T3000 Interface Improvement Suggestions

I am using the T3000 interface and it is proving very powerful. That said, I would like to suggest the following improvements to improve its ease of use:

  1. In the PROGRAM list window,
    a) only allow editing of programs with a label and enforce label creation before allowing editing. I was confused for more than an hour because I had accidently clicked on an empty row and sent a duplicate of my program to the device. Afterwards I could not seem to get my program updates to apply. That was because I was running two versions of the same program, but could not see that that was the case because it only looked like I had one program.
    b) ensure that the Name shown on the top of the Program editing window matches the Label in the PROGRAM list window.
    c) Open a Program editing window for each row on which the Programming button is clicked so that multiple programs can be seen at once.

  2. In the Program editing window,
    a) add a button to compile directly or an indicator to show that compilation is ongoing. I have made numerous edits and the compile error did not change so could not determine if my error was from new code or old.
    b) add a button to save the existing file without bringing up the file navigator. More than once, I have selected the wrong file name because I was asked over and over for which file I wanted to save.
    c) do not re-render the editor window following a file save. It can be disorienting to have the lines move up and down.
    d) allow the programming window to be resized. On a laptop, the window is too tall.

  3. Add the ability to tile all the open windows in the workspace and to preserve the layout between sessions of the T3000 being started and stopped. At the same time, the columns should be resized to fit the tiled windows.

  4. Add a file save option to the main file menu to overwrite the existing software for the same reason as mentioned around file saving above.

  5. In the PID window, increase the contrast or make the Output column contents black to improve the readability of the values

1 Like

I will write this up for the developers. Including a few questions here though.

  1. In the PROGRAM list window,
    a) only allow editing of programs with a label and enforce label creation before allowing editing. I was confused for more than an hour because I had accidently clicked on an empty row and sent a duplicate of my program to the device. Afterwards I could not seem to get my program updates to apply. That was because I was running two versions of the same program, but could not see that that was the case because it only looked like I had one program.

I can see what you’re saying but wondering how this feature would work. I can see a user getting confused as to why they cannot enter the editor just because they haven’t yet given the program a name. When there’s a program the size is showing as non-zero and that is your clue that there’s two programs.

b) ensure that the Name shown on the top of the Program editing window matches the Label in the PROGRAM list window.

This we can add, sure.

c) Open a Program editing window for each row on which the Programming button is clicked so that multiple programs can be seen at once.

Guess we could do that.

  1. In the Program editing window,
    a) add a button to compile directly or an indicator to show that compilation is ongoing. I have made numerous edits and the compile error did not change so could not determine if my error was from new code or old.

There is a compile button down at the bottom of the editor window, could be your screen resolution is too small to see it. We can make the editor window saleable and show it fully on small screens by default.

b) add a button to save the existing file without bringing up the file navigator. More than once, I have selected the wrong file name because I was asked over and over for which file I wanted to save.

Sure, could add this. The last saved name and path will pop up automatically.

c) do not re-render the editor window following a file save. It can be disorienting to have the lines move up and down.
d) allow the programming window to be resized. On a laptop, the window is too tall.

Both good items, agreed.

  1. Add the ability to tile all the open windows in the workspace and to preserve the layout between sessions of the T3000 being started and stopped. At the same time, the columns should be resized to fit the tiled windows.
2 Likes

Thanks for the quick response.

For 1a), the general approaches for this sort of prerequisite control is one of the following:

  • When the user clicks the programming button while on a row with no label, popup a window asking them for the program label
    or
  • When the user clicks the programming button while on a row with no label, popup a window notify them to enter a label before continuing.
    or
  • Add greyed out text such as ‘Enter Label’ and disable the programming button when a user is on a line without a label

Just some suggestions. Thank you!

1 Like