Backwards compatibility with .lvlibp files from Labview 2011 to Labview 2017

[ytrevino]

Years ago a fully functional code for our control system was created using Labview 2011, and that code is still functional to this day, however, it is running on a very old computer and so we attempted to transfer it to a properly supported computer which is now running Labview 2017, almost everything transferred over nicely except a .lvlibp file with a few subVIs and CTLs. I have tried to go into Build specifications and rebuild it so that it is accessible by later versions but the option seems to not be available in the 2011 version. I'm very very new to Labview and am not the original creator of the system therefore i cannot rebuild the library from scratch since i do not know the purpose of the library. Is there anyway to unpack the library so that I can retrieve the files so that I can pull them onto the new system and pack them again in a new packed library that will be compatible with both the old and the new systems?

[tyk007]

The "forwards" compatibility support feature only came in from 2017 onwards. It would let you build a PPL (your Packed Project Library) in a version of LabVIEW from 2017 onwards that can be used in future versions of LabVIEW (eg. 2018, 2019), but not older ones. The feature requires runtime support and older runtimes were not retro-actively updated for it.

There is no (practical) way to retrieve the original source for a PPL from the compiled lvlibp file. If you have the LabVIEW project source for the PPL in 2011 you can open this in 2017 and re-build it for 2017. However it won't be compatible with your old system; you'd need to sever your ties.

[ytrevino]

That is disappointing I don't have the original source files. But Thank you for your help.

[ytrevino]

Since I am able to open the individual files on the older computer would it be possible to maybe convert the subvi files i saved individually as backwards compatible files into vi files? Or maybe a way to do save as? Right now im trying to individually replicate each subvi and its data into a new Vi on the old labview version and import it into the new labview and it has worked for all but one file because that file is larger and has some features I do not know how to replicate.

[tyk007]

So, just to clarify and make sure I understand what you have said:

1. You don't have the LV2011 source (VIs, Ctrls etc.). You do have the LV2011 PPL file itself.
2. You are opening each VI block diagram from the PPL and replicating the contents into new VIs (LV11). You should consider yourself lucky that the block diagrams still exist - PPL build specifications contain an option to remove them and many people (deliberately) do to remove IP.
3. You have done most of them bar one you are struggling with replicating.
4. You are importing those items into your LV2017 project and build a new version of your PPL (presumably also enabling forwards compatibility so that you won't have this problem again). This upgrade part shouldn't present you any problems.

If so, that does sound like your best option. You can't "save as" items in a PPL as you will have noticed from the menu. You probably didn't need to create LV2011 versions of the items (step 2) - you could have done that directly in LV2017 instead since you are re-creating from scratch.

Typically LabVIEW items are not backwards compatible with older versions unless you deliberately perform a "Save As Older". Even then sometimes the process can fail if new features are being used that are incompatible with older versions. However it sounds like you plan to relinquish your LV2011 codebase anyway so any changes you then make will be from 2017 onwards.

Perhaps if you post a screenshot of the VI thats giving you trouble we can give you some help with how to replicate that.

[ytrevino]

Yes that is basically what i am doing. Here is a picture of the project and what i have so far.

I actually discovered some of the subVIs allow me to just copy and paste them directly into the new VI

so i have been replicating using the old version. The VIs dont seem to have a problem with forwards compatibility. 

Is that going to bring about more issues?

[crossrulz]

I see Network Streams (look in the Connectivity palette) and some functions from OpenG (the green subVIs).  You can install the OpenG libraries using VI Package Manager.

[crossrulz]

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@ytrevino wrote:

I don't have the original source files.

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I recommend contacting whoever did write that library and see if they still have the code floating around.