uninstall daqmx 8.8 before installind LV 2009?

[Dave_Thomson]

We're just starting to deploy applications built in LV 2009.  We have a program that was written in 8.6 and distributed as an executable.  The installer for that old program also installed DAQmx 8.8 and the LV 8.6 RTE.

Now we are building an updated version in LV 2009.  It's installer uses DAQmx 9.0.1.  Previously, when an installer needs to update DAQmx, it just does so, right on top of the current version.  (At least for minor revision numbers...)  But when we try to run this installer (built from a LV2009 project), it says it can't run until you manually uninstall DAQmx 8.8.  You have to exit the installer, run the NI add/remove to get rid of DAQmx 8.8, then run the installer again.  This is rather inconvenient for our customers who are trying to upgrade our program in the field.  Worse yet, when you manually uninstall DAQmx 8.8, it says that the old version of our program is a dependency and forces you to uninstall it too, along with the LV 8.6 RTE!  Once DAQmx 9.0.1 and our new program are installed, you can reinstall the 8.6 RTE and reinstall our old program, which then works with DAQmx 9.0.1.
Our old and new versions are side-by-side compatible, so forcing the customer to uninstall everything to get a new version of DAQmx installed is incredibly inconvenient.

Has anyone else noticed this issue?  Is there something we're missing on running these installers that would prevent this?

Thanks,

   DaveT

[Seth_B.]

The reason for this is due to certain changes we made to how DAQmx runtime engine is divided in DAQmx 9.0.

Prior to DAQmx 9.0, the runtime engine consisted of 5 parts and a full version.  Each of the runtimes could upgrade the previous version.  However, because of the complexity of building 5 runtime engines and one full version, not all 5 REs would be released each time the full version was updated.

With DAQmx 9.0, we simplified the runtime scheme to have a Core, Config, and Full version of DAQmx.  The Core version only includes the necessary components to run a built executable.  The Config version includes all of the components of Core, Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) and the necessary components to use DAQmx functionality in MAX.  The full version includes everything in the Config version, but also all of the components necessary for development.  We now build all three of these versions each time we update the full version, allowing us to continually provide smaller runtime engines with each DAQmx release.  This also allows for just the Core or Config component to be updated without having to completely update the API in many cases, leading to better modularity with regards to distributing DAQmx with built installers.

However, because the way that runtimes were mapped changed with 9.0, in order to prevent a number of upgrade/downgrade issues we had to disable upgrading from a runtime engine of a version older than 9.0 to any version after 9.0 or upgrading any full version prior to 9.0 to any runtime after 9.0.

Put simply, when crossing the DAQmx 9.0 line, only a full installation can be upgraded, and only to a full version.  Any other upgrade across the 9.0 boundary will require an uninstallation.

Now that this change has been made, however, once you are past the DAQmx 9.0 line, all upgrades should go smoothly for you.

[Dave_Thomson]

Seth,

   Thanks for the reply and the information.

   I don't fully understand how the Full vs other 8.8 installs was selected.  We installed the LV RTE, MAX, and DAQmx with our 8.6 install, but apparently that wasn't a "Full" install?  Not that there is anything we can do about it at this point...

   Also, I don't quite understand why uninstalling 8.8 forces an uninstall of our application.  Well, I guess I see that there is a dependency issue, but I don't like it.  It forces an uninstall even though we can just reinstall it later and everything is fine.

   The resultant 12 step installation process for our customers to upgrade will quite likely impact our ability to sell this as an user-installable upgrade to our software package.

Regards,

    DaveT

(By the way, I got SIX notifications of your reply in my inbox...)

[Seth_B.]

I mainly handle the DAQmx side of NI software, so I don't have as much familiarity with the Application Builder side.  I'll defer to someone else to address those questions if possible.  My though is that when your installer was originally built, it included a DAQmx runtime that includes MAX support, but not full API support.  I am just guessing though, without knowing more about your setup.

I'm also not sure why you are having to uninstall your application when DAQmx is removed.