Can't update a control programmatically

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Using the same panel from my previous question: https://www.wavemetrics.com/forum/general/how-poll-all-controls-when-interacting-any-control

I would like the "Probe 1 run" and "Probe 2 run" to update to either "1" or "n/a" depending on if there is data available for those probes. That is, it should default to the first replicate experiment wave if it exists, or display "n/a" and disable if it isn't.

Here's the code I've tried, which is nearly identical to the snippet for Probe 1:

string matchProbe2 = WaveList(prefix,";","")
variable numProbe2Replicates = ItemsInList(matchProbe2, ";")
if (numProbe2Replicates == 0)
   print "No Probe2 data found for this experiment."
   PopupMenu Probe2SelectPopup,win=smp0,value="n/a",disable=2,popvalue="n/a"
   wave z = root:Processing:InputData:Probe2Data
   z = 0
else
   String nry = makeValueString(numProbe2Replicates)
   PopupMenu Probe2SelectPopup,win=smp0,value=#nry,disable=0,popvalue="1" 
endif
ControlUpdate/W=smp0 Probe2SelectPopup

This does not work. This disables or enables the popups just fine, but it does not set the display value. I don't so much care about displaying "n/a" when the popup is disabled, but it's pretty crucial that the popup revert to the first replicate if it exists, since that feeds forward into further processing.

 panel

jjweimer is right- use the "mode=<one-based menu item number>" keyword to control what appears as selected in the menu. That implies that one of the menu items needs to be "n/a" to allow you to select that item. The presence of a "/" may cause trouble- it would be better to use "Not Applicable".

Another bit of advice: don't use the `popvalue` keyword. It was invented for a very specific purpose. In my experience, it only causes trouble. I think it was a misfeature invented to solve a non-problem. If you really want to know more detail, I can provide it :)

May 1, 2025 at 09:49 am - Permalink

Here is a short bit of code to do the change.

Function reset_PopUp(string prefix)
	string mList, wList = WaveList(prefix, ";","")
	variable ds, nitems = ItemsInList(wList)
	if (nitems == 0)
		mList = "--;"
		ds = 2
	else
		mList = makeValueString(nitems)
		ds = 0
	endif
	PopupMenu Probe2SelectPopup, win=smp0, value=#mList, mode=1, disable=(ds)
	ControlUpdate ...
	return 0
end

 

May 1, 2025 at 10:30 am - Permalink