Remote Access

[Neil.Pate]

Hi there.

I am fairly new to LabVIEW, and am having some trouble understanding the different remote access methods. My application will consist of a remote client and a server application (both sitting on an IP network). The client needs to be able to change options on the server and start and stop various tests (but very little data exchange is necessary). As far as I can tell, there are numerous ways of doing this: using raw TCP/IP, using the DataSocket, using Remote Panels, using a VI Server. HELP! I really dont know which of these options is best for my application. Only one client will ever be present, so there is no need to lock out access etc.

Also, both applications will be compiled and not running under the LabVIEW developer environment,
I dont suppose this presents any problem?

I would really appreciate it if someone could lend me their experience regarding these issues 😉

Thanks in advance
Neil

[Joe_Guo]

I would use datasocket in this case.

-Joe

[Neil.Pate]

Joe,

thanks for your response. What are the benefits of using datasocket as opposed to a VI server?

[Joe_Guo]

Well, It hides you from the lower level TCP/IP work, data integrety is ensured, and it is easier to upgrade your software in the future. You application can run on multiple clients without code change.

-Joe

[Dennis_Knutson]

If you want another opinion, I would go with a remote panel if there's no transfer of data from the server to the client other than the setting of the options and test selection that you mentioned. With a remote panel, you only have to write the server side app and then publish it as a web page. With the LabVIEW web server running, the client can view the server app with his browser and request control. The only requirement on the client side is installation of the LabVIEW run-time engine but if you wrote a specific client application in LabVIEW, you'd have to install that anyway. Do you need to save test results on the client or transfer them to the client?

[Neil.Pate]

Hi Dennis,

Yes, thanks for your opinion. I think I am slowly beginning to see the difference in these different remote methods. I thought using a VI server would solve the problem, but a test app that I quickly rolled seems to indicate that any panels which I open from the remote client actually get opened on the server side, which is completely not the intended behaviour. I would like the panels (which reside on the server in a DLL, and interact with files on the server) to pop up on the client. Maybe the only way to do this is using the Web server as you suggested?

There is no need to save any of the data on the client, it just needs to be able to view data which resides on the server.

Thanks for your input 🙂