a class

Renames a Class Member VI’s Top Left and Top Right Connector Pane inputs to ‘Class Name In’ for control and ‘Class Name Out’ for indicator. Qualified Namespacing is ignored (i.e. parent Libraries). All VI control terminal labels are aligned left and indicator terminal labels right. Useful when renaming class or after cloning (save as) a Class.

Available for download here.

Remove Structure

Works on: Block diagram structures

Removes selected structure, while preserving (visible) content. Works like right clicking on structure and selecting “Remove…”

Available for download as part of SAPHIR ViBox.

Want more?

Do you want to find more useful plugins? Or perhaps learn how to code your own? NI Quick Drop Enthusiast Forum is a great place to start!