Created menus as source code, not as VIPM artifacts. Updated build s…

[niACS]

…pecification.

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Summary of Changes

I added the appropriate menus to the correct menu folders, and disabled menu creation in the VIPM build specification. The following were modified or updated:
actorframework.mnu
_actorframework_experttools.mnu
_actorframework_msgqueuepair.mnu
_actor_framework_testsupport.mnu (new)
actorframework_controls.mnu (new)

Reason for Change

2026 Q1 shipped with the old palettes. These are the correct ones.

Visual Aids

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Additional Information

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Testing

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Manual Tests

Manual inspection. Yep, the new palettes are there.

[shivaprasad-basavaraj]

The palette menus probably shouldn't have the 2024 subscript.

[shivaprasad-basavaraj]

With the update to the mnu's the help tag, description have been lost.

[shivaprasad-basavaraj]

If the intention of this change was that the new mnu files are only for AF 2024 for 2020 package to have these mnu files, then I would rather have subfolders under Menus where both these new mnu's and the existing mnu's go to.

@gregr-ni

[niACS]

The palette menus probably shouldn't have the 2024 subscript.

I edited the palettes using the native LabVIEW palette editing tools, and removed that subscript. It does not appear when I run the LabVIEW IDE. How is it still there, and what tool do I need to use to make that change?

[niACS]

With the update to the mnu's the help tag, description have been lost.

How do I edit that from the LabVIEW IDE?

[niACS]

If the intention of this change was that the new mnu files are only for AF 2024 for 2020 package to have these mnu files, then I would rather have subfolders under Menus where both these new mnu's and the existing mnu's go to.

These mnu files are intended to replace and extend the mnu files that ship with 2026 Q1. These are the correct files for that release of Actor Framework.

[niACS]

It looks like I hit some "gotchas" in palette editing regarding things that are not accessible through the normal "Advanced » Edit Palette Set..." menu option. Are there other editing tools with which I am not familiar, and can they be made available?

[gregr-ni]

If the intention of this change was that the new mnu files are only for AF 2024 for 2020 package to have these mnu files, then I would rather have subfolders under Menus where both these new mnu's and the existing mnu's go to.

@gregr-ni

The Menus directory represents LabVIEW's Menus directory. We should not create hierarchy in source that doesn't match what would ship. If you feel like you need more qualification on the purpose of that directory, you could make an additional level above Menus but you shouldn't mess with Menus and below.

[shivaprasad-basavaraj]

It looks like I hit some "gotchas" in palette editing regarding things that are not accessible through the normal "Advanced » Edit Palette Set..." menu option. Are there other editing tools with which I am not familiar, and can they be made available?

You can use the "Write Palette.vi" present in LabVIEW to edit the palette file. That gives you fine grained control of editing the palette file. You can use the mnu files that are currently directly under the Core folder as the source for the finer details of the new palette files. Also after the change we should probably just have version Core\Menus and delete the ones directly under Core to avoid confusion.

[CaseyZS]

Since @niACS is OOO for the next couple weeks, @dhooks1 and I will look into it on the SteerCo side of things.

[CaseyZS]

The .mnu files referenced in this PR still appear to have a "2024 for 2020" submenu (that's missing). I'm creating a new PR to address the issues listed by @shivaprasad-basavaraj. Link to follow.

[CaseyZS]

Here's what I saw from @niACS 's fork:

In #154 I'm only replacing the deprecated files:

becomes

becomes

[niACS]

The advanced palette should also have a Test Support subpalette, as shown here:

The subpalette has these items:

There is also a controls palette:

These should all have been in my PR. I am OOO next week, but working, so I can answer questions. I can also send a zip file of the correct palette set, if that would help.

[CaseyZS]

I can recreate those changes in the other PR since I don't have access to the branch in yours @niACS .

[CaseyZS]

@niACS 's comments have been incorporated into #154 (again, because I don't have access to Allen's branch directly).