A system and method for online configuration of a measurement system. The user may access a server over a network and specify a desired task, e.g., a measurement task, and receive programs and/or configuration information which are usable to configure the user's measurement system hardware (and/or software) to perform the desired task. Additionally, if the user does not have the hardware required to perform the task, the required hardware may be sent to the user, along with programs and/or configuration information. The hardware may be reconfigurable hardware, such as an FPGA or a processor/memory based device. In one embodiment, the required hardware may be pre-configured to perform the task before being sent to the user. In another embodiment, the system and method may provide a graphical program in response to receiving the user's task specification, where the graphical program may be usable by the measurement system to perform the task.