Set location of nidobj & niobj files?

[Ian.W]

I'd like to speed up the compilation of my large project on my laptop with a slow hard drive.

Is there any way to set a new location for the .ni(d)obj files? 

The target settings allow me to define the location of the .exe and the .cdb file, but what about those ni(d)obj files?

(In case you are wondering, I'm thinking a RAM drive might really help me ... ahh ... memories of compiling Fortran on a PC in 1985....) 

Thanks!

[MJF]

I just did a quick scan of both a project file and a cws file and it looks like there is no such configurable item in either one. If it exists, it is not documented that I am aware of.

So just out of curiosity so I understand the issue...

Are you recreating all of the object files each time you compile? If so, why?

The idea behind compiling to object is that you only compile from source when the source changes. The object files are then all linked to form your target executable, DLL, etc. So if a source file does not change, you should have an object file present and compilation should be skipped.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I tend to only work on one or two source files at a time when doing my code development with the rest staying unchanged. Thus I get the benefits of the object files saving me compilation time for the other 5 to 10 source files I typically have in a project.

[Ian.W]

You raise a good point, Martin, and thanks for confirming that there are no obvious settings.

The problem I have is a large program with a long and non-modular heritage. I'm on a campaign to fix that, and there are a few included header files (UIR .h files, function prototypes, global variables) that appear in so many source files.  And those are the very files I need to alter to have much better modularity.

That said, and unless an NI person chimes in with a secret setting, it looks like my first step had better be "modularizing" those offending include files....

Thanks for your helpful input,

Ian

[MJF]

Don't you hate inheriting somebody else's poor design choices?

I hope you can make some real sense of that soon, good luck with it.

[LuisG]

Sorry, Ian. There's no secret setting 🙂

Luis

[JKneale]

Fast-forwarding from 2006 to 2012....

We are keeping our source files on a ClearCase network drive, and getting complaints about the size of the of niobj and nidobj files. 

I'm running CVI 2012.  Have there been any upgrades since 2006 to enable setting the niobj and nidobj location?  I didn't see anything documented in the CVI 2012 help.

- Jim

[LuisG]

Sorry, Jim, that's still not possible, but hopefully it will be available soon.

Luis