Executable program not able to open

[HTC]

I have created an executable program which is distributed with the 8.5 runtime engine. When deployed on the target systems (XP) the executable will open on the taskbar for a few seconds then just disappear. But on some systems (also XP) the program will open and operate normally. There is no DAQ in this application, it is purely a visualization tool for some text files. I have had this problem before, but now it is more serious because my program is distributed world wide to our organization.

I could find no references to this problem. I have an error dialog at the end of my application, if there was an error reported, I would be able to see it, but nothing happens, the window just disappears without opening. The normal VI version has not problems at all.

Thanks,

Henry

[10Things_Rob]

Sounds like you might be closing a VI front panel without retaining a reference to the VI or something like that. Just an idea.

Maybe it works sometimes and doesn't others because of a race condition?

Good luck.

[Pnt]

I agree with 10Things .

Try to delete all your sub-vis to focus on the problem .

If you still have problems you should post your code. It is the only way, for someone to help you.

[HTC]

Thanks for the suggestion, but as this problem occurs on some systems and not others, I am suspect that there is actually a coding error. Also there is the strange behavior that this problem happens "While the program is first loading". No panels or dialogs have even been opened.  I have used a state machine architecture in the initialization, and wired my error cluster to avoid any race conditions (troubleshooting that in the past leads to better coding !)

Still you may have a point, this could be a situation where I am doing something in a way that breaks under certain conditions on some PCs. I have a position screen and size screen VI that maybe operating in a undetermined sequence. Let me try that.

Thanks

[Eli_S]

I have a few other questions. Are you using DLL's (Call Library Function Node) in the code at all? It would also be very helpful if you could post your code so we can see what is going on.

[HTC]

I'll post some code once I get back to work (I'm on vacation this week)

[HTC]

Hello everyone,

I did the whittle down to the problem in my code. I can clearly identify that this problem has to do with the NI_AALPro.lvlib functions.

If you look at the image I attached, it is quite clear that there is nothing else in going on in my once large, now very small program !!

If I remove this function, the program compiles and runs properly !

Now the question is why do the NI_AALPro.lvlib functions work on some PCs, but not others? As my application requires the use of these functions, I am under pressure to find a solution. Thanks

[Eli_S]

Hi,

Having narrowed down the problem that much is great progress. Usually problems like that have to do with the run-time engine. Are you creating an installer along with the EXE and including installation of the RTE  with it? You did not mention anything about that so I am assuming that you are not creating an executable and just distributing the EXE. If this is the situation, it is possible that the computers in which it is working already had the run-time engine installed. Please clarify whether or not you are creating an installer and including an installation of the RTE. If not, go ahead and do that to see what the results are.

[HTC]

Hello Eli,

I did as you suggested and made an installer for the project. That works fine, but would create a very large download (about 200MB). If I was distributing on CD this would not be a problem, but for intranet based distribution large file sizes are not very desirable. However I noticed during the install that a math kernel library was installed. I searched around on the install disk and found the MKL700 directory which contains the msi library installer. This adds only an addtional 5MB to my software package and when installed, the program opens and functions properly. 

The solution has been found !  

As much as I love NI software / hardware, I still look for ways to install a minimum of components on the target PCs. My current install package is limited to my program exe, the text support files, the runtime engine, and now the math library. This is wrapped in a self-extracting zip file 44MB in size (of which 14MB is text data files). I suspect NI would advise me not to install this way, but to reduce the complexity and overhead, I think this is the optimum solution.

Thanks, Henry

[Eli_S]

I am glad that you found a solution that works for you, both in solving the problem and in having a small install size. As you said, we do not recommend that you install software this way as this is something that we cannot support.

I do agree that it is a little inconvenient to have large install files as this complicates the distribution of the software. Unfortunately, this is the only method we provide, but we are always working on improving our products.

Message Edited by Eli_S on 10-02-2008 02:03 PM