Include Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring in a Web Service Installer

This article demonstrates how to include the Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring package with your LabVIEW Web Service installer. This package is useful to include if you wish to monitor web servers and published Web Services from a deployment PC.

Prerequisites

• Package Builder must be installed.
• NI Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring and NI Web Server must have been installed with LabVIEW.
  • Note: if these packages are not visible from Package Manager, uninstall LabVIEW and reinstall it making sure to select NI Web Server Development Support for LabVIEW and NI Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring as additional packages to install.
• A LabVIEW project containing an installer has already been created.
  • For instructions on how to create a Web Service installer, refer to Publishing a Web Service through an Installer (Windows).

The Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring tool cannot be included as an Additional Installer from a LabVIEW Installer. A package called "Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring" may appear in the list of available Additional Installers, but this will not include all the required dependencies to access localhost:3582 (the Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring page) from a deployment PC.

Follow the steps below to build a custom installer for the Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring tools, and then include the installer in your LabVIEW Web Service installer.

1. Launch Package Builder.
2. Navigate to File >> Save Solution and save it as "Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring" inside the same folder as your LabVIEW project that contains the Web Service installer.
3. From the Installers and Repositories tab, click the new file icon and select New Package Installer, as shown.



4. Name the installer "Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring".
5.  Right-click the installer and select Add Packages...



6. In the pop-up window, select the Installed Packages tab.
7. From the drop-down menu, select All Visible Packages.



8. Search for "Web" and place a checkmark in the following packages:

• NI Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring
• NI Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring 20.5 (the version may be different on your PC, depending on which version of LabVIEW you have installed).
• NI Web Server
• Note: if any of these packages are missing, reinstall LabVIEW. Ensure that these packages are selected to install during the reinstallation.

9. Click Add.
10. From the top toolbar in Package Builder, select Build >> Build Solution. Note: the installer will take several minutes to complete the build.



11. Once the build completes, the folder containing your LabVIEW project should now include:

• A Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring.pbs file.
• A sub-folder called PackageInstallers.
• A sub-folder inside PackageInstallers called Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring.
• A file and folder hierarchy inside the Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring folder that resembles the following image.

12. Open the LabVIEW project containing your Web Service installer.
13. Right-click on My Computer and select Add >> Folder (Auto-populating)... Select the Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring folder inside PackageInstallers.



14. Expand Build Specifications. Right-click on your installer and select Properties.
15. Select the Source Files tab.
16. Add the Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring folder to the included source file. Make a note of the source file destination (from the image below, this is the Program Files folder).



17. Before building, ensure that:

• The Web Service has been selected in the Web Services tab.
• NI LabVIEW Runtime and NI System Web Server have been selected in the Additional Installers tab. If either of these packages are not visible, refer to this article for steps on how to change their visibility.

18. Click Build. Note: the build will take several minutes to complete.
19. Once the build is finished, distribute the installer to your deployment PC.

• The most common way to do this is to compress the Installer destination folder into a ZIP file and copying this to the deployment PC.

20. Install the Web Service and Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring package on the deployment PC:

1. Unzip the installer.
2. Run the main Install.exe file inside the Volume folder. You will see a pop-up window notifying you that the Web Service is being installed.
3. Navigate to the directory of your source files (by default, this is C:\Program Files (x86)\<Web Service Project Name>).
4. Run the Install.exe file that was created with Package Builder. 
5. Once installation completes, restart your PC.

21. To verify that the Web Service and Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring tool work:

1. Open a browser.
2. Enter the URL localhost:3582. You should land on the Web-Based Configuration and Monitoring home page.
3. Enter the URL of your Web Service (i.e. 127.0.0.1:<port>/<Web Service Name>/<HTTP Method VI Name>).

Additional Information

For most installers, it's possible to configure an executable to run after the LabVIEW installer completes. Refer to How To Include And Run My Executable With My LabVIEW-Built Installer.