Internet toolkit for more than snapshot

[zedneser]

I am trying to publish my VI on the web using LabVIEW 6.1 and the internet toolkit, but I noticed that the ITK was not embedding the working VI it was only taking a snapshot and for some reason the password protection I was trying to accomplish using the ITK is not working. Can anyone tell me why this is happening? Does ITK allow remote control like the web publishing tool in 6.1 does?

[John Lum]

It sounds as if both the ITK and the built-in LabVIEW Web Server are working as they are supposed to. Here are some points to address your questions:

The Internet Developers Toolkit add-on:
- Only provides images of VIs (i.e. .snap, .monitor), not true embedding and full interactivity as with the 6.1 server and its Remote Panel feature
- Allows the programmer to build some interactivity, if desired, using imagemaps and HTML form elements in conjunction with the powerful CGI capability of the ITK (search for "cgi remote control" on NI site)
- Provides more in-depth security (e.g. password-based access to resources and other traditional HTTP server features) than the LabVIEW 6.1 Web Server

Meanwhile, the LabVIEW 6.1 Web Server:
- Provides basic image publ
ishing functionality as with the ITK
- Supports true VI embedding and interactivity with its Web Publishing tool and Remote Panel feature
- Only supports host-level security control. If you want user-level security with your published VIs, you can easily build user/password functionality into the VI itself.

Hope this helps,
John Lum
National Instruments

[zedneser]

"If you want user-level security with your published VIs, you can easily build user/password functionality into the VI itself."

This sounds like a good idea. Do you know where I can find some examples and if when this is accomplished does it allow the user to view the VI at all? I would like them to not be able to see anything on the screen unless they have the user id and password for it.

Thanks for your help.

[John Lum]

You'll have to program this behavior into your LabVIEW VI, for instance by programmatically setting the Visible or Disabled property of the controls you want hidden or inoperative until login.

This is a topic that is well-covered in the LabVIEW training courses offered by NI, in addition to a lot of other great stuff to get someone up and coding in LabVIEW with good form.

In addition, there is at least one LabVIEW/password example on the NI site: search for "labview password access" (don't use quotes).

Regards,
John

[Kamran S.]

Since you are using LabVIEW 6.1 you can also take advantage of the LabVIEW Remote Panel feature. This allows you to embed a running VI in a browser and to interact/control the VI remotely.

Any password protection you build in could be incorporated as an initial step for this VI as well.

Here's a links with information on Remote Panels:
http://zone.ni.com/devzone/devzone.nsf/webcategories/4EC7586D87341631862567AC004F0E38?opendocument&node=dz52050_us

Regards,
Kamran