Application executable file size - When is it too big?

[amazed]

Nothing to do with floppies.  

For simple emailing, V7 was great. Not possible now. Question I would have(and no disrespect intended) what is the added value for this increase in build size?

Most of my cust's will not register and download a150 meg eng for a simple program (its just what it is), though must confess i must be in a minority, as most programmers here have not indicated this as an issue. 

I am grateful for LV -had a good run.

[Norbert_B]

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@amazed wrote:

[...]download a150 meg eng for a simple program (its just what it is), [..]

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Aeh, that sounds like the LV RTE (LabVIEW RunTime Engine), which is mandatory to run LV-built applications.

THIS IS NOT THE APPLICATION ITSELF.

You need this only once (sadly for each version, that is a disadvantage), but you can run any LV application built with that LV version.

I understand that you don't like it. But the requirement for a dedicated runtime engine (in addition to the OS) is also known for e.g. .NET. And i think the RTE is a bit larger than the one of LV....

Norbert

[dacad]

Based on the responses so far, there appear to be no additional resources to learn more about the process for creating the executable beyond the basic LV help which, for this feature, is pretty basic.

I was hoping to find more in depth information on how the built application could be affected by different aspects or techniques of coding.  One poster made note of making sure there were no memory leaks.  I have heard the term but have no clue how to watch for it, let alone stop it.  This is the kind of information that I would like to investigate further to become more adept at the entire application development process.

Doug

[mikeporter]

Your customers won't down load 150M? Have you checked the size of other programs lately?

Oracle Free version 319M (this is actually a zip file!)
LibreOffice 209M
MySQL installer 206M

Have you looked at the size of NI update downloads? And we haven't even begun to talk about things like OS service packs or music downloads.

Mike...

[amazed]

thankyou Mike for putting me(or is it LV?) on par with the mentioned software (except for the music download which i don't think  is allowed on the fab computers)

This company makes many many types of transducers and controllers used in thousands of locations, in thousand of applications, thruout the world, but the focus is hardware.  That's why i picked up LV (it was easier than VB)  

Emailing was a clean convenient means of moving these programs around and email size limitations are usually not much larger than the standalones made in V7.

The programs I put together are generally for specific setups, transfering setups, data and error logging -very basic stuff.

Generally, most cust will not have much in the way of LV programs so asking them to download a 150meg engine(and register?) for something so basic doesn't make alot of sense when there are alternatives.  

I did try the solutions and just didn't work out well but if they work for you, i won't argue. We obviously do something completely different(my stuff probably very tiny relative to what you have done)  Probably best to end it here so... 

Good luck + Best Regards

[Norbert_B]

Emailing and copy&paste is not (and never was) a professional way to distribute software.

That being said, most worldwide operating companies have internal structures for managing software updates/changes esp. for production systems. You should try to hook up in your customer's processes for doing so. And if your customer doesn't have tools and processes in place yet, i recommend you to talk about this with him.

just my 5 cents,

Norbert

[GregFreeman]

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@Norbert_B wrote:

Emailing and copy&paste is not (and never was) a professional way to distribute software.

That being said, most worldwide operating companies have internal structures for managing software updates/changes esp. for production systems. You should try to hook up in your customer's processes for doing so. And if your customer doesn't have tools and processes in place yet, i recommend you to talk about this with him.

just my 5 cents,

Norbert

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I would also suggest Wirebird Labs Deploy which should be released relatively soon. Also, one thing we haven't seen in this entire conversation is the OPs code. How do we know poor architecture and subpar programming practices are not the problem here?

[dacad]

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@for(imstuck) wrote:

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Also, one thing we haven't seen in this entire conversation is the OPs code. How do we know poor architecture and subpar programming practices are not the problem here?

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Excellent question.  While I think it's well known poor architecture and programming techniques can cause problems, I would love to see something documented that shows how it could (if it does) affect generating an executable. 

After two full pages of posts, I am a little, well, disappointed no one has been able to point me to some type of documentation or other learning resource that goes into depth on the ins and outs of making an executable.  That tells me there is nothing, which then makes me think NI has left a hole here, letting the users stumble through it best they can.

I'm looking to improve my skills (for the 'less than a year' goal of being an architect) but need some tools to do it.

Doug

[GregFreeman]

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@dacad wrote:

I'm looking to improve my skills (for the 'less than a year' goal of being an architect) but need some tools to do it.

Doug

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That's quite an ambitious goal! Luckily you don't need a build spec for the architect exam. . All kidding aside, I have never really looked at my executables size. You may have mentioned this earlier, but was it you that noticed this, or your customer that complained?

[Mark_Yedinak]

Have you looked at your build spec for your installer? Are you excluding liraries that are not needed in your code. Beginning in at least LV 2011 you could remove some of the libraries from the install package that were not required. Unfortunately there isn't any solid documentation as to which modules use which libraries and it may require a few builds to get it just right. This should reduce the size for you. Perhaps not down to the couple of meg for an e-mail. At least not for a full install with all of the RTEs included.

Most larger compained these days are setup to do installs from their internal servers. Perhaps you could ship a DVD with all the necessary code and they could install from their network. Applications are big these days and if someone expects full systems with only a 2 meg footprint they will be sorely disappointed. Even the source code for a large system written in C++ would probably take more than a few meg and then they would have to compile and build the code themselves.

Without knowing your background getting your CLA in less than a year may be a bit challenging. Part of requirements for the CLA is experience and experince only comes with time.