How to disable the whole vi?

Question

Dear All,
         Because the sub-vi uses much memory, when it is running, I want to forbid the user to run other sub-vi.
         That is when the user presses the button to run the sub-vi which uses much memory, I want to the user don't press other button before the sub-vi finishes. Otherwise the vi will be error.
         I see that it can be done by disable buttons one by one. But is there any more easy way?
Thank you.

Answer 1

hugoliang wrote:
         Because the sub-vi uses much memory, when it is running, I want to forbid the user to run other sub-vi.
You leave out a lot of information.
How does a user "run another subVI".
What is the structure of your main program (e.g. state machine).
How does your program call the subVIs (direct, via reference, etc).
Why does the program use so much memory? Maybe the code is not very efficient and you create more datacopies in memory that actually needed (e.g. overuse of local variables, etc.)
Typically, the only thing you need to do is use proper dataflow and e.g. place all your possible subVIs is different cases of a case or event structure. Once you do this, only one case can run at any given time.
Personally, I would not "lock out" the front panel. The user interface loop should not be blocked and should still and allow simple user interactions, just not lauch an additional heavy CPU process. Alternatively, you could "disable&grey out" certain buttons. Switch the cursor to the hour-glass+arrow, etc. to indicate that the program is actually doing something useful and has not e.g. crashed or locked up.
To give more specific advice, please attach a simplified version of your program.
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