Backwards Compatibility

[sciencewhiz]

Since the FRC 2009 version of LabVIEW expires in January, every team that wants to keep an old robot running will need to upgrade to the FRC 2010 version of LabVIEW.

Will the 2010 version be distributed prior to kickoff, or will teams only have 6 days to do the upgrade (the time from kickoff until the 2009 version expires on 1/15/2010).

How compilicated is the upgrade going to be? Will teams have to re-image the cRIO? Will teams be able to open and then load their old project without any changes?

Are any resources planned to help teams with the transition?

[NI-Bob]

Hello ScienceWhiz,

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner.  We ran into a few issues with the Community and I was not receiving email notifications that there was a new post.

I spoke with R&D on this issue to see what the upgrade process is going to be like.

You are correct in that the software will be available at Kickoff (not before) and the license for the old software will run out 6 days after that.  However, the VIs and the executables will not stop working after the license runs out.  You will not have access to the 2009 development software after those 6 days which means that you will not be able to make changes to the code on your old robot.  However, the code that you have stored on the robot will still work.

At the point you are looking to make changes to your old robot's code after the license expires you will need to upgrade to FRC 2010.  This process should be very simple.  During the upgrade process you will have to re-image the cRIO after you have installed FRC 2010.  However, once you have re-imaged the cRIO you should be able to open up the old projects that you had used the previous year.  There may be a few minor changes that need to be made when opening the old VIs in the FRC 2010 version.  However, this will be documented and should not be a difficult process.

Of course at that time there will be a very strong support structure here at National Instruments to help out during the FRC build season.  If there are any issues during the transition we will be there to assist you.

Thanks!

Bob

NI FIRST Support

[compuwiz12]

You said that the 2009 FRC labview license wouldn't expire until 6 days before kickoff right?  Would you happen to know why mine has expired then?  Thanks in advance

Matt