Is it possible to transfer editor settings (syntax coloring...)

[Wolfgang]

Hi,

sometimes I take a project home to waste my weekend. It appears to me that on a different computer projects may look different, even if I copy the prj and cws files.

Is there a possibility to transfer all user settings including editor preferences?

Thanks, Wolfgang 

[nickb · Accepted solution]

Hey Wolfgang -

Starting with CVI 2009, a utility to Import and Export environment settings is available.  You can find it at Start»National Instruments»LabWindows/CVI 2009»Tools»Import-Export Settings or in the CVI environment at Tools»Import/Export Settings.  You should just pick the settings you want to bring home with you, export it to a file, and then import from that file with the tool at home.  The tool allows copying settings to and from all versions of CVI installed on your machine, but CVI 2009 must be installed to get the tool.

NickB

National Instruments

[Wolfgang]

Ha, great! I'll try it tonight...

Thanks!

[Wolfgang]

Hi Nick,

I have just tried it and was able to import the editor settings

What checkmark do I have to check to also transfer the settings of the 'build distribution' configuration?

If I copy the complete project, including *.h, *.prj, and *.cws files, to another computer, the build distribution settings on the new computer do not reflect the settings on my work computer, it shows some parameters but it is not clear to me where these settings come from... From the previous project? So if I switch between two projects on the same computer, how do the distribution settings change? Do they change?

Wolfgang

[nickb]

Hey Wolfgang -

Distribution settings are actually stored in a *.cds file that is associated with your workspace.

NickB

National Instruments

ps - I've personally found Dropbox to be irreplaceable for sharing documents between work and home and other locations - you might take a look if you're allowed to install software on your work computer.

[Wolfgang]

I see, thanks again!

...and where do I find the 'Build Options' settings, i.e. which compiler is defined, ...? Initially I thought 'Code Generation' but this setting seems to reflect the UI code generation.

[nickb]

The vast majority of the build options settings are stored either in the project or the workspace file.  The release compiler settings are stored in the registry, but because you need to explicitly create the .ecc file, the Import/Export tool leaves you to do this.  If you wanted the tool to copy these settings for you (the .ecc file would need to be in the same place on both computers), you should modify the CVISettings.xml file located at Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\CVI\Bin.  You would need to add the following xml to the file:

<Category Name="External Compiler Support"
ExpDesc="This item includes all settings corresponding to external compiler support."
RevDesc="Reverting this item removes all user defined external release compilers.">
    <Item Key="ExternalCompilerConfigurations" EnumKeys="1" />
</Category>

NickB

National Instruments

[Wolfgang]

Thanks

Yes, transferring my project to another computer involves all files within the project folder, including the ecc files.

Do you agree that there is room for improvement, because switching from one project to another might also affect the release configuration?

Not all projects require processor-specific optimizations as provided by Intels compiler, so for standard data aquisition without much numerics the standard CVI compiler (and maybe clang in the future) is fine for me.

I could file yet another product suggestion...

Wolfgang

[LuisG]

Hi Wolfgang,

Although the release compiler settings in the Build Options are global, you can override these settings for individual projects. You do this in Edit>>Project>>Release Configuration. This allows you to define different optimizations for different projects. And because these project-specific settings are stored in the project file, they will be copied along with the .prj file when you take your project to a different computer.

Luis