When you distribute VIs, you can assign password protection to the block diagrams. The block diagram is still available, but users must enter a password to view or edit the block diagram.

Caution VI password protection does not encrypt block diagrams. For maximum security, remove the block diagrams from your VIs. Refer to the KnowledgeBase at ni.com for more information about the security differences between password protection and removing block diagrams.

You also can lock a VI so users can see but not edit a block diagram. However, users can unlock a locked VI that is not password-protected.

Complete the following steps to set password protection for a VI.

  1. Select File»VI Properties to display the VI Properties dialog box.
  2. Select Protection from the Category pull-down menu in the VI Properties dialog box.
  3. Select the Password-protected option to display the Enter Password dialog box.
  4. Enter the password in the Enter New Password field. Re-enter the same password in the Enter New Password Again to Verify field.
  5. Click the OK button.
Note Applying a password for a VI automatically stores the password in the LabVIEW password cache, which gives you access to make changes to the VI as if you had entered the password. You can remove the password from the cache by restarting LabVIEW or by clearing the password cache from the Environment page of the Options dialog box.

You also can add a password using the Source Distribution Properties dialog box.

You also can use the Lock State:Set method to set the password of a VI programmatically.