The VI Server is a set of functions that allows you to dynamically control front panel objects, VIs, and the LabVIEW environment. These functions are located on the Application Control palette. Use the VI Server to perform the following programmatic operations:
Dynamically load VIs into memory when another VI needs to call them, rather than loading all subVIs when you open a VI.
Call a VI remotely.
Configure a LabVIEW application instance to be a server that exports VIs you can call from other instances of LabVIEW on the Web. For example, if you have a data acquisition application that acquires and logs data at a remote site, you can sample that data occasionally from your local computer. By changing the VI Server preferences in the Options dialog box, you can make some VIs accessible on the Web so that transferring the latest data is as easy as a dynamic VI call. The VI Server handles the networking details. The VI Server also works across platforms, so the client and the server can run on different platforms.
Edit the properties of a VI and LabVIEW. For example, you can dynamically determine the location of a VI window or scroll a front panel so that a part of it is visible. You also can programmatically save any changes to disk.
Update the properties of multiple VIs rather than manually using the VI Properties dialog box for each VI.
Retrieve information about an application instance, such as the version number and edition. You also can retrieve environment information, such as the platform on which LabVIEW is running.
Create a plug-in architecture for the application to add functionality to the application after you distribute it to customers. For example, you might have a set of data filtering VIs, all of which take the same parameters. By designing the application to dynamically load these VIs from a plug-in directory, you can ship the application with a partial set of these VIs and make more filtering options available to users by placing the new filtering VIs in the plug-in directory.