problem with distribution / dll with CVI

[sal_c.]

Hello all, here is my problem...

I have used CVI to create a .dll that communicates with an electroinc device.  The communcation protocol is SPI, so naturally I am using the NI USB-8451.  This was all pretty simple.  A co-worker of mine then took the .dll and used it in another application.  The programming language is VB6.  My co-worker's program does data storage stuff, nothing too fancy.  There was no problems with my co-worker communicating with my .dll because his PC had some National Instruments compononets on it.  When he tried to create an .exe / install and run it on another pc that did not have any Ni components, many errors arose.  Mainly, I was missing several NI .dlls in my distribution / installer.  Is there anyone who has a better knowledge of the installer process using CVI?  

[JonathanN]

Hi sal_c,

Whatever National Instruments components your DLL is built against need to be installed on the target systems. So if your DLL is simply using the NI-845x driver software, then your end-users need to make sure to install that driver software on their systems. End users can install this driver from here. This same concept applies if you were building against DAQmx, VISA, etc. You need to install those drivers on the target systems. 

Now, if you wanted to bundle your DLL in an installer package, you could easiliy do this in CVI by creating a distribution. Then in this distrivution, include the appropriate drivers found in the Drivers & Components tab of the Edit Installer dialog box. Please refer to the Distributing Applications with the LabWindows/CVI 8.x Distribution Kit tutorial for information on this topic.

Best Regards,

[sal_c.]

Thank you for the response Jonathan.

I did attempt to create an installer package with the DLL budled together, but something went awry.  I did click on the icon for the NI-845x driver software.  When the installer was being created, it asked me to insert an Instrument Driver LabView CD it.  When we went to use the final .exe, it began asking for several NI dlls.  Also, the target PC had the NI-845x driver installed on it initially. 

[Lars_L]

Hey sal_c,
What were the names of the some of the missing DLLs? Are they related to Instrument Drivers that could have been included on the CD? If you don't have your CD anymore you can still easily download these drivers from the download section on www.ni.com. Once we have the names of the dll's we can find which driver they relate to and we can verify that this driver is being built into your installer correctly.

Lars