missing external compliler support libraries

[wally_666]

I'm trying to use Measurement Studio 8.1.2 for Visual Studio 6.0 to import a CVI project so I can use a partner's C++ DLLs.

As an starting point I'm tyring to use the File->New to open the Measurement Studio Wizzard to convert and existing CVI project into a Visual C++ project using one of the CVI sample projects (tankdemo.prj).  But it fails with "The specified CVI installation is missing the external compiler support libraries in the extlib folder".

Using explorer, the three files cvirt.lib, cvisupp.lib, and cviwinmain.lib are in cvi/extlib/ for all my CVI installations, although for 8.5 they are in cvi85/extlib/msvc/

How to fix?  My compiler compatability is set for Visual Studio and I've CVI 5.5, 6.0, 8.01, and 8.5 installed on this computer.   Haven't yest upgraded to 8.5.1.

--wally.

[JonathanN]

Hi wally,

Yes, in CVI 8.5 we changed up the directory structure and thus this broke the legacy VS 6 CVI wizards. The problem is that we are no longer updating the Visual Studio 6.0 CVI conversion wizards and as such, these wizards don't know where to find the new libs. We modified our 2003 and 2005 wizards to deal with this change and as such, if you tried using the conversion wizards in either VS 2003 or VS 2005, you wouldn't see this error. 

Now, the workaround for you is to copy all the libs from the msvc directory up one level which matches the directory structure pre-8.5.  Then if you re-run the VS 6 wizard, it should work fine. 

Best Regards,

[wally_666]

OK that fixed the Import Wizzard and it created the VS Workspace files.  Unfortunately the biuld dies with 58 errors, the first of which is not being able to find the CVI header files.

Show how do I fix where the workspace is looking for the CVI "standard headers"  like  "analysis.h"?

--wally.

[JonathanN]

Well, the easiest way is if you have Visual Studio 2005, you can run through the CVI wizard, and then look at what include directories and libs were used.  For example, if I run the VS 2005 wizard on the tank demo, the Additional Include Directories option under C/C++ in the project properties dialog, is set to

"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\include\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\activex\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\custctrl\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\cvirtsup\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\datasock\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\localui\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\printing\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\reportgen\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI85\toolslib\toolbox\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\CVI\include\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\CVI\toolslib\";"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\CVI\toolslib\custctrl\";"C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\CVI85\include\";"C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\CVI\include\";"C:\Users\Public\Documents\National Instruments\CVI85\Jonathan's Samples\apps\tankdemo\"

Now, the above settings are from my Vista machine. Instead of ProgramData, you should use  C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\...

Also, you need to be using the _NI_mswin32_ preprocessor define. I don't think the VS 6 wizard automatically added it. This is mentioned in the Required Preprocessor Definitions help topic in the LabWindows/CVI Help.

Also, if I remember correctly, the VS 6 wizard added the toolbox.h and toolbox.c file which actually doesn't need to be added so you can delete those from the project. 

Additionally, we moved the location of analysis.h which was an intentional change. The reason for it has to do with properly supporting UAC under Vista. The analysis library had to be installed to a different location, since in some cases those files need to modified by CVI, post-installation.

Best Regards,

Message Edited by Jonathan N on 08-28-2008 02:36 PM