".alias" file in LV 8.2 DSC - What is in there and why does it change?

[Ben]

Why does the alias file get updated every time I open and close the associated project WITHOUT SAVING ANYTHING ?

Repeat:

I did not save anything.

What is being saved if I did not change anything?

Ben

[Will.D]

Ben,

I can't answer the why, but I can answer the what...at least as it applis to me.

The only thing in any of my .aliases files is

[My Computer]
My Computer = "XX.XX.X.XXX"

Where the X's are the IP address of the computer the project was opened from.

[smercurio_fc]

Hmmm... that would explain why when I open the project file from disk it indicates changes were done to the project (asterisk in title bar), even though I had just opened it from disk! It seems the .alias file gets updated with the IP address, even if the address didn't change.

NI: can you please fix this? This is most annoying.

[MattP]

Hi all,

I can give you some reasoning behind the 'why.'  The aliases file lets the project know the location (IP) of each of the targets in the project to facilitate communication between them.  This is very useful in Real-Time and FPGA applications containing multiple independent targets.  If you create a new RT cRIO Controller in your project, for example, you'd find your aliases file now looks like this:
[My Computer]
My Computer = "10.0.31.147"

[RT CompactRIO Target]
RT CompactRIO Target = "10.0.35.254"

The reason why the aliases file is updated just by opening the project (even without saving the project) is that the project file may have been moved to a different computer, or your IP address may have changed since the last time it was opened.  LabVIEW needs the current address of each of the targets to be able to, among other things, send and receive FTP files, set up front-panel communication with the target, and properly configure shared variables.  This behavior should be present in all flavors of LabVIEW 8.2, and not just with the DSC Module.

Message Edited by MattP on 11-21-2006 12:34 PM

[Ben]

Hi Matt,

Thank you for that clarification.

Follow-up Q.

The "alias" file should NOT be included in source code control. T/F ?

Ben

[Greg G.]

True.  The aliases file can (and will) be regenerated based on the data in the .lvproj file.  It does not need to be in source code.