LabWindows 5.5 and 8.1 apps on the same PC

[kmagas]

I have applications written in LabWindows 5.5, these are running on about a dozen PC's. For many reasons these apps cannot be updated to use LabWindows 8.1. 

If I install an application written in LabWindows 8.1 on the PC running the 5.5 app, will there be any conflicts? I am leery because there are so many differences, the UIR and run time engine being two major areas of incompatability.

[kmagas]

to clarify: I would be installing a new program written in LabWindows 8.1 on the pc which has the developement version of 5.5 and an appliction written in 5.5

(there really should be an edit button for these posts)

[menchar]

There is an edit capability under the options pulldown to the upper right of your post.  It has a time limit, however:  if you wait for some time (10 minutes or so it seems to me) then you cannot edit your post.

As for deploying a CVI 8.x distribution onto a target with CVI 5.x development on it, you will wind up with the CVI 8.x runtime engine I do believe.  I don't think the CVI 8.x RTE will coexist with the CVI 5.x RTE.  NI claims the RTE is always compatible, so that this isn't a problem, and while that may generally be true, we found we had problems with old code that worked with an old RTE but not with the 8.x RTE.  This was due to faulty FPGA design in our system, and not NI's "fault" but it was a problem for us just the same.

Prior to 8.x, multiple versions of the RTE could co-exist on a target.

Someone from NI can identify the version specifically where the RTE deployment behavior changed,  but I think it was 8.0 or 8.1.

Menchar

[kmagas]

thanks for the quick reply. I have vague memories of some incompatability sometime in the past but cannot remember the versions.

also I never really noticed the options button, since it does not work in Maxthon, a program which gives IE a tabbed interface. Now I see that it does work in a pure Internet Explorer window

[Mert_A.]

There can only be one version of the RTE installed globally (i.e. in the system directory) for CVI programs, and that has always been the case. Prior to CVI 8.0, the distribution kit would include the version of the RTE corresponding to the version of the CVI development environment. So CVI 7.1 would pull in the 7.1 RTE and CVI 7.0 would pull in the 7.0 RTE, even if there was a higher version installed globally on that machine. This could potentially lead to a deployed system behaving differently than the development system, so it was changed.

It is possible (and has been since before 8.0) to set a distribution option to install the runtime engine to the application directory (option is on the Advanced tab). This causes the core RTE DLLs to be installed privately for your application, without replacing the version of the RTE installed globally. Many users have found this option useful if they really need to use a specific version of the runtime engine with their application (e.g. for QA or compatibility reasons), and want to protect it from potential upgrades in the future.

As menchar says, the RTEs are always expected to be backwards compatible, and most users can upgrade without incident. Of course, from time to time, changes to an implementation or new bugs can result in differences in behavior for some existing programs.

Mert A.

National Instruments

[menchar]

A local install of the RTE can also help in secure environments where there might be restrictions on installing stuff into the systems folder.

Thanks Mert for clarifying this.

Menchar

[wally_666]

I can verify that CVI 5.5, CVI 8.0, and CVI 8.5 can all peacefully coexist on the same system.  When I build with CVI 5.5 do I get the 5.5 or 8.5 RTE?  I don't really care since it all works.

I still need CVI 5.5 for some projects as the distribution kit it builds is small enough to Email and the installer lets version B software be installed in a different directory from the version A original code for side by side testing (a big help when attempting to make modifications without traveling to the remote location).

I need CVI 8.0 for applications using the CVI Linux runtime.  I need CVI 8.5 to fix the bugs in CVI 8 -- too bad this never happend for the Linux runtime 😞

--wally.

Edit:

I had 8.0 and 8.1 installed until 8.5 came out, then I replaced 8.1, same as 8.0 replaced CVI 6 -- where the installer started going downhill faster with each update 😞

Message Edited by wally_666 on 12-29-2009 01:46 PM