Transition from 32 bit to 64 bit machine

[slzeb]

I have an application that was developed in VS2005 that has a reference to the following MeasurementStudio .NET assemblies on a 32-bit laptop with WinXP used for development:

The version of the reference to .Common is 8.1.20.237

The version of the reference to .DAQmx is 8.6.20.15

The merge module mstudiocommon.2005.msm is 8.1.1.237

The merge module mstudiodaqmx.2005.msm is 8.6.20.15

Info about MAX, if needed is :MAX v4.3, NI-DAQ v. 8.6.0f6.

Plan now is to transition to a new 64-bit laptop with Win7 for development.  I plan to move the existing project as is to the 64-bit dev laptop and still use VS2005 to rebuild if I need to make changes to application.  Then redeploy to target machines.  Target machines are 32-bit WinXP and have the same MAX4.3 installed.

For the new 64-bit laptop for development, do I need to install later version of MAX that works with Win7 and 64-bit machine?

I believe I seen somewhere that I do.

If I install a new version of MAX on 64-bit dev laptop, I assume it will install new assemblies, therefore causing an exclaimation mark to displayed on the NI references in my VS project.  If I rebuild the application, will it also update the merge modules?  If so, how do I maintain using the existing DLLs that exist on the target system? 

What I am trying to avoid is having the client install MAX x.x on the target system.  I would like to make changes to the project and deploy to target that uses exsiting NI DLLs regardless of the transition from my development 32-bit machine to 64-bit machine.

I am asking for advice on how to proceed cautiously.

Last but, not least, I plan to eventually migrate the application to VS2010.  I will follow-up with that later.  One step at a time.

[Sean_N]

More than just MAX, you will need to upgrade NI DAQmx.  I recommend version 9.4 found here.  This will update MAX as well.  If you rebuild the application, then it should update the merge modules.  If it does not detect all the merge modules, you can find the list of them from the Measurement Studio Help.  This KB explains how to do this.  You might also reference this KB in case there is an issue with the Measurement Studio Toolbox after the upgrade.  The DLLs should not change from an upgrade.

Hope this helps!

Sean

[slzeb]

So is there a way to force my project to us the existing DLLs that I have referenced in my current project in VS2005 and not affect what is loaded on the target system.

Do I have to install NI-DAQmx9.4 on the target system that the application will be deployed to?

I assume 9.4 is compatible with WinXP 32bit.

Basically I do not want to affect my current target systems NI DLLs that use old NI-DAQmx 8.6.1 and trigger a reinstall of NI-DAQmx to 9.4.

[Sean_N]

If you create an application on a development machine, you will need a newer version of DAQmx.  When you create your installer, you will have to include DAQmx so that the application will have the necessary drivers.  However, when you choose DAQmx as an additional installer (at least with version 9.4) you have three options:

1) NI-DAQmx Application Development Support - will install the full DAQmx drivers for development; will overwrite current DAQmx driver version

2) NI-DAQmx Core Runtime - will install only what is needed to run applications

3) NI-DAQmx MAX Configuration Support -  will install the version of MAX

If you want to keep DAQmx 8.6.1 on the deployment machines, then you would want to choose option 2.  DAQmx 9.4 is compatible with Windows XP 32-bit.

Did I make this clear?

Thanks,

Sean

[slzeb]

Sorry I dont follow the following statement:

"You indicate when you choose DAQmx as an additional installer (at least with version 9.4) ...:'.  Not sure what you mean by choose DAQmx as an additional installer.

In VS2005, in the Setup and Deploy project, I created a Project Output as a Primary Output.  Doing so created the NI merge modules, in the Detected Dependencies folder of the Setup and Deploy project.  But those are the new 9.4 versions.  I assume that if I installed this app on the target machine, it will overwrite the 8.6.1 DLLs on that machine that are in the existing application folder. Correct?

If so, how do I prevent that from happening, helping me to maintain the 8.6.1 drivers on the target machine?

Will i have to install NI-DAQmx 9.4 on target machine?

[Sean_N]

Sorry for the delayed response.  Not sure what happened with the notification from your previous response.

I spoke with a development engineer for some clarification and he explained that one of the main reasons for wanting to use the Visual Studio prerequisites to install a dependancy is that it will check for it before installing the user application.  The thing is, National Instruments does its own dependency checking inside our driver installers.  In order for Visual Studio to enforce this dependency, you have to check MSI information and things start to get complicated.  Instead, it's best to just run the installers separately.  You can run these independently, or you could run the setup using the PreBuildEvent or PostBuildEvent.  You can provide the path to the setup.exe for the driver you want to install.

That is the suggested method of distributing our drivers.  If you want to do something using the prerequisites bootstrapper, then you can, but that is something that gets very complicated and we simply do not have the resources to support that.

As far as getting the DAQmx 9.4 Runtime enginer drivers, you can find those here.

Please let me know if this is clearer, and sorry again about the delay.

Thanks,

Sean N