Graphical association of program icons

Abstract

A system and method for creating and using configuration diagrams for configuring distributed systems. The methods described herein may be used for various types of operations in configuring distributed systems, including creating programs, managing programs in the distributed system, deploying programs to various distributed devices, configuring remote execution or inter-operation of distributed programs, and executing distributed applications. Embodiments of the invention utilize graphical iconic-based techniques for performing the above operations. The configuration diagram may include device icons which represent devices and program icons which represent programs. Device icons and program icons may be associated with each other to accomplish various program creation and deployment operations. Device icons and program icons may also interact with graphical program nodes or icons. Context sensitive device connections and/or program connections are displayed. An asynchronous data flow node may be used to facilitate asynchronous data flow between two graphical programs. The distributed system may also support distributed graphical debugging.

1 . A computer accessible memory medium that stores program instructions for configuring a graphical program, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to perform: 
 displaying a first program icon on a display of a first computer system, wherein the first program icon corresponds to a first graphical program, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;    displaying source code of a second program on the display of the first computer system, wherein the source code of the second program is of a text-based programming language;    associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program in response to user input; and    inserting new source code into the second program at the first location.    
   
   
       2 . The memory medium of  claim 1 , 
 wherein the new source code comprises a function call to the first graphical program; and    wherein the new source code is executable to invoke the first graphical program.    
   
   
       3 . The memory medium of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 displaying a second program icon on the display, wherein the second program icon corresponds to the second program; and    associating the first program icon with the second program icon in response to user input;    wherein said displaying the source code of the second program on the display of the first computer system is automatically performed in response to said associating the first program icon with the second program icon.    
   
   
       4 . The memory medium of  claim 1 , 
 wherein said associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program comprises positioning the first program icon at a desired location in the source code of the second program in response to user input.    
   
   
       5 . The memory medium of  claim 1 , 
 wherein said associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program comprises: 
 displaying the first program icon in the source code of the second program; and  
 positioning the first program icon in the source code of the second program at a first location in response to user input;  
   
   
   
       6 . A method for graphically configuring a program, wherein the method executes on a first computer system, the method comprising: 
 displaying a first program icon on a display of the first computer system, wherein the first program icon corresponds to a first graphical program, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;    displaying source code of a second program on the display of the first computer system, wherein the source code of the second program is of a text-based programming language;    associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program in response to user input; and    inserting new source code into the second program at the first location.    
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , 
 wherein the new source code comprises a function call to the first graphical program;    wherein the new source code is executable to invoke the first graphical program.    
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising: 
 displaying a second program icon on the display, wherein the second program icon corresponds to the second program; and    associating the first program icon with the second program icon in response to user input;    wherein said displaying the source code of the second program on the display of the first computer system is automatically performed in response to said associating the first program icon with the second program icon.    
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 6 , 
 wherein said associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program comprises positioning the first program icon at a desired location in the source code of the second program in response to user input.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 6 , 
 wherein said associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program comprises: 
 displaying the first program icon in the source code of the second program; and  
 positioning the first program icon in the source code of the second program at a first location in response to user input;  
   
   
   
       11 . A system for graphically configuring a program, comprising: 
 means for displaying a first program icon on a display of a first computer system, wherein the first program icon corresponds to a first graphical program, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;    means for displaying source code of a second program on the display of the first computer system, wherein the source code of the second program is of a text-based programming language;    means for associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program in response to user input; and    means for inserting new source code into the second program at the first location.    
   
   
       12 . The system of  claim 11 , 
 wherein the new source code comprises a function call to the first graphical program; and    wherein the new source code is executable to invoke the first graphical program.    
   
   
       13 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 means for displaying a second program icon on the display, wherein the second program icon corresponds to the second program; and    means for associating the first program icon with the second program icon in response to user input;    wherein said means for displaying the source code of the second program comprises means for displaying the source code for the second program in response to association of the first program icon with the second program icon.    
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 11 , 
 wherein said means for associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program comprises means for positioning the first program icon at a desired location in the source code of the second program in response to user input.    
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 11 , 
 wherein said means for associating the first program icon into the source code of the second program comprises: 
 means for displaying the first program icon in the source code of the second program; and  
 means for positioning the first program icon in the source code of the second program at a first location in response to user input;  
   
   
   
       16 . A computer accessible memory medium that stores program instructions for configuring a graphical program, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to perform: 
 displaying a first program icon on a display of a first computer system, wherein the first program icon corresponds to a first program;    displaying a second program icon on the display of the first computer system, wherein the second program icon corresponds to a second program;    associating the first program icon with the second program icon in response to user input;    displaying source code of the second program on the display of the first computer system in response to said associating;    displaying the first program icon in the source code of the second program in response to said associating;    positioning the first program icon in the source code of the second program at a first location in response to user input; and    inserting new source code into the second program at the first location.    
   
   
       17 . The memory medium of  claim 16 , 
 wherein the new source code comprises source code of the first program.    
   
   
       18 . The memory medium of  claim 16 , 
 wherein the new source code is executable to invoke the first program.    
   
   
       19 . The memory medium of  claim 16 , 
 wherein the source code of the second program is of a text-based programming language; and    wherein the new source code comprises a function call to the first program.    
   
   
       20 . The memory medium of  claim 19 , 
 wherein the first program is a graphical program; and    wherein the new source code comprises a function call to invoke the graphical program.    
   
   
       21 . The memory medium of  claim 16 , 
 wherein the source code of the second program is of a text-based programming language; and    wherein said positioning the first program icon in the source code of the second program at a first location comprises positioning the first program icon proximate to a program instruction in the source code of the second program.    
   
   
       22 . The memory medium of  claim 16 , 
 wherein the first program and the second program are each written in a text-based programming language; and    wherein said inserting new source code into the second program comprises inserting a function call to the first program.    
   
   
       23 . The memory medium of  claim 16 , 
 wherein the second program is a graphical program; and    wherein the source code of the second program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the program.