I don't want to use a "Stop" button....

[Ben]

Nic wrote

"Unfortunetly, shared network variables are going to have to be a neccessary evil in some places in my design because I need to utilize the computer network infrastructure to transfer some signals across multiple programs. "

I don't give up that easy.

Action Engines can be called using VI Server so they can be used to to interact between multiple LV contexts on the same machine, between PC's, and between PC's and any of the RT target platforms.

They will even work across LabVIEW versions!*

Ben

*Try to do THAT with a shared variable.

[hecmar.arreola]

Do you think that using an Action Engine or a Functional Global Variable is always a better option over a shared-network variable?  Can you pass waveform data any more reliably through an AE w/ VI Server across a network as oppose to a shared network variable?

[hecmar.arreola]

What is VI Server?  Can someone link me to an article or something?  How do I know if I have VI Server?  I am a National Instruments Developers Suite subscriber.

[Ben]

Nick asked

Do you think that using an Action Engine or a Functional Global Variable is always a better option over a shared-network variable?  Can you pass waveform data any more reliably through an AE w/ VI Server across a network as oppose to a shared network variable?

---

You will have to define "better" before I can reply to your first Q.

More reliably?

I have used the AE method for communications that survived power failures of the PC such that all data acquired while the PC was down are not missed. It all depends on how you write your AE.

Ben

[Ben]

VI Server is the ActiveX interface that LV uses to expose the VI's proprties and methods.

Provided your Server is configured, It lets you programatically open and run a VI. This VI can be on your local machine or on any other machine.

You open a ref to the traget VI and then use "invoke node call by reference" nodes to execute the VI. THe target runs on the machine where it is located and its returned data is passed back to the caller, again, either local or remote.

Ben

[hecmar.arreola]

"You will have to define "better" before I can reply to your first Q."

I would say that "better" is based on 2 things:
* Maintainability (easy to deploy "new variables" for use in new applications or changed applications.
* Reliability (how much more or less error prone compared to Shared Variables).

-Nic

[hecmar.arreola]

One more criteria I forgot to ask about.  Can the functionality of VI Server be passed on to an executable?  I'm working with one developers license and will need to have my apps built and installed on my target machines.  There won't be any working copies of LabVIEW on any of the production machines.  Shared Variables work with my approach......

[DJDDA]

"Can the functionality of VI Server be passed on to an executable?"

My Action Engines allow my executables to pull data from the outside world just fine.