How do I remove requirement for .aliases file in LabVIEW2020 .EXE

[justynfogarty]

The .aliases file in my project is simply filled with was looks to be a MAC address, and this should not be needed when compiling my .exe. However, when I remove it from my project and try to compile, the compile fails because it is looking for a .aliases file. I feel like I should be able to go into Build Specifications > Properties > Source Files, and remove it, however it is not there. If I try to build an installer and go to Build Specifications > Properties > Source Files, I can see the .aliases file but I cannot click on it because it is grayed out. How do I remove the requirement for this .aliases file when compiling?

[altenbach]

Typically, it contains an IP address, not a MAC address. What exact problem are you trying to solve with all this?

[justynfogarty]

The problem is we don't want the .aliases file in source control, so we need to remove its dependency in the compilation.

[GerdW]

Hi justyn,

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@justynfogarty wrote:

The problem is we don't want the .aliases file in source control,

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Atleast in SVN you can define which files to exclude from source control. I usually exclude files like *.aliases and *.lvlps…

(There are cases where you need them so you need to decide per project…)

[justynfogarty]

I know how to remove a the file from source control, but the compilation will fail because it is expecting an .aliases file which really doesn't do anything. How do I remove this dependency from the compilation?

[santo_13]

Add the *.aliases to ignore list of SVN or Git, this way it is not tracked but it will still be created locally.

[raphschru]

Assuming you are talking about the project's .aliases file:

I suspect you have somehow put it in the "Source Files" > "Always Included" section of your executable build specification, either directly or indirectly by including a whole folder. Then, if you remove the file on disk, the project explorer will show a missing file conflict and if you try to compile, the application builder will complain that some "required" files are missing.

A solution is to simply remove the .aliases file from your project (and from your build spec), as it has no use inside a LabVIEW project.

Regards,

Raphaël.

[justynfogarty]

1. The .aliases file is ignored in my source control
2. The .aliases file is not in the directory of my project when I open the project. Then if I open the project the .aliases file is created. I cannot remove the .aliases file in the Project Explorer window. If I use File Explorer to delete the .aliases file and try to compile, the compilation will fail because it is expecting it.
3. The .aliases file is not in "Source Files" > "Always Included"

[raphschru · Accepted solution]

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@justynfogarty wrote:

I cannot remove the .aliases file in the Project Explorer window.

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What do you mean by that? Any item (well almost...) can be deleted from the project, unless it is inside an auto-populated folder or is a dependency of another item. If it is inside an auto-populated folder, then convert it to a virtual folder and remove the .aliases from the project.

If this does not work, you will need to attach your project, or at least a minimal project that reproduces this behavior. Otherwise we cannot see what's wrong with your project. Don't forget to "Save for Previous Version" the project (version 21.0 maximum) before attaching it. Also, attach all dependency files (VIs, CTLs...), not just the lvproj. If there are multiple files, please prefer attaching a .zip.

[justynfogarty]

I have changed the folder from auto-populated to virtual. Now the .aliases file is not being created when opening the project. However, this still does not fix the problem I am having. How do I make the project compile without the .aliases file?