cRIO exe with 'Front panel communication' and no LabVIEW

[BonAn]

I have a project with a cRIO VI and a FPGA VI.  The cRIO VI is ran with 'front panel communcation' i.e. the front panel is open on the Windows host.  Is it possible to create a standalone executable that I could place on a laptop that does not have LabVIEW installed (just free runtime engine) that can use front panel communication with the cRIO VI?

If not, is it possible if I used a web interface or some other method instead?

If that is not possible, what is the preferred solution - create a host VI that communicates via shared variables with the cRIO VI; make a cRIO exe and deploy it as startup on the cRIO; then make a host exe?

[James.M · Accepted solution]

You want to use a Remote Front Panel. Once you set it up, you can communicate with the front panel over the network, even through your browser if you want.

Here's a helpful link.

[James.M]

I should also point out that if you do it through your browser, you still need to install the runtime engine on that computer because in installs a plugin for the browser to understand the VI inside the html file.

[BonAn]

Yep, and the runtime engine is free.  Also note that the runtime engine needs to be the same 'bitness' (32 or 64 bit) as the Labview version that made the file.  For example, I made the VI with 32 bit Labview and tried to access it through my laptop with a 64 bit OS and 64 bit runtime engine.  Didn't work, had to install 32 bit runtime engine.  Everything ended up working great, thanks for the help!