How do I make a copy of a Labview 8 project?

[Bob_Albern]

I know it has been a long time since my last post here but I am starting a new project that is a follow-on to an existing project and the "save as" option does not work as expected.

I have an existing project on a network drive at T:\Engr\ProjA with sub-directories Tests, SubTests, Documentation etc all in a lvproj. There are also links to niswitch and other stuff on the C drive.

I open ProjA.lvproj and select "save as" and select the Duplicate option. I then save it to ProjB

What I end up with is the directory structure T:\Engr\ProjB\ProjA\ with all the sub-directories and T:\Engr\ProjB\C\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEE 8.5\... .

This is obviously not what I want. How do I make a copy of a project without getting a directory layer with the old project's name and without copying files from a common directory?

[Kevin_S]

Hi Bob Albern,

It sounds like you're ending up with a project inside of a project.

When you open up your original project and then select Save As » Duplicate ... » Include all dependencies, you can then browse to a new location and even create a new folder from the dialog box.  The default location that the dialog box starts at is the location of the project that you're wanting to save to a different location.  You need to simply browse to a new location and not use the default location.

I hope this helps,

Kevin S.

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

[Bob_Albern]

Kevin,

Thanks for the advice but it's not exactly a project in a project. I did save the new project to a new location.

The directory structure is duplicated all the way back to the root drive. Attached is a screen shot of a generic version of what I get after running "Save As". Note that Proj_A.lvproj and Proj_B.lvproj both exist in the new project directory and the directory structure for Proj_B goes all the way back the the C drive and T drive. (Our projects are on shared drives. Some LV components reside on the local C drive.)  

What I expect is to get a Proj_B with the same directory structure as Proj_A, as if I did a directory copy in Windows. (Obviously, copying in Windows ends up with a cross-link fiasco!).

Can you explain why this is happening and if "Copy As" can be made to work as I expect? Is our use of networked drives causing this behavior?

Thanks,

Bob

[Kevin_S]

Hi Bob,

I'm still trying to understand exactly what you're doing.  I created a folder with nothing but my project and vi files in it.  I saved everything.  I then created another empty folder.  After opening my project, I chose Save As from the Project File menu and selected the new, empty folder.  Now, both of my folders have exactly the same files in them.

Where does Project A and Project B come from?  Is Project B the second copy of Project A?  If this is the case, when you chose to save Project A, did you specify an entirely empty folder to save your copy to?  Do you have all your project files in one location, or are they spread out.....on both the C drive and T drive? 

Kevin S.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Bob_Albern]

Kevin,

Project A is my existing project. Project B is a new project I am trying to create from Project A. As you did, I created an empty folder named Proj_B. Then, from Proj_A, I right-clicked on the top level directory in Items view ("Project: Proj_A.lvproj") and chose Save As. What I end up with is the directory structure in Proj_B like the picture I attached to my previous post.

My project specific vi's and GPIB based instrument drivers are all located on the T drive under the Proj_A directory. NI specific files such as niHSDIO and niModInst are located on the C drive where LabVIEW installs them (C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.5\inst.lib\). My project contains two lvlib's. One for the instrument drivers and one for the sub VI's. The lvlib's are in the associated directories.

Hope this clarifies what my procedure is to get this corrupted directory structure. I still do not understand what is going wrong. I tried doing this using a Build Specification and ended up with exactly the same problem.

Thanks for your help,

Bob

[Kevin_S]

Hi Bob,

Have you tried going to File » Save As in the Project Explorer?  What are the results with this method?

Kevin S.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Bob_Albern]

I have isolated the problem to the GPIB instrument drivers which are embedded in the project. (We do this to keep from corrupting a released product as drivers are updated.) I am drilling into the drivers to see what the problem is.

I have started a service request to work over the phone and to share more details about my directory structure one-on-one with an Applications Engineer. If/when we get to the bottom of the problem I will post a reply here to share the solution.

Thanks,

Bob

[iirot17]

After reading this thread, I decided to try something a little different than what is described.  We are currently using Labview 8.5 Professional, but I could not try using the  "Save As" becuase it is not active (it is alway greyed out). So I tried the following:

1. Using Windows Explorer, I copied all my old project source code files into a new folder on our network (it could have been the C drive, but I always use our network for source code).
2. Then, after starting Labview, I  opened a new project using Files>New>Empty Project from the Getting Started screen.
3. Going back to the Windows Explorer new folder where all the source code files are located, I dragged that folder and dropped it onto "My Computer" on the new project window.
4. All of the source code files are added into a new folder on the Project Explorer screen (I can't remember the name of the folder) automatically.
5. I was worried that the dependencies for the old project would not be brought over, but they were.
6. The only thing I had to do manually was to create folders in the new project to look like the old project and then move the files into those folders.
7. I then saved the new project with an appropreate name and made sure the project files got saved to the same location as the new project source code files.

This turned out to be much easier than I originally thought it was going to be after reading this thread.

Mark S.

Symmetricom Test Engineering