LabVIEW Real-Time Application Deployment

[QFang]

This is to chime in on JimMacD's post above.

I would strongly caution in regards to MAX integration.. If it is integrated with MAX it MUST be able to still run as a stand-alone utility.. The reason for this is that I do not want to have to install MAX with its "bloated" driver base etc. on every field technician's computer.

Other than that I agree with JimMacD in that I'm a sole devolper who also need to support an ever growing population of devices in the field. I use RAD "out of the box" on a regular basis, but also look at ways to customize and improve it, if I ever get the time.

One thing I have noticed for our use-case is that a "pre-format" type option would be very beneficial.  It is possible for us to want to upgrade cRIO's with 10k+ files and 1.5GB stored data.. If we already have a backup of said data, it would be useful to "quick-format" similar to what you can do in MAX prior to applying the image because the FTP file/folder enumeration process takes forever-and-a-year on cRIO's with tons of data files..

[QFang]

Is there any plans for updating the source-code posted by NI here so that it will open/compile/run on LabVIEW 2013? 

Is there a more recent version than the one in the link?

[Luke_W]

The source code on that page actually got updated fairly recently (12/13/2013) for RAD 5.5.2. I didn't have any issues opening and running the Utility in LabVIEW 2013. Do you have the most recent source code downloaded? You may also want to double check the version of System Configuration you have installed. The update requires System Configuration 5.5.1.

[QFang]

Hi Luke!

I know, thats why I was so surprised.  I downloaded the source today, and the 2013 is a clean new install from mid-december when my system went fubar... Checking MAX now, but I could have sworn I did all the patches and "latest and greatest".

>> MAX indicates I have NI System Configuration 5.5.1  and LV 2013 f2

source download name is rad_552_source.zip

The broken VI's are deep down in the hiearchy and related to the visa-system resource  properties:

rad_Enable FPGA.VI is broken   ..... oh.. I know what happened... We are currently not utilizing FPGA so when I did the re-install I opted to not install the FPGA modules since they are HUGE... that is why these VI's are broken for me..  hummm, wonder if it would be possible to do a conditional on installed features? that would be neat.

I'll install the missing FPGA package tomorrow, thanks for getting me on the right track!

[QFang]

Hi,

I currently have a support ticket open on this because I was getting some FPGA installer errors.. I think I have that all resolved, at least LabVIEW thinks it has the FPGA module installed and I can create FPGA vi's, but the RAD source is still broken.  [edit] fpga module is not required so the broken vi should be unrelated to that [/edit]

The VI that is broken is "rad_Enable FPGA.vi" and its the bottom "System Hardware" property that is broken with the error "This Property is not valid for this class" on the "VIAutoload" that is selected.

Has anyone else had this problem?

[QFang]

Aparantly my system is some sort of corner case.. the fix is right in the white-paper, I just kept missing it. Not sure why a clean install of 2013 and drivers would require manually copying but now it works. my bad.

Anyway, the fix is: 

"Depending on the installed version of RIO, some RIO-specific resource files may need to be copied from the RAD source\objmgr directory into the LabVIEW resource\objmgr directory."

(Quoted from the whitepaper)

[Neville_D]

Hi QFang,

where is the white paper you mention?  I am having similar problems.

I have LV 2013 on a new PC, with latest updates, RAD 5.5.2, and NI Syst Config 5.5.1, but I have  vi broken:

Download Bitfile.vi.

This is needed by some legacy code I am upgrading.

Anybody know how I can fix this?

thanks,

Neville.

[Luke_W]

Hey Neville,

QFang is referring to the RAD example page (http://www.ni.com/example/30986/en/). The section he quoted is in the Download portion near the top. If RIO VIs are failing to load, you may need to copy the rio RC files from the source zip\objmgr directory into your LabVIEW 2013\resource\objmgr directory. 

[Neville_D]

Yes, I did copy the *.rc files to the appropriate LV 2013 folder as required.  Download Bitfile.vi is still broken. 

I suspect the Download Bitfile.vi has been deprecated and I should be using Download Bitfile Dynamic.vi instead.

Anybody from NI care to chime in?

[JoshuaP]

Try removing Download Bitfile.vi and Set RIO Device Settings 2010 from the project.  You are correct that they dynamic ones should be used.