Difference between "build exe" and "build installer"?

[schorsche]

Hello, I've got my LabVIEW 7 vi's and want to create an executable. However the "Build Application" command gives me the choice between an INSTALLER and a plain EXECUTABLE. Which ooption should I choose? I've tried both and in either cases it tells me that I need to have the Labview RUNTIME ENGINE installed if I want to launch the program. What does that mean?
All I want is a programm that I can run (or install) on my system without the need of any additional software to be installed.
Thanks a bunch

Georg

[DOC-doc]

Hi Georg

There are 2 questions in your question.
LabVIEW Runtime Engine : you need it to run your exe files, in any case.

Installer : LabVIEW creates your exe and creates an installer (like the one when you install any soft on your machine). It can also install LV Runtime engine.

EXECUTABLE : creates a plain exe, without installer.

Cheers.

Doc-Doc

[schorsche]

So does that mean when I create an installer I don't need to install an additional Runtime Engine since it is included in the installer?
I was wondering because the installer has 30 Mb's, whereas the plain exe file has got only 2.

In case I don't have Labview Runtime Engine installed on the PC, will the installer do it?

[Jon Bowers]

When you create the installer it will include the Run Time Engine but you will have to install the program by running the setup.exe that is created. For more info see the following link.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/4EF810EE05BEF63C86256BF30062EC31?opendocument

Jon Bowers
Applications Engineer
NI UK

[altenbach]

> However the "Build Application" command gives me the
> choice between an INSTALLER and a plain EXECUTABLE.

No, these are not the choices. You always build an executable, but you can optionally create an installer by setting options from the "Installer settings" tab.

If you don't create an installer, you just get the plain executable and the user must ensure that it is in a convenient location and that all required secondary files are in the right places. The correct runtime engine must be installed sperately.

If you create an installer, you are able to tell where the program gets installed (usually c:\Program files\xxx\...), you can have the installer create an entry in the start menu, you can include other files to be installed (e.g. sample data f
iles, ini files, extra libraries, etc.). Most importantly, it will also create an uninstaller so everything can be removed cleanly from the control panel if the application is no longer needed.
In the advanced installer settings, you can also optionally include the runtime engine and other optional modules (NI reports Support, 3D graph support, etc.).

I would only include the runtime engine in the installer if you are only planning to ever distribute a single application. It is no big deal to tell the user to first download and install the runtime engine from ftp://ftp.ni.com/support/labview/windows/runtime/7.0/ .

Including the runtime with each application will make the distribution tens of MBytes larger and it is redundant to include it with every application you built.