LabVIEW Idea Exchange

[#1]

When creating an installer for a built LabVIEW application, it is very difficult (see here) to include an additional 3rd party installer (such as a device driver or application that your built application depends upon).  What I'd like to see is a solution that treats 3rd party installers as first class citizens.  I'm imagining a new "Additional 3rd Party Installers" page of the Installer build specification properties dialog.

This page might look something like the one in the screenshot below, allowing users to add a folder that contains the 3rd party installer files and define a command that is run inside that folder during the install process.

When LabVIEW builds the installer, it would suck the additional installer folders into the main installer and, after installing your app files and the additional NI installers, it would sequencially extract your additional 3rd party installers into a temp folder and then execute the command line to run.  This is a pretty simple scheme that would really simplify the process for end users.

I'm sure I didn't address every issue of this use case, so please, everyone, feel free to add your own ideas.  I'd love to hear your comments.

[#2]

I usually build an extra installer with all my extra stuff in it, and it's a pain!  I'd love to see everything in one place...

[#3]

Installers for LabVIEW applications are such a pain - this would certainly be a very welcome improvement (and along similar lines, maybe the option to detect & install .net so that our users dont end up with the rather confusing "the VI needs the full development in environment error")

[#4]

A very useful ask. Kudos.

[#5]

A really useful idea. Kudos.

I think that also these additional installers should be executed with the same User rights as the LabVIEW application "setup.exe".

Let me explain:

if I right click over setup.exe and select (Run as... - Win XP) or (Run as Administrator - Vista and 7), also the additional installers should be launched with the same credentials (without re-typing the password), or their installation could fail..

[#6]

Please consider the addditional suggestion to this idea here

Message Edited by SanRac on 02-16-2010 03:27 AM

[#7]

I love this idea. 

I would like to point out one thing, however, which could open up a bag of worms.

There is another idea about auto-detecting which installers are needed when building an executable.  Incorporating this idea with yours seems like the next logical step, but it would be terrible to expect any NI software to automatically detect needed third-party installers.

Like I said, your idea alone is GREAT.  I'm just thinking that if these two ideas were developed together, it could be very troublesome.

[#8]

Yep, very necessary, 5 star idea!!!

KUDOS.  This is so useful it should be a patch, and not something in a new version

[#9]

************* Its pain!!! I look forward to!

[#10]

Have a look.......

https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-26546