Error building to hard drive missing file

[Chris_Co]

I tried to build a project to the hard drive to explore that functionality (not application builder),  and a missing file error keeps popping up.  LabVIEW recommended recompiling all vi's and then saving all to correct the problem.  This did not work. Any help is greatly appreciated! 

[DuffmanSays]

Chris,

I am a little confused by what you are trying to do. You mentioned that you are not using application builder. When you say you are building a project to the hard drive, are you creating a source distribution?

Can you successfully open all VIs in the project? If not, I would recommend creating a new project and including the same VIs. The project acts as an organization structure for your application and contains shortcuts to the VIs on your hard drive. If any of these files has changed name or location, this can confuse your LabVIEW project. Could this be what is happening?

If not, please let us know a little bit more about the error you are receiving. What is the file that is missing when you try to perform this operation? Is it a VI that you created and used in the project? Also, what version of LabVIEW are you working with? Thanks!

Mike

[Chris_Co]

Mike,

Thank you for replying.  You are correct about the source distribution.  I wanted to try a different approach to distributing to computers without the hassles of just saving to a directory and renaming and duplicate copies of VI's.  The problem is i sometimes write the program at home, debug in the lab, and then rewrite at home.  I normally do not need to transfer the application until test time, which can go on for months and future programs need written with my memory stick.  I thought creating a source distribution would do the trick, but to be honest I have no clue what that means.  I am tired of naming a VI like "RPM Trigger...RPM Trigger1...RPM Trigger2"  etc.  It is getting confusing especially when it prompts me to view or discard a VI already in memory...which one again?  ANY help or general knowledge of how "normal" programmers do this.

Back to the project.  I had moved several VI's that were in my project around on my hard drive to reflect the same organization scheme.  I also believed this to be the culprit so i recompiled each of the first level VI's and resaved.  That was an exercise in futility.  If nothing else, i have learned a VERY valuable lesson-  keep the project organized and Directory organized and in the same way from the very start!

I am programming with 8.0 full version, ready to install 8.2.

Sorry so long, and thank you for helping

Chris

[CKap]

Hello Chris,

Whenever you create a Source Distribution, the application builder basically takes all the VIs (and also all the dependent files) that you have created for your project and puts them in a specific folder. Now you can take this folder to a different computer and work on your project. Keep in mind that the source distribution does not copy the lvproj file.

So at this moment, I have two suggestion here.

First of all, try using LabVIEW libraries to manage VIs. Libraries and VIs have two way interaction between them and because of this it becomes easier to manage projects.

Or you could use some Free Source Control Software to manage files. With the help of one of these Source Control softwares you can manage the files that you check-in or check-out.

If these suggestion do not address your concern, then could you attach your project to this post so that we can better understand the issue better?

Regards,

Chetan K

Application Engineering

National Instruments