A scathing review based on my experience upgrading from labview 7.1 to 8.2.

[billings11]

Here is the install.bat file we made to do this.  Keep in mind, this just “appears” to install everything listed in it correctly as a clean install.  Proton is a network drive.  We still need to give the computer that we used this on a try.

@Echo Off

@Echo Starting Labview 8.2 Installation
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\LV8.2\setup.exe \\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\LV8.2\Bin\NoUser.txt /r:n /q /AcceptLicenses yes

@Echo Starting CVI 8.0.1 Installation
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\CVI8.0.1\setup.exe \\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\CVI8.0.1\support\NoUser.txt /r:n /q /AcceptLicenses yes

@Echo Starting Signal Express 1.1.1 Installation
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\SignalExpress1.1.1\setup.exe \\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\SignalExpress1.1.1\Bin\NoUser.txt /r:n /q

@Echo Starting Toolkit Installations

 
@Echo ---- Starting Advanced Signal Processing
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\Advanced Signal Processing\setup.exe" "\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\Advanced Signal Processing\supportfiles\NoUser.txt" /q /r:n

@Echo ---- Starting Digital Filter Design
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\Digital Filter Design\setup.exe" "\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\Digital Filter Design\supportfiles\NoUser.txt" /r:n /q

@Echo ---- Starting Database Connectivity
\\proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\Enterprise\Database Connectivity\Setup\lv_dbtools.msi" /passive /norestart

@Echo ---- Starting Internet kit
\\proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\Enterprise\Internet\InternetToolkit6.0.msi" /passive /norestart

Echo    **** Labview SPC Toolkit can not be installed silently ****
Echo    ****         You will need to install manually         ****

@Echo ---- Starting Express VI Development
\\proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\Express VI Development\ExpressVIDev\ExpressVIDev.msi" /passive /norestart

@Echo ---- Starting PID Control
\\proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\PID Control\setup\lv_pid_6.msi" /passive /norestart

@Echo ---- Starting Report Generator
\\proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\Report Generation\lvoffice\lvoffice.msi" /passive /norestart

@Echo ---- Starting State Diagram
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\State Diagram\StateDiagTK.msi" /passive /norestart

@Echo ---- Starting VI Analyzer
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabVIEW\VI Analyzer\setup.exe" /q /r:n

Echo    **** CVI SPC Toolkit can not be installed silently ****
Echo    ****       You will need to install manually       ****

@Echo ---- Starting SQL Kit
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabWindows CVI\Enterprise\SQL\Sql2.msi" /passive /norestart

@Echo ---- Starting PID for CVI
"\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabWindows CVI\PID Control\setup.exe" /q /r:n /AcceptLicenses yes

@Echo ---- Starting Signal Processing for CVI
"\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\ToolKitSoftware\LabWindows CVI\Signal Processing\Setup.exe" /passive /norestart

@Echo Toolkit Installations Completed...  Please install manual components.

@Echo Starting NIDaq 8.3, NIMotion 7.4, NIVisa 4, etc... Installation
\\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\DCD-Nov06-1\setup.exe \\Proton\LoginUpdates\LV-10-06\DCD-Nov06-1\spec.ini /r:n /q /AcceptLicenses yes

@Echo Installation Complete......

[billings11]

One last thing... this is JUST for a development PC that is completely clean.  So on a station that is being upgraded, for example, we would need a different batch file.  For this to uninstall we would need a different batch file.  And I already know on a 7.1 upgrade we will end up having a bunch of installation errors because toolkits will want to uninstall from 7.1 instead of install on 8.2, so it is going to be a trick to get everything right.

Also this is an incredibly slow process.  When we encounter an error, we have to stop.  Once we figure out what we think will fix the error, we need to wipe the installation from the machine entirely so we can be sure we are starting with a blank slate.   And if the error isn't until the end, we need to sit through the whole installation again before we see if our fix worked. 

Message Edited by billings11 on 06-27-2007 03:49 PM

Message Edited by billings11 on 06-27-2007 03:51 PM

[Travis_M.]

Hello Billings, I strongly encourage you to post this question in a new forum thread so that some of our installer enthusiasts (polling for installer issues) might get more exposure to it.  If you post a link back, I'll be sure to make sure it gets a good answer from an AE if nobody can help.

thanks,

Travis

[BartSchroder]

Thanks Billings,

you have confirmed everything that we have been experiencing. Our application is written in 7.1 and we have had many problems with it being installed in 7.1.1 environments. We have rebuilt our app in 8.0, 8.2, and 8.5 and each time the runtime has got larger and larger, and the bug list longer. There seems absolutely no advantage to making this move. The move from 7.1 to a later version when applied to our thousands of users is just so daunting I cannot see us doing it. Thanks for the confirmation.

[CarlaU]

Hi BartSchroder,

I'm sorry that you are having so many upgrading issues. If you go to the installation/upgrading thread and post some of the issues that you are having, we can definitely try and help resolve them. You could also call in/email and have our Application Engineers help with the issues as well.