Is there an easy way to have a version number that the VI code has access to, and that is used as the version number for the executable and installer builds?

[Laser_engineer]

Is there an easy way to have a version number that the VI code has access to, and that is used as the version number for the executable and installer builds? Right now every time I update my software I have to change the global variable where I store the version number, and then when I build I have to manually open the properties and change the version number for both the executable and the installer. Is there some easy way to make these all match automatically?

[smercurio_fc · Accepted solution]

Did you try a search? This question comes up A LOT. Here's the results from a search: http://forums.ni.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?location=Node%3A170&q=application+version#mess...

[Laser_engineer]

Thanks. I did search, but didn't find anything. Not sure what I did wrong.

[Aaron O]

Check out this example:

http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-3733

Placing the above functions in your VI should retrieve the version for you. Make sure you read the note:

"Cut and Paste this code into your block diagram just before you build the executable. If you try and run this code section during development, you will get an error"

[Laser_engineer]

Thanks Aaron. I ended up using FileVersionInfo.VI from vi.lib\Platform\fileVersionInfo.llb instead. (I saw it recommended here as superior to using the .net property nodes.) I enclosed it in a conditional disable structure with condition RUN_TIME_ENGINE==TRUE, which seems like a better way of handling code that only works in the run time engine. It's working fine.

Thanks for the help!

[Aaron O]

Glad you found a solution.

Cheers,

Aaron

[Laser_engineer]

In case anyone reading this is interested, I ended up writing a subVI, shown in the snippet below. When called, this subVI retrieves the version number from the executable and appends it to the calling VI's window title.

[NI-hilator]

LaserEngineer,

Could you provide the VI or an explanation?  I am unfamiliar with some of the terminals used in the diagram.

Thanks.

[Mark_Yedinak]

You should close the reference that you opened in your subVI. Closing references you opened is generally the recoemended practice.

[Laser_engineer]

TimTech: the image above is a VI snippet. If you are using LabView 2010 on Windows or Mac you can load the code from the image:

-Save the image to disk (usually you can do this by right clicking on it and selecting "Save image as...").

-Open the folder containing the image file.

-Create a new blank VI in LabView and open the block diagram.

-Drag the image file from the folder on your hard drive to the block diagram.

-Labview magically gets executable code from the image.

-Save the new VI to disk and it is ready to use.