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NI Package Management Idea Exchange

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NI Package Management Idea Exchange

Post your ideas that are related to NI package management. This includes NI Package Manager, NI Package Builder, creating NI packages (.nipkg), distributing NI packages (.nipkg), managing feeds, and more.

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1 Kudos
Phil.Lundeen

Provide meaningful error messages on package installation failure

Status: Declined Submitted by Member on 02-28-2023 06:45 PM 1 Comment

If a package fails to install, there is never anything helpful presented to try to diagnose the problem. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

image (8).png

 

This is hot garbage.

 

I end up having to run nipkg.exe from command line to get some modicum of feedback, but even then it's usually still insufficient.

 

My latest use case is that I have created a pre-install.bat file (configured to run as a pre-install custom execute, per my package build spec), and that bat file is intended to throw an error (set nonzero return code and route message to stderr) if some required dependencies do not exist. I went to the trouble of doing these sanity checks and building meaningful errors, but they don't actually get exposed when I run the installer, so I'm left guessing as to what went wrong.

1 Kudos
Sweatha

Ability to define dependencies between packages included in an offline Installer

Status: New Submitted by Member on 05-17-2022 01:36 AM Comment

I am building a custom offline installer for LabVIEW and Teststand and share it with people in my organization. I created a single installer which included both 32-bit and 64-bit LabVIEW versions and few add-ons that are required for the tools that we developed. The problem I see is if the user selects one version of LabVIEW, the add-ons for that bitness alone has to be selected automatically. But there is no option to specify such dependencies in the Package builder

1 Kudos
Mathieu_R.

NI Package Builder - Improve MRU file name display (first underscore is missing)

Status: New Submitted by Active Participant on 03-25-2021 04:23 PM 2 Comment

Cosmetic / Minor issue

 

I have a solution with one underscore character in its file name. It is properly displayed in the window title bar, but undescore is missing in most recently used files, under File menu.

 

NIPB_DisplayIssueInFileMenu.png

 

I made some complementary tests, with dummy solution files named Undescore_One.pbs, Undescore_One_Two.pbs and Undescore_One_Two_Three.pbs. Only the first underscore in the file name is missing in menu display:

 

NIPB_DisplayIssueInFileMenu.png

 

I am using NI Package Builder 20.6.0.1227.

 

Regards, 

1 Kudos
CL_eisenwr

NIPB: Add option to Add File without Discovery

Status: Development Started Submitted by Active Participant on 02-06-2020 06:37 PM 3 Comment

It would nice to have an option to add a file without Discovery to package. Currently they only way it place the file in a folder that the package will deploy which is a bit heavy handed for a single file. This would also give parity to folders that currently have both options. Another related idea, would be to be able to turn Discovery on/off for the inputs via the right-click menu.

0 Kudos
DR_parker

[NI Package Builder] Add ability to set "CompatibilityVersion" attribute of a package

Status: New Submitted by Member on 09-18-2025 10:59 AM 1 Comment

I recently ran into a problem where packages I created and distributed to my team failed to install because the packages were not compatible with the version of NI Package Manager installed on their system.  I usually keep my NI Package Manager instance updated, but other users only use it every so often and may not follow the same practice.

 

I propose a new feature in NI Package Builder (other NIPM-related tools like LabVIEW Package builder) that allows the package developer to specify a compatible version in the package build spec.

 

DR_parker_1-1758211110608.png

 

 

Related to the issue described here: Solved: CompatabilityVersion in control file - NI Community

 

 

 

 

 

0 Kudos
jyoung8711

NI Package Builder - Add Ability to Link Folders to Package

Status: New Submitted by Member on 03-05-2021 09:42 AM 3 Comment

You can add folders to the "inputs" in NIPB, and they will auto detect if files have been changed / added to the solution.

 

If you ad a folder (or a complex folder hierarchy) to a package, it disconnects ALL of the folders.  I completely understand why this might be done, but it creates a slightly unexpected disconnect between the "inputs" and the "package workspace"

 

If files are updated, those updates propagate between both locations -- Great!

 

If files are added, those updates propagate to the Inputs, but NOT the workspace.

 

This can be pretty frustrating, especially for deeply nested folder structures...

 

My request is not that this is entirely switched, but rather an option to add a linked folder to the workspace... My thought is that this would function much like the "autopopulating folders" from labVIEW (vs snapshots) -- Though it would be nice if the base added folder could have it's name changed and still maintain the link (though not required).