Determining if LabVIEW RTE 32-bit or 64-bit is needed; RTE working for different LabVIEW versions

[atcleung]

Hey NI,

My name is Andy and I work with Ultraview Corp on software for our data acquisition boards. We have different customers download software releases from our website for 32-bit and 64-bit LabVIEW, and sometimes they have a different LabVIEW version (ex. 2012 and 2010). On rare ocassions, some customers complain about not having a RTE when they have an installed LabVIEW software. Admittedly, the version is pointed out obviously. However, is there a way for a RTE to work for different versions (ex. 2012 and 2010)? Or is there a way to prompt the user that either 32-bit RTE or 64-bit RTE is needed to run the executable. When attempting to run an executable, the prompt only specifies the LabVIEW version (ex. 2012 or 2010), but not 32- or 64-bit.

Thanks,

Andy

[MoviJOHN]

If you are distributing a built executable to your customers, you can package the correct RTE with the installer.  Installers are huge, so I do feel your pain.  Unfortunately, there is no easy answer.  You will need to educate your customers as to the requirements needed to be met, to use your hardware and software.

[0utlaw]

Hi Andy,

Run-Time engines are version-specific, and this is intentional.  In part, each RTE is "version locked" to ensure that it executes in exactly the same fashion as the version of the development environment it was built in.  Things do change in the development environment over time and you probably wouldn't want your software to operate differently just because your customer had installed a newer version of something.

A quick way to tell if the executable is 32- or 64-bit is to check the Windows Task Manager on a 64-bit machine.  32-bit processes will have a *32 next to them.

Including the required RTE in the installer is the best way to ensure that the customer has the required engine installed. 

If you want to keep your installer size down, it should be possible to specify a post-install batch (.bat) file that checks the installed RTE versions and prompts the user to download the right RTE from the web if they need to, with a link to the download page.  This is extra effort on your part and requires a web connection, additional time (for the customer), and might even be OS-specfic.  I've not done it myself, but if you distribute a lot of applications it might be worth looking into.

Regards,

[altenbach]

However, I agree with the OP that the "missing run time engine error popup" should mention the expected LabVIEW version as well as the expected bitness.

[Jeff-P]

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@altenbach wrote:

However, I agree with the OP that the "missing run time engine error popup" should mention the expected LabVIEW version as well as the expected bitness.

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There is an existing CAR to address exactly that - CAR 379046 and I agree completely. While we recommend installers to avoid this problem, in a situation where most of your users already have the RTE, it is not ideal to add the bulk of the RTE to your distribution. As MoviJOHN said, at the moment, the best way is to educate your customers about your software requirements.

Thanks,

Jeff Peacock 

Product Support Engineer | LabVIEW R&D | National Instruments