Using DLL with EXE app, best method?

[Mark_Ramsdale]

Hi,

I have an application that uses an IVI driver.  This driver requires that I install a "I/O" layer and then install the LabVIEW driver.  This is for the development system.

When I build and deploy the EXE I think I can approach the task in two ways.  1) install the I/O layer and the LabVIEW driver.   2) Make sure the DLL is included in the EXE.

Is either of these better, or are one or both of them "off the mark"?

I'm looking into this to understand it better.  My thinking is that the drivers inside the EXE will need to be able to point to the DLL, So this might complicate the issue depending on how the DLL is set up in the drivers ( with a path or not a path).

The app is deployed and running on 4 systems, but these systems have  the I/O layer and the LabVIEW drivers installed, as well as the LabVIEW runtime.  I will run some tests to determine what might happen, but I appreciate any feedback regarding this.

[Tarek]

Hi Mark,

The operating system has several procedures for locating DLLs. This page can give you a better idea of what those are. So if you have the necessary drivers installed you will not need to include the DLLs and your EXE should be able to locate the DLL dependencies, unless they don't fit in any of the five cases mentioned in the web page.

Including the DLLs in your EXE will simply save the operating system the trouble of looking for them; otherwise it does not affect your application in any way (other than the .exe file size).