Executable Not Connecting to PXI hosted Shared Variables

[RMaso]

Hello,

I am developing a standalone executable with RTE 8.2.1 on a Windows XPe machine. Data is being passed via Networked Shared Variables from a PXI RT target. I have developed on a laptop with the Developer Suite Pro on it and everything works wonderfully there. When I create an Installer (and a EXE build) and port it over to the XPe machine, the variables don't connect to each other (as seen by dragging the control to the FP and viewing the little arrow to the right for connection status). I'm thinking that it is due to not having the right drivers on the XPe target. Do you have any suggestions as to which drivers I should include in the Installer properties? I currently have:

NI LabVIEW RTE 8.2.1

NI Variable Engine

And NI DAQmx is already installed on the machine (from a previous install, I think... the wizard sees a higher version on it than what I'm trying to install). I've also included the library with the shared variables in the EXE properties in the Support Files part.

I know this is a very old version of LV, but if you have any ideas, or things to double check, I would greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks!

[Aldo_A]

Hi RMaso,

Here are some considerations:

Since you are using LV RT 8.2.1, please double-check to see if you are deploying your shared variables correctly. Take a look at this KB article (http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/04D9A85B6967EE87862571140065EEC6). In specific, take a look at the "Deploying Shared Variables to a Real-Time (RT)Target" section on how to deploy network shared variables to RT Targets for earlier versions of LabVIEW. Let me know if you have any questions.

In addition, I have to point out that for Windows XPE Touch Panel Targets, users cannot deploy shared variables manually from the LV Project. Instead, use the VI Server Deploy method or the deploy shared variable library option during the EXE build specification. http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/28536DE7E2D9E98B8625770B00738920

Finally, if you are communicating between newer and older versions of LabVIEW, you are going to have to use front panel data binding to ensure compatibility: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/EAB359401C206069862574800060F0B7

If these don't help, could you give more details which describe the behavior of the shared variables? Error codes, screenshots, code snippets would be helpful. Thanks!

[RMaso]

Thanks for the reply, Aldo.

I took a look at the KB links and I wasn't deploying correctly on the XPe target. I tried the deploy shared variable library option in code, but it didn't work. I didn't see an option for deploying variables in the EXE build specs.

I know the variables are hosted and being deployed on the PXI, and can view changes to them in the Shared Variable Manager. Plus, when I run the exe on my development laptop, it works fine. I am using the same version of LabVIEW (8.2.1) on everything, so that's not the issue.

The reason I know I'm not connecting correctly to the PXI variables (on the XPe machine) is by the little red arrow (which ought to be green) next to the variable when placed on the front panel of the XPe machine. On the laptop, everything is good. I forget the exact error code that is provided when you hover over the arrow, but it says something along the lines of "failure to connect to : \\localhost\sharedvariable.lvlib".

I hope this provides a bit more insight to my problem. Thanks again for your help.

[Aldo_A]

Hi RMaso,

would you be able to post the details of the error such as the code and message? That would help us in trying to narrow down the possibilities that might be causing the connectivity issue. Thanks!

[RMaso]

Aldo, Here is a screenshot of the test VI I'm using, plus the error I'm getting. This VI is on the development laptop, and the path came from browsing to the file. I've searched on the Error Code 1, but I can't seem to find one for this issue, everything seems to be for newer versions with modules I'm not using. Any thoughts?

[RMaso · Accepted solution]

I have figured out the problem!

In the project explorer file structure, I had included the controls under the library header (HMIvariables.lvlib), with the rest of the variables. I guess when you try to programatically deploy, it tries to deploy the control files, and throws the dreaded Error 1. I moved the control files out of the library in the project explorer and it fixed the issue and deployed the library, as verified by the Shared Variable Manager.

I've taken Core 1 thru 3, and RT 1 & 2. No one ever mentioned to NOT do that, and couldn't find any literature talking about not doing that. Hopefully this will help someone else!

Thanks for your help.