NetworkTable Client Questions

[Araknos]

In the past, I have used the SmartDashboard vis in my Labview Dashboard code, but this year, it seems to have gone missing from the WPI Robotics Library. As a result, I have had to use the base for SmartDashboard: NetworkTables.

This is the first time I have used NetworkTables directly, and I had a hard time figuring it out due to the lack of Labview help (or even javadocs on the robot code side), but after a hard day's work and searching, I got it working.

I know that the server hosting the NetworkTables and values is the roboRIO and that the Dashboard is a client. I know how to run the NetworkTables viewer and collect data about the current state of the server and tables.

However, I do not completely understand the mechanics behind the NT Client vi in the Dashboard.

I noticed that the Bind Controls to SmartDashboard vi contains the NT Client vi, and that when I added additional instances of the NT Client vi, even with unique names, the communication between robot and Dashboard would stop working.

My hypothesis is that only one instance of the NT Client vi, somewhere in the vi hierarchy, is required to establish communications via NetworkTables, and that multiple instances will cause the Dashboard to stop working.

Am I correct? Why does this library behave this way? Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks in advance for your help.