Network Variable Dependencies

[Laddy]

I'm assisting with upgrading a Windows Forms Application from Measurement Studio 8.5 to 2013. The problem we're facing is around the merge modules and InstallShield.

I've been playing with the deployment example (WiX) which features a simple windows forms application with moving graphs. I've added network variable functionality to it to test the deployment of the Network Variable merge modules. Now I've gotten the sample application to deploy successfully without the errors we face in InstallShield.

The problem with the sample is that the application works only on any machine that I've had either Measurement Studio, Server Deployment redistributables package, or the NI-VISA installed. When the sample application is installed on a machine with no prior National Instruments software, it can't connect to my Network Variable because it errors out on NetworkServerManager's Connect() with the message "The network variable process was not found or is not responding". The message goes away as soon as I install the Server Deployment redistributables or the NI-VISA drivers. I thought I saw a blurb that the NI-VISA driver needed to be installed, but I can't find where I thought I saw that.

Is NI-VISA the missing piece or am I missing a dependency or something obvious in the Deployment guides for Network Variables?

Getting this sample install to work will be exactly what we need to figure out what we're doing wrong with the merge modules in InstallShield.

Any help will be appreciated!

[SRTie4k]

I believe this is the exact same problem I had upgrading to Measurement Studio 2013. See here:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/Measurement-Studio-for-NET/Read-network-variables-on-demand-does-not-work-in...

I never got this resolved, I ended up uninstalling the NI 2013 software and reinstalling the 2012 software.

I also just recently upgraded to 2014. I will check if this version has the same issue today.

[SRTie4k]

It would be nice to get an answer for this! It's kind of annoying having to run the National Instruments 2012 software in 2015.

[SRTie4k]

Well I think I stumbled on an answer. I took what you said about needing the NI-VISA drivers, combined with a bit of Google searching to discover that Network Variables require the LogosXT assembly to function. This lead me to install the LogosXT assemblies from the NI-VISA driver, which immediately resulted in my program working again.

From there, I did a bit more searching which brought me to this thread: http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabWindows-CVI/logos-msm-in-CVI2013-SP2-depends-on-logosxt-msm-with-a-differ...

That thread lead me to realize that I was experiencing the exact same problem in my program, that the Logos merge module had a dependency on an incorrectly signed LogosXT merge module, which caused LogosXT to be excluded from the setup project and subsequent installs were missing the LogosXT assembly.

I was able to correct it by downloading the corrected Logos merge modules from the linked thread, replacing the existing modules in the Merge Modules directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Merge Modules\), and recompiling. After you replace the files, you'll see the LogosXT merge module appear in the dependencies in your setup project, indicating that the issue has been resolved.

Hope this helps.

[busarider29]

Im currently building an application for a test bench.  Is the Network Variable Browser Dialog what I need to add to allow a user to browse to a network location to record data to?  Are there any code examples for this?