Patch creation causes CVI to crash

[ngay528]

I was trying to create a new patch from distribution.

i went to manage distributions > new

I created it from my existing distribution, selected the nidist.id file, and left the (use new files) checked.

I added a register update to add and changed the output file path.

Went to build the patch, and after a couple of seconds, it crashed.

I believe it may be related to the fact that the current Build Type was in Debug Mode as I was never prompted to rebuild the exe in 'release' mode.  I just changed it to Release and built my exe manually and then attempted to build the Patch it seemed to work!

I have uploaded the crash dump to cvi_create patch_crash.dmp

Unfortunately, the "add files that changed from distribution" did not work as expected.  I guess I need to go manually add them still in the "Files" portion of the patch distribution.  I expected it to just 'add' all the files automatically into the patch that were included in the distribution that changed.  I'm guessing it just 'includes' files in the distribution that are added manually in the patch only if they changed from the main distribution.  Was not straightforward when going through this new patch scenario.

[Jackie_B]

Hi Ngay528,

I am sorry you have been having so much trouble with creating your distribution patch! Regarding the "add files that changed from distribution", the Help states the following:

"When you create a patch, you can automatically include files that have been updated since you built the distribution."

This means files that already existed in the distribution can be updated if you update them in the patch. This does not apply to new files introduced into the distribution.

What do you mean when you say your application crashed during build? Was there an error message or did it just take longer than expected, prompting you to close the application? If there was a situation in which the the patch was set in a different mode (debug or release) than the original distribution, then this would definitely not build properly. It should not necessarily cause a crash, but the distribution would not build. Was this the case? It sounds like when you changed it to be a consist 'release' mode between the patch and original distribution that it successfully built for you. This is expected behavior.

Regarding the crash report, where did you upload this? This was not attached to your post. Did you have a specific question regarding the crash or creating a distribution patch?

Regards,

Jackie

[ngay528]

I uploaded the crash report to the ni ftp website in the incoming folder.

All of CVI crashed when making the build.  I got the windows crash report and in which I could send to Windows for further investigation.  So a hard crash, all of CVI closes when I click okay.

To extend on the "add files automatically", no new files were added to my distribution.  So my main distribution included my release exe and dependable dlls.  When checking the box, and clicking okay at the initial screen of patch creation, I expected the "Files" tab to be filled out identical to my distribution.  This was not the case as I had to manually setup which files would be included, and in my example, re-included the release exe and dependable dlls.

This may or may not be the intended behavior, but if it is intended, it was not clear to me on what I was supposed to do on this new patch creation method.

[Jackie_B]

Hi Ngay,

I am forwarding your crash dump onto the correct team that supports this. Is this a continuing problem for you or was this just a one time crash?

Regards,

Jackie

[ngay528]

It happened every time.  In my first post, I mentioned a way for it to work; I had to change my build config to Release and rebuild it.  usually it prompts the user that it will do it for them.

[Jackie_B]

Hi Ngay,

I mentioned in my response that if your patch was build in a different distribution type (debug vs. release) than the original distribution, that this would not work. Was this the case? If you build a simple distribution in debug mode then build a patch in debug mode, will this crash?

Regards,

Jackie

[ngay528]

Oh i am not sure.

I didn't know it was possible to create a distribution in debug mode as it always says that it needs to rebuild my output in release mode when it is in debug mode (I presume this is linked to the "Files" portion).  So, i just figured the Patch would do the same, but instead it moves along and then crashes.

[Jackie_B]

Hey Ngay,

Thank you very much for bringing this crash to our attention. After looking at your crash dump it seems that the crash occurred in the Application Development Environment.

Currently, are you able to successfully build a CVI distribution or has your development been halted? If you would be willing to troubleshoot this with us, it would be greatly appreciated. This way we could try to reproduce this on our end to determine what the problem is. What we would need to begin the troubleshooting process is as follows:

1. An installation and build log. To do this please refer to Creating an Error Log File for a Software Installation and Creating a Debug Log of a LabWindows/CVI Installer Build.

2. What version of LabWindows/CVI are you using?

3. Please detail the steps that you took to cause the crash. My current understanding is that you had an existing installer in which you built a patch that was set to debug. When you build the patch, you point to the .id file of the installer, begin the build and it crashes.

4. Can you confirm if this crashes immediately after you start installing or does it crash at a certain point during the installation?

Again, thank you very much for bringing this to our attention. If you would be willing to work with us regarding this it would be very helpful. We appreciate any time you are willing to put into this. I look forward to hearing from you and hope that you have a great day!

Regards,

Jackie

[ngay528]

I can't seem to get the crash to happen anymore (perhaps since I was able to get a successful build or updated device drivers)

Version 10.0.1 (419)

At the time, I had updated to my new service pack CVI Full to 10.0.1, but had not updated my device drivers on my computer yet.  So I was prompted to install the disc when creating the original installer.  I have since updated them.

For #3, you are correct and the crash happened after a couple of seconds, I would say the progress bar was at about 20%.

Also, the advice for "Creating a Debug Log of a CVI Installer Build" does not work, at least not on patches.  No window ever came up when hitting CTRL+SHIFT+L

I did find a build debug file, although not sure if it would be of any use since it was succeeding and time stamp was from today, but I uploaded that to the ftp server as distBuildDbg ngay528.log

[Jackie_B]

Hi Ngay, 

Unfortunately, if we cannot reproduce the crash there is really no way to determine the cause of the bug. Are you currently up and running? If you are and start to experience problems in the future, we would be happy to continue debugging with you. 

Regards,

Jackie