I am using LabVIEW 8.5 and LabVIEW Project to develop a data acquisition/control system whose target is ultimately a PXI box, with communications being handled by TCP/IP and Shared Variables. I'm hoping to do all of the data acquisition and control on the PXI, to stream the data (via Shared Variables) to the PC, which, in turn, will stream them to disk. My goal is to have all acquisition on the PXI, and all data storage (and, of course, experiment control) on the PC. Thus far, I've managed (in Prototype 3) to 16-bit integer data (simulating A/D values) at 16K samples/sec (or 16 channels at 1KHz sampling rate) while simultaneously acquiring "digital data" (asynchronous information that includes a timestamp as part of its structure) at 2K events/sec.
I have the Project for this "project" arranged with a folder called "Host" that contains the main PC VIs, and one called "Remote" that contains the main VIs destined to run on the PXI remote system. During the initial phase of development, I have the Remote folder under "My Computer" in Project, so everything runs on the PC for testing and debugging. [This also makes it easy to put my work on my laptop and take it with me, without the need for a "portable PXI"].
What I'd like to do, during development, is to simply drag the Remote folder in Project from My Computer to my target PXI and run the entire package more-or-less automatically. In particular, I'd like to avoid (for now, during development) the step of building executables. I've written a VI (which I hope I remember to attach this time) that starts the main Remote VI (it is called from the Host VI on the PC) -- if it is passed a blank IP, it assumes that the Remote VI can be found on the Host, but if an IP is provided, it looks for the VI on that remote system.
The "correct" way to implement such a VI (and the way my code actually does work) is to provide the path (on the remote) where the VI is located. However, I'm being "lazy", and only dragging the Remote folder back and forth between My Computer and My PXI Target in Project, which doesn't actually write any files on the PXI's disk. However, it
can be used to deploy the remote VIs into the memory of the PXI -- if this is (manually) done, then my Start VI code will actually start the remote VI, even though the path of the VI on the remote is empty!
So here's the question -- is there a way to write a VI (which I would execute in my host routine before calling Start VI) to effect a "Deploy All" or "Deploy" command on the target? [Both of these options are available if one right-clicks the target in Project]. If this were possible, I'd be able to Have My Cake and Eat It, Too -- I could easily develop and test in a "PC-only" environment by dragging the Remote folder back to My Computer (in Project), then simply drag it to the Target when I wanted to try it using the PXI as a "real remote" system, without doing any extra "fussing" (such as building executables). Given that almost everything else in LabVIEW is programmable, I figured that Project would also have such an interface, but haven't found cogent documentation nor "How To" notes.
Thanks for any suggestions. I realize that I could always simply remember to do a "manual deploy" when testing using the PXI, but part of the "art" of LabVIEW programming is to insulate the user (even oneself!) from having to remember all of the details. And now, before I forget, I better find the picture of Start VI ...
Bob Schor
