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SystemLink Web Interface Template

Installing a Plugin Built in G Web Development Software

This repository contains a project created in G Web Development Software preconfigured to build a NIPKG that can be used to install a built WebVI application onto a SystemLink Server. The following instructions provide steps to install the NIPKG onto a SystemLink server in the same manner that SystemLink server installs NIPKGs onto remote Windows and Linux Real-Time targets.

Note: After installing an NIPKG built with G Web Development Software, the NI Web Server will need to be restarted for the changes to take effect.

Configuring the SystemLink server for self deployment

Log into Windows on the SystemLink server machine
If not done already install the NI SystemLink Client onto the server using NI Package Manager
Open the NI SystemLink Client configuration utility
Under Connection Status select the Connect to a SystemLink server radio button
In the Server hostname and IP address failover list field enter localhost.
In a browser, navigate to the Systems Manager application in SystemLink
Go to Pending Systems and add the newly listed system (it will be using the server's hostname) as a managed system.

Building the G Web Development Software WebVI Application

Open webvi-systemlink-plugin.gwebproject in G Web Development Software.
Edit the WebVI in the project as you see fit.
See Installing and Customizing the Plugin in this readme for details for modifying the support files needed for SystemLink plugins.
Go to the WebApp.lvdist and click Build Distribution

Uploading and Installing Using Package Repository and Systems Manager

In a browser, navigate to the Package Repository application, and create a feed or reuse an existing feed.
In the details for the feed click the Add button under the Packages section.
Click Upload Packages and Browse
Navigate to and select the NIPKG built in G Web Development Software
Click Close and navigate to your SystemLink server as its listed under Managed Systems and the Systems Manager application
Go to Software and navigate to the Feeds tab.
If not already complete add the feed containing the NIPKG to the System
Go to the Available software tab and find the WebVI build application. This example project uses the display name SystemLink WebVI Plugin.
Select install from the dropdown button in the same row as the application.

Note: The NI Web Server will need to be restarted for the changes to take effect.
Upon successful install navigate back to the SystemLink landing page which lists all installed applications.
Under Additional Applications you should see an application named Web VI. Clicking on this icon will load the WebVI application created in G Web Development Software.

Creating a Generic SystemLink Web Application Plugin

The following instructions can be used to add any generic web application created with any framework as a SystemLink plugin. A working plugin template is included in the Web Server folder called webapp_plugin. You can modify this template or duplicate the plugin by modifying the following configuration files. E.g. If you needed to create a second plugin (webapp_plugin2), you could duplicate the webapp_plugin directory, and make the following changes.

Plugins in SystemLink 2021R1 and newer

Plugins in SystemLink 2021R1 appear in a navigation tree on the left of the page instead of the original homepage. In the config.json file, there is a section called navigationItems that specifies how the plugin appears in the navigation tree. Each navigation item should specify a unique id, a title token, and a URL beginning with a hash. Optionally, you can specify a group id and order within that group.

Note: The Name and Icon sections in this document only apply to plugins in earlier versions of SystemLink.

To change the name of the plugin in the navigation tree, change the pluginTitle value within the en.json file.

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server\htdocs\plugins\webapp_plugin\resources\json\locales\en.json

{
   "webapp_plugin2": {
      "pluginTitle": "Web Application for SystemLink 2021"
   }
}

Anywhere in the config.json file that references webapp_plugin.pluginTitle will get your updated value: titleToken within navigationItems updates what appears in the navigation tree, pageTitleToken updates what is shown on the browser tab title, and titleToken updates what is shown in the top bar when the app is open.

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server\htdocs\plugins\webapp_plugin\config.json

{
   "authorizationMarker": "/plugins/webapp_plugin/resources/marker.txt",
   "iframeSrc": "plugins/webapp_plugin/index.html",
   "navigationItems": [{
      "id": "webapp-plugin",
      "groupId": "webapp-group",
      "titleToken": "webapp_plugin.pluginTitle",
      "url": "#webapp_plugin"
   }],
   "pageTitleToken": "webapp_plugin.pluginTitle",
   "resources": {
      "en": {
         "css": [
            "plugins/webapp_plugin/resources/css/webapp_plugin.css"
         ],
         "json": [
            "plugins/webapp_plugin/resources/json/locales/en.json"
         ]
      }
   },
   "routeToken": "webapp_plugin",
   "titleToken": "webapp_plugin.pluginTitle"
}

Groups

Plugins can specify if they should appear within a group. Groups are defined in the navigationGroups directory within the SystemLink web server. To define a new group, create a subdirectory in navigationGroups and add a config.json file within that subdirectory.

