ALUI - separation of binaries and configuration

Question

Hi,
Can anyone shed some info on how to separate ALUI 6.5 binaries and the portal configuration pieces ?
I want to mimc the same concept of user_projects folder in Weblogic Server where we create a domain that is not part of product binaries.
I want to have some thing similar in ALUI. Basically, protal configuration and ALUI binaries should be owned by different user ids ?
Is this possible ?
Thanks --agr                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Answer 1

Kathryn,
I usually use an architecture with three parallel loops: GUI, DAQ, and Processing. Each loop is a state machine. The GUI uses an event structure for handling user inputs and updates indicators, if needed, in the timeout case. DAQ acuires inputs and send outputs to external instruments and devices. Processing does everything else: Data analysis, formatting and reduction, saving to files, parameter error checking, mode determination (Is everything ready to permit Run?...), and so on.
I use two pairs of queues for inter-loop communication. GUI-Process and Process-DAQ. The GUI loop does not talk directly to the DAQ loop. One queue in each pair carries commands, queries, requests along with parameters while the other takes reponses in the opposite direction. If you are using a recent version of LV, you can pass the data via queues without flattening (older queues only handled strings). I often use a cluster with an enum, a numeric, and a string for the command queue and an enum, numeric, and string or array, depending on the data types, for the response queue. The enums are typedefs which define the nature of the data being passed. Some commands such as Pause or Halt need no parameters. Setup DAQ might require sampling rate, number of channels, and number of samples per scan to be sent. Responses include Status, Error, Stopped, as well as Data. The Data response might include Channel number (or Name), the data, and a timestamp.
Some people use the destruction of the queue and the error generated by attempting to read it as a "Stop the parallel loop" command. I prefer an explicit "Halt" command and a status response "Stopped" to let the program know that orderly shutdown has occurred.
Lynn