Creating an installer

[Christian_nor]

I have a problem! I am using a NI PCMCIA-CAN/2 card for my application. Everything worked perfectly until today. I was trying to re-build my installer, when I got the attatched error message. This error appears when I choose NI CAN 2.3.2 from additional installers. I have tried alot of things: new installer, new .exe file, new project, removed the old LV8 .ini file. What is wrong??? Is it because it can't find the correct device driver?

What kind of file does it really ask for?

Any ideas??

[Christian_nor]

If I provide the installer with a directory for an old installer, this seems to be OK. But why should my old installer interfere with a brand new one? What if I didn't have a backup copy of this old installer?

-Christian

[becktho]

Hi Christian

Actually this is not an error. The installbuilder in LV8.0 just needs the installer of NI CAN 2.3.2 - so you have to direct it to the directory, where this installer is located. You could also direct it either to the NI CAN driver cd (if you have one) or to the directory where a downloaded installer is located.

Thomas

[Christian_nor]

Thanx.

I have tried that one. I have tried to provide it's location on the driver cd and I have downloaded the latest driver to C:\National Instruments Downloads\NI-CAN\2.3.2 and given that path. This should work, but it doesn't. Something else I am missing?

[becktho]

It should be enough if you just browse to the root-directory of the driver cd.

Unfortunately I can't give you any clues on the topic of downloaded drivers.

[Chris_Cilino]

Christian,

I think I know the root of the problem you're seeing, but it is a little lengthy to explain so bear with me. When you include additional installers (like DAQmx or CAN) through the Application Builder, LabVIEW \ CV  \ TestStand looks for the original source of that driver. When you installed your drivers initially, your computer "learned" and "remembers" that the source is on the Driver CDs. The Application Builder requires the original (not the installed) files on those CDs so that they can be wrapped up into the new installer you're building.

So when you create your installer and provide the source CD (the last know location of the driver source) everything is grand. The problem arises when you install your installer on the computer you did your development on. When you install your new installer, it reinstalls the drivers you've included in that installer. So now your computer "learns" and "remembers" that the source of your installed drivers is from the installer you just made, in your case "Setup.exe". (I think I've used the word installer 50 times so far....).

So now when you try to create a new installer, the Application builder is going to look for the last, known source of the drivers, which is in your case "Setup.exe". Well of course, you don't want that! You want your computer to know that the source files for your drivers are in a CD, not in some installer you've made. To "reteach" your computer to look on the Driver CD, you'll need to uninstall the NI-CAN driver (and any other drivers you included in the installer you made) and then reinstall them from your Driver CD.

Further more, if you had created a new installer and overwritten your first installer, you would have been in a real pickle! Your computer would have tried to look for the first installer as the source of your drivers to include in the second installer, but you would have overwritten it and been up the creek!

To avoid this problem NEVER

[Chris_Cilino]

sorry, got cut off there.... and now the exciting conclusion....

..... NEVER INSTALL THE INSTALLER YOU MAKE ONTO THE COMPUTER YOU DEVELOP YOUR CODE ON!!!! This will only cause heartache. To test your installer, always go to a fresh computer that doesn't have your development environment already installed on it.

So, I know that's a ton of information and I myself may have gotten lost in all of the "installers" and source CD's, so if you have any questions, please post to let us know. I've also included some links to some helpful Knowledge bases below.

Why Do I Get A "Missing Distribution" Error When Trying to Build an Installer from LabVIEW 8.0?

How Do I Stop the "Missing Distribution" Notification Each Time I Build An Installer?

Best Regards,

Chris C

Applications Engineering

National Instruments

[Christian_nor]

Thanks for taking the time to explain this! It really cleared up things

I will remember to never install my created installer on the developer computer again.

-Christian

[pincpanter]

Good explanation, Chris C.
And now, what about suggesting NI to implement a check on their installers and WARN the users when they are installing on a development machine?
I guess this would prevent A LOT of those heartaches to them!

Paolo

[Christian_nor]

Hi again,

I obviously still have this problem and LV asks for an old installer which I have overwritten. What can I do? I have tried to uninstall and reinstall the NI CAN driver, but application builder still asks for the old selfmade installer. (which I don\t have anymore!!!!)

Please help...