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server\htdocs\navigationGroups\webapp_group\config.json

{
    "id": "webapp-group",
    "iconClass": "fa fa-industry",
    "order": 10,
    "resources": {
        "en": {
            "json": [
                "navigationGroups/webapp_group/resources/json/locales/en-US/webapp-group-common.json"
            ]
        }
    },
    "titleToken": "webapp.group.title"
}

To add a plugin to the group, reference the group id in the plugin's config.json navigationItems section.

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server\htdocs\plugins\webapp_plugin\config.json

{
   "authorizationMarker": "/plugins/webapp_plugin/resources/marker.txt",
   "iframeSrc": "plugins/webapp_plugin/index.html",
   "navigationItems": [{
      "id": "webapp-plugin",
      "groupId": "webapp-group",
      "titleToken": "webapp_plugin.pluginTitle",
      "url": "#webapp_plugin"
   }],
   "pageTitleToken": "webapp_plugin.pluginTitle",
   "resources": {
      "en": {
         "css": [
            "plugins/webapp_plugin/resources/css/webapp_plugin.css"
         ],
         "json": [
            "plugins/webapp_plugin/resources/json/locales/en.json"
         ]
      }
   },
   "routeToken": "webapp_plugin",
   "titleToken": "webapp_plugin.pluginTitle"
}

Name

To change the name of the plugin in the SystemLink homepage, change the pluginTitle value within the en.json file as well as a few values within the config.json file:

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server\htdocs\plugins\webapp_plugin2\resources\json\locales\en.json

{
   "webapp_plugin2": {
      "pluginTitle": "Web Application 2"
   }
}

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server\htdocs\plugins\webapp_plugin2\config.json

{
   "authorizationMarker": "/plugins/webapp_plugin2/resources/marker.txt",
   "buttonIconCls": "fa fa-area-chart",
   "buttonLabelToken": "webapp_plugin2.pluginTitle",
   "buttonTooltipToken": "webapp_plugin2.pluginTitle",
   "iframeSrc": "/plugins/webapp_plugin2/index.html",
   "orderWeight": 2,
   "permission": "",
   "resources": {
      "en": {
         "css": [
            "/plugins/webapp_plugin2/resources/css/webapp_plugin.css"
         ],
         "json": [
            "/plugins/webapp_plugin2/resources/json/locales/en.json"
         ]
      }
   },
   "routeToken": "webapp_plugin2",
   "titleToken": "webapp_plugin2.pluginTitle",
   "waitUntilLaunched": false
}

Access Control

To configure security/access control for all WebVIs in one place, modify the C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server\conf\conf.d\52_webapp_plugin.conf file, and duplicate the <Directory> tag to specify any other plugins.

<Directory htdocs/plugins/webapp_plugin>
   # Tell the privilege module to use webapp_plugin.htpriv
   Use NIAuthnEnableBrowsers
   Use NIAuthnRequirePrivilege webapp_plugin ViewResource
</Directory>
<Directory htdocs/plugins/webapp_plugin2>
   # Tell the privilege module to use webapp_plugin.htpriv
   Use NIAuthnEnableBrowsers
   Use NIAuthnRequirePrivilege webapp_plugin ViewResource
</Directory>

To change the name of the application shown in the NI Web Server Configuration utility, change the <description> tag within the conf\htpriv.d\webapp_plugin.xml file. E.g.

<description xml:lang="en">Web Application</description>

Icon

We use font awesome http://fontawesome.io/icons/ by default for SWIF icons

Add the icon image file to htdocs\plugins\webapp_plugin\resources\images.
Modify htdocs\plugins\webapp_plugin\resources\css\webapp_plugin.css to use the new icon.
Modify htdocs\plugins\webapp_plugin\config.json to use the new icon class.

Copying the Plugin files to the Server

Copy the Web Server\htdocs and Web Server\conf folders and files to your SystemLink web server (e.g. the NI Web Server) C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Web Server.

Note: This step is not necessary if you are using NI Packages and SystemLink feeds to install the application on the SystemLink Server. See Installing a Plugin Built in G Web Development Software.

Note: The NI Web Server will need to be restarted for the changes to take effect.

Note: The navigationGroups directory in Web Server\htdocs is only applicable to SystemLink 2021R1 and newer.