Converting Labview Test Executive 5.1 to work with LV7.1.1

[Dennis_Knutson]

Then the test exec cannot be updated to unless NI has an update with the block diagrams.

[Ray.R]

It may be unlikely that they would "give" away the code..   Then again, it may not hurt to try..

[hspec]

Dennis,

That's sure what it looks like to me. The strange thing is that I found procedures to convert the 5.1 Test Exec to be used with Labview 6 in the National knowledgbase. They all include instructions which involve mass compiling.

Howard

[Jennifer_R]

Hi Howard,

What OS are you using?  Is Test Executive installed on the same computer as LabVIEW 7.1.1?  VIs that call DLLs which were compiled on a different operating system can cause errors. 

If you try to view the block diagrams for VIs from Engine.llb, do you get an error that they are password protected?  I do not have access to the VIs myself at the moment, so if you post a few I would be happy to look at them. 

[hspec]

Jennifer,

The OS is WinXP and I did install the test exec on the same computer that has Labview 7.1.1.

The error I get when trying to view engine.llb files is as follows:

Labview load error code 11: vi version 4.0.2 cannot be converted to current version (7.1.1) because it has no block diagram.

This error was reported for all the engine.llb files I tried to load.

Howard 

[Jennifer_R]

Hi Howard,

It seems that the VIs are actually saved for LabVIEW 4.0.  You may be interested in the following information, taken from a document entitled "Can I Use Test Executive 4.0 with LabVIEW 5.x?"

Test Executive 4.0 is compiled and shipped without block diagrams. When you try to load these VIs in LabVIEW 5.x, it looks for the diagrams to recompile the files into the newer version. To work in LabVIEW environments 5.x and higher, you will need to upgrade to Test Executive 5.1. The upgrade is free and quick to apply for users of Test Executive 5.0. However, if you have made significant modifications to the Test Executive 4.0 and do not want to reimplement your changes again in Test Executive 5.1, you can download a recompiled version of Test Executive 4.0 for LabVIEW 5.0 (see link below). Note that the software is only for Windows 95/98/NT. If you use the recompiled Test Executive 4.0 for LabVIEW 5.0, be sure to set your operator interface's VI Properties to run in user interface execution system if you are running LabVIEW in multi-threaded mode. To do this, select File»VI Properties. Choose Execution from the Category ring control. Then choose User Interface Execution System from the Preferred Execution System ring control. This change is documented in the readme.txt of the recompiled Test Executive 4.0 for LabVIEW 5.0. Note: If you have modified any part of Test Executive, such as custom callback functions, you may not be able to receive technical support to assist with compiling/recompiling/using Test Executive. National Instruments supports the Test Executive system based on its default shipping behavior. In some cases the conversion utility will not work with customized Test Executive 4.0 applications.

The recompiled Test Executive 4.0 for LabVIEW 5.0 download is located at ftp://ftp.ni.com/support/labview/testexec/updates/lv50.  If the VIs have block diagrams, even if they are password protected, it should be possible to compile them for a newer version of LabVIEW.

[hspec]

Jennifer,

I was able to download and mass compile this version of the Test Exec in Labview 7.1.1.  I will now attempt to create an exe and see if this will load and run my test sequences.  I'll let you know if everything works properly after I make my mods and transfer the new code to the target PC.

Thanks very much for all your help,

Howard  

[Jennifer_R]

Wonderful!  Please do let me know the results.  Hopefully everything will run properly when you test on the other PC. 

[hspec]

Jennifer,

I decided to give Test Exec 5.1 one more try. I found out that I was installing from the 5.0 location on the CD. When I installed from the WIN32 location I get a version that can be mass compiled with only a few errors. I hope that you can help me to get to the final step.

There seems to be a database function in this version that is looking for some "Easy SQL" vi's that it expects to find in the vi.llb/addons/access/... folder. This folder does not exist in version 7.1.1, so I decided to load labview version 5.1 on another PC to get these files. When I installed it I did not find this folder either. Can you tell me how I can get these files?  The following are a few of the files it can't find:

Easy SQL.vi, Execute SQL.vi, End SQL.vi,  Continue Error Dialog.vi, Connect.vi, Disconnect.vi ... etc

There must have been a way to get these addon files, since I know I got this working with version 5.1 many years ago (but I can't remember how)

Thanks,

Howard

[hspec]

Jennifer,

OK, a bit more info. The issues I mentioned related to the Easy SQL may not be a problem. These may only have a bearing if you plan to use the "database" version which requires the SQL library. When I try to run the Test Exec in Labview 7.1.1 after performing the mass compile, I get an error box indicating that a bunch of callbacks could not be loaded. I went and checked for these callbacks, and they are located in the Callback.llb file, and I can load them manually. The error message I get when I close the test exec seems to be indicating that the error ocurrs when the callback is called via "Open VI Ref". Is there some reason that this function might not be compatible with 7.1.1?  (see error message attachments). The callbacks are password protected so I cannot look at the code. I also tried to just create an exe of the test exec per instructions from the National Site. The build was successful, but the same error messages came up as in the development environment.

Thanks,

Howard