Setup and deployment a program to another PC

[HoaOCLR]

Hi

I'm using MS visual studio 2010 and NI Measurement Studio 2010. Can we create a setup and deployment program on different PC other than the development PC without installing the MAX software?

Details:

1/ Development PC: Win7, MS Visual studio 2010, NI Measurement Studio 2010, MAX ver 4.7.4- Hardware: PCI-GPIB (SW ver 2.8.1) , PCI DIO96 (SW NiDAQ ver 9.23

2/Target  PC; Win XP, Same hardware as 1, No MAX installed.

Thanks

[srdfrn]

Hi HoaOCLR,

In order to run a .NET deployment requiring DAQmx or NI 488.2, you will need to install these drivers on your target machine.  You can download a core version of the DAQmx Run-Time Engine here.  This will not install Measurement and Automation Explorer.  When installing 488.2, deselect MAX when you choose which components you would like to be included in the installation package.

Regards,

Stephanie R.

National Instruments

[HoaOCLR]

Hi Stephanie,

Thanks for your advice, I still have an error after following your steps. Do you have a chance to verify if it works?

Regards

HoaOCLR

[darbyln]

I developed a VB .net app that communicates with a USB-TC01.  It works great on my development PC but when I try to distrubute this and install it on a different PC, no dice.  The app will not run.  I tried really hard to figure out how to create the app so that I would not need to install Measurment Studio or other NI apps.  I thought that I would just need to supply the DAQmx dll and it would work fine but that is not the case.  Can anyone help me figure this out?  How can I develope an app that does not require a NI software install?

thanks!

[srdfrn]

Hello all,

In order to distribute your application to other machines without having to perform a full install of Measurement Studio, please follows these steps:

1. Build your solution in whichever mode -- debug, release -- that you wish to install on your target machine.

2. Right click on your solution in the Solution Explorer and select Add >> New Project.

3. Select Other Project Types >> Setup And Deployment >> Setup Project in the Add New Project Window.

4. Right click your new setup project and select Add >> Project Output, and then select Primary output in the Add Project Output Group window.  Notice that this will add your primary output and all detected dependencies to the setup project.

5. Right click the setup project and select Build.  This will build an installer for your solution that includes both the application and all of its necessary dependencies.

If you are using DAQmx with your application, then you will need to install at least the core run-time engine on all target machines.  This will not install Measurement and Automation Explorer.

If you would like to make this a more automated process, then you might want to consider packaging up your project installer and the DAQmx installer together into a single batch file, which can be referenced from a network drive or CD.  This way, they will both install together and you don't have to worry about downloading the driver onto each new machine.

HoaOCLR -- What is the specific error you are seeing?  Would you mind posting a screen shot?  Thanks!

Regards,

Stephanie R.

National Insturments

[HoaOCLR]

Hi Stephanie

Attached is the error that I have. This issue is only resolved when I install MAX.

Thanks

HoaOCLR

[darbyln]

---

@srdfrn wrote:

Hello all,

In order to distribute your application to other machines without having to perform a full install of Measurement Studio, please follows these steps:

1. Build your solution in whichever mode -- debug, release -- that you wish to install on your target machine.

2. Right click on your solution in the Solution Explorer and select Add >> New Project.

3. Select Other Project Types >> Setup And Deployment >> Setup Project in the Add New Project Window.

4. Right click your new setup project and select Add >> Project Output, and then select Primary output in the Add Project Output Group window.  Notice that this will add your primary output and all detected dependencies to the setup project.

5. Right click the setup project and select Build.  This will build an installer for your solution that includes both the application and all of its necessary dependencies.

If you are using DAQmx with your application, then you will need to install at least the core run-time engine on all target machines.  This will not install Measurement and Automation Explorer.

If you would like to make this a more automated process, then you might want to consider packaging up your project installer and the DAQmx installer together into a single batch file, which can be referenced from a network drive or CD.  This way, they will both install together and you don't have to worry about downloading the driver onto each new machine.

HoaOCLR -- What is the specific error you are seeing?  Would you mind posting a screen shot?  Thanks!

Regards,

Stephanie R.

National Insturments

---

I don't get an error.  The app just doesn't run.  No error message, nothing.  I installed the runtime engine and it still will not run.  I have included the dependancies.  I am not sure what is wrong.

Is there any way to develope an app in .net that does not require you to install the runtime engine?

[srdfrn]

HoaOCLR, I tested this out on a clean machine and actually, I do think that Measurement and Automation Explorer is a necessary component of 488.2, so you do have to install it with the driver.  One thing you can do, however, is edit the associated setup.ini file so that the installation does not automatically add desktop and Start menu shortcuts to MAX on your computer.  You can read about how to do so here.

darbyln -- Can you post a detailed description of how you are creating the distribution on your development machine?  Also, what version of Visual Studio are you running?  Regarding the DAQmx run-time engine, you will need to install it on each machine running a .NET program that calls into the DAQmx driver.  Unfortunately, there isn't a way around this.

Regards,

Stephanie R.

National Instruments

[darbyln]

Thanks for the help.  I don't think that NI has the product that I want to use.  The web site "sells" the .net development as simple and easy which for the most part it is.  However they never mention the fact that you need to install these runtime engines to use the product regardless of what you develop your application in.  This was a detail that I was specifically looking for when I did my research and found no mention of it.  

Stating that the runtime engine is "required" is not actually true.  The demo app that comes on the device runs out of the box.  No install.  No downloading 160 MBs or more to install the Core or Runtime.  That is what I was expecting with the .net developement.  The only reason I am in this position in the first place is that I got bad information from the NI rep and tech support people.  All I want is the demo app that comes on the device with one more decimal place on the tempurature reading.  That would work perfectly for me.  Instead I need to spend a week developing an app to get one more decimal place and then spend another week or two figuring out what is required to run the app that I just created.  Then spend the time to install everything that need to be installed just to run the app.  This does not make my life easier.  It just adds complexity and installs slow and bloated software on old PCs in a lab that are already slow and light on resources.

I guess I need to keep looking. 

[HoaOCLR]

Modify the setup.ini is not the answer. We don't want to install MAX at all. If the deployment program includes all the dependencies, it must work. Why do other dependencies work except NI?