Multi screens and security levels in LabView8.5

[vinayk]

I have an industrial application involving NI Panel PC with a DAQ card as a replacement to a standard touch screen HMI. I would like to know is it possible to have multi screens (for eg: when you push a button named 'Setup' on the 'Main Screen', the 'Setup' screen should be opened) and security levels (for eg: an operator should not have access to changing some values while the maintenance personnel should have entire access) like in a standard HMI on this Panel PC using LabView8.5. Please note that I started using LabView less than 10 days ago.

I somehow finished the actual core logic for my application by referencing to examples, but the above mentioned cosmetic stuff is what matters to the customer and it has to be operator friendly. Please advice.....

[Justin Goeres]

QUOTE(vinayk @ Oct 17 2007, 05:39 AM)

I would like to know is it possible to have multi screens (for eg: when you push a button named 'Setup' on the 'Main Screen', the 'Setup' screen should be opened) and security levels (for eg: an operator should not have access to changing some values while the maintenance personnel should have entire access) in LabView8.5. Please note that I started using LabView less than 10 days ago.

Welcome to the board!

What you're talking about is definitely possible. The complexity of what you can do is really limited only by how much time you have/want to put into it .

QUOTE

when you push a button named 'Setup' on the 'Main Screen', the 'Setup' screen should be opened)

If you want a modal screen (i.e. one that, when it appears, prevents you from switching to any other windows until you close it), an easy way to get started is to use the Dialog template (File >> New... >> Dialog Using Events). You can use the resulting VI as a subVI in your code, and when it executes it will display its front panel to the user.

Note that you can also make any VI behave this way by setting its Window Properties (File >> VI Properties... >> Window Appearance >> "Dialog" or "Customize").

QUOTE

security levels (for eg: an operator should not have access to changing some values while the maintenance personnel should have entire access)

This is more of an application design question. Again, it's completely possible to do what you want to do, but in this case there's no "canned" solution. You will need to become familiar with property nodes (see also here), especially the "Disabled" and "Visible" properties.

[Rolf Kalbermatter]

QUOTE(Justin Goeres @ Oct 17 2007, 08:10 AM)

This is more of an application design question. Again, it's completely possible to do what you want to do, but in this case there's no "canned" solution. You will need to become familiar with property nodes (see also here), especially the "Disabled" and "Visible" properties.

Well, that is not entirely true. The LabVIEW DSC Toolkit comes with an access control library with user configuration dialogs and login screens and a Wizard that can enable and disable controls in a front panel based on the currently active user from this access control system. It is quite powerful but the entire DSC Toolkit is not cheap and if it is only just for this user access control sybsystem it might be a bit overkill. On the other hand it is (or at least used to be, not sure about the latest status) something you could embed in your own applications without runtime license fees (not true for most other parts of the DSC Toolkit) and designing your own even remotely comparable access control system will cost a lot more in money and not have the ease of use of a front panel control configuration wizard.

Rolf Kalbermatter

[Justin Goeres]

QUOTE(rolfk @ Oct 21 2007, 11:18 AM)

The LabVIEW DSC Toolkit comes with an access control library with user configuration dialogs and login screens and a Wizard that can enable and disable controls in a front panel based on the currently active user from this access control system. It is quite powerful but the entire DSC Toolkit is not cheap and if it is only just for this user access control sybsystem it might be a bit overkill.

Quite right. I just meant "canned" as in "found either in LabVIEW as installed, or somewhere free."

Just so this reply isn't completely useless, here's a http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/10418' target="_blank">link to NI's LabVIEW DSC Toolkit.