Can't see Source Files in Destination View

[Josh_L1]

Chris and Martin,

Thank you for sharing the information. I've never actually experienced this problem before. It would be helpful if we can predictably reproduce the anomaly.

I think the refresh button is a great idea. I would suggest that you post the idea on our idea exchange forum.

https://decibel.ni.com/content/community/zone/blog/2009/08/18/ni-idea-exchange

Just my 2 cents.

Josh

[ChrisReed]

Well my LV Project File has only been corrupted about six times since I started using LV2010 and I can't recall anything in common that would help to reproduce the problem.

Won't really need to put the Refresh idea on the Exchange Forum, because the next version of LV coming will be ultra-stable wont it

Chris

[mjaspan]

Hi Taylor.
Nope, no other strange behaviors that I've noticed.

I was using windows 7 before and after the reinstall. I've never seen this problem before, whether on LV2010 or older versions.

One thing I changed was that previously my Labview data files (anything I created) was in a directory on the boot drive, c:, and after the re-install I put those files in another partition, e:.

One other strange behavior after the reinstall is that when I first re-opened the project, LV complained about a bunch file location conflicts, when one path was the correct new path on the e: drive and the other one was an incomplete path specification beginning with "../"

The behavior that I find puzzling is that LV can find all the source files to successfully build, but refuses to display them in destinations view.

Let me know there's more questions I can answer.

Thanks
Martin

[hejoba]

Hi All,

I have had the same problem with invisible Source Files in the Destination View of the Installer Builder (Windows7, LabView 2010SP1). In my case it turned out, that this problem showed up every time a Windows Explorer window was open, showing files used in the LabView Project too.

So, when I close all Windows Explorer windows before I open the Installer Builder from a LabView Project, everything works fine.

I am not really sure how reproducible this behavior is, but as long as nobody has another solution I will do it this way.

Regards,

Henry

[mjaspan]

Well it's happened to me again.  This time the files disappeared from a new project, one which I began after my previous posts in this thread.

Previously we (myself and tech support) came to the conclusion that the problem for me was triggered by migrating the project from another computer.  In this case, that explanation does not apply. 

Grrrr.  Unfortunately this time the problem has cropped up while I was on the phone with a customer and trying to compile a new version for him.  Unfortunately the timing of this problem makes me look bad by preventing me from sending him an update for a couple days while I repair my project build specification (again).  It also makes LV look bad as well.  😞

Does anyone have additional occurrences of this problem to report?  Perhaps with a few more occurrences we can narrow in on what triggers it. 

<Begin optimimism mode on/>

thanks,

  Martin

[mjaspan]

Progress !! 

Partial progess.  I'm not sure I yet know what's causing the problem, but I believe I have found a way to reliably duplicate the problem.  And apparently to repair it when it happens.  🙂

This issue appears to have something to do with the selection (or lack thereof) of the Default Directory in the Destinations page on the Installer Build specification.  I just noticed that for the Build specifications with the problem (in which the Source Files were not visible in the Destination View), the Default Directory was not selected.  What I mean by this is that none of the folders have the little red check mark indicating that it's the Default Directory.  When I correct this by selecting the Default Directory, sometimes, the files reappear !!  By "sometimes" I mean depending on which folder I choose - some choices seem to bring the files back - some choices don't.

As a second piece of information, I grovelled through the XML data in the *.lvproj file and found that in cases where the default directory appears to not be selected, the XML data indicates a hex string for the default directory pointing at a non-existent folder.  The XML tag in question is a Property with name="INST_defaultDir".  When the source files disappear in the destination view, the data of this XML tag is a hex string which does not appear elsewhere in the *.lvproj file.

I have not been able to reproduce the situation that causes there to be no default directory, but at least I have a method to repair it (select a new default directory).  I tried various combinations of deleting and adding folders to reproducing - but no luck yet.  Perhaps the info in this note will be enough for NI R&D to dulplicate the situation.  I've talked to NI tech support and will direct them to this thread.

thanks,

  Martin

[mjaspan]

Resolution for now.  CAR#309355 was issued related to this bug.

In summary of my above message, the work-around which worked for me was to notice that the *.lvproj file had a corrupt reference for the destination directory and to correct the issue by re-selecting the destination directory in the installer build specification. I.E. if you lose the ability to see Source Files in Destination View, check the Destinations page to confirm that a Default Directory is still selected.  If not, select one and declare victory.

It's not clear to me why the *.lvproj file gets corrupted in this manner, nor why the corruption is not detected by LV, however these behaviors are now listed as bugs by NI R&D and referenced in the above-mentioned CAR.

If this work-around works for anyone, or fails to work, please post it here.

hope this helps.

Martin

[mdebrecz]

I have experienced this same issue (source files won't appear in destination view) several times in LabView 2010 SP1.  Recreating the destination directory and/or changing it's default status did not fix the problem for me.  If I re-created the director,y the source files would be visible only the first time I viewed them, but if I tried viewing them a second time (either after either toggling to a different view or closing and reopening the installer build file), they would disappear again.  The only solution that worked for me was creating a new build installer file.  This is a nuisance, but fortunately my installer is not too complex. 

Many thanks to mjaspan and the rest of you for your helpful comments.

Martin

[Monroe]

Same problem of source files disappearing. I'm using Windows 7 64 bit using LabVIEW 2012 SP1 32 bit.

The problem began when I moved the helper file destination in my installer to the programdata folder. I tried playing with the setting the default location for the destination, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. Frustrated... I thought I was close to finishing this app.