Easily starting a LabView+cRio couple VI

[GreenRiver]

I have a LabView program which runs on the computer and talks to a cRio which is running it's own VIs.  To get my VI running properly I need to open the LabView project, connect to the cRio and then start my mainGUI VI which runs on the computer (which then calls VIs as needed to talk to the cRio).  

We have some non labview users who still need to run the software to control our instruments, it would be great if I could simplify the startup procedure, ideally if they could just run the mainGUI.vi and press start without opening the project and connecting to the cRio in the project explorer.  The cRio doesn't get used for anything else so I don't need to worry that it will be reprogramed.  

What are my options to simplify getting the mainGUI started for non labView users.  The computer the software runs on obviously has LabView so I don't need to convert the project to an application (plus I don't have the liscense to do that).

[Bob_Schor]

I'm curious about your LabVIEW configuration.  You have LabVIEW, LabVIEW Project, can develop and deploy code to the cRIO, but don't have a license to get Project to build you an Executable?  [I'm not "up" on the various types of licenses, sorry ...]

I've not done much with cRIO, but doesn't it have a mode where you deploy code to it and designate it as the "Start-up" code, so that it automatically runs when you turn on the cRIO?  [Again, sorry for lack of recent relevant experience -- I'm more a PXI guy].

I'd take another look at your Project, which I presume shows a My Computer section and a cRIO section ("pointing" to the attached cRIO).  Does it show Build Specifications for My Computer and the cRIO Target?

Bob Schor

[Jacobson-ni]

Like Bob mentioned, you can build an executable for your cRIO that will run on startup but that would require the application builder. I've never tried this but I have heard that you can do something similar by moving source distributions to your cRIO and configuring the target to run those on startup.

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/CD3C7A3F58CBBAAA862570F8007D8D06

Assuming you can get that to work, the functionality you want shouldn't be too hard to add. Just have the cRIO wait for an signal from the Host computer before it starts its code. Basically the cRIO will boot into running code but just be sitting in a loop doing nothing until the Host tells it to go.