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Why is searching for a run time engine download so difficult?

OK, lets try to find the download link for the 2011 SP1 run time engine. (needed here)

 

First attempt: Search for "2011 SP1 runtime 32".

 

As first match, we get the 2011 SP1 web browser plugin, then the 2009 SP1 version, the some other unrelated stuff.  What we really want is nowhere to be found.

 

 

 

 

Fortunately, It suggests did you mean: "2011 SP1 run time 32" Good, let's try that:

 

Still no luck. We get basically all other years, bitnesses, or OS versions, but the 32 bit std 2011 is MIA. Same when adding a dash: "2011 SP1 run-time 32" .... Still no luck!

 


 

 

 

OK, let's try google:

 

Wow, it's the first match!

 

Another example why google is so dominant! 😄

 

 

 

 


What NI needs is a global run time engine matrix: rows are years and Service packs, and colums for: Win32bit, Win64bit, Mac, Linux, Win32BrowserPlugin, etc...

 

Clicking on a square brings us to the correct download page. Simple!

 

 

(The current NI search results are also way too complicated and hard to read because of a scramble of year, OS bitness, LabVIEW bitness, etc. Note that the search results don't show any sort pattern with respect to these parameters, making us carefully read each entry several times before we understand what it really is.

For example, in the above results we might notice that the first match is the 32 bit web browser pluging (=minimum run time engine), so we look at the second entry and see "32 bit std" and think "this is it"! Who in a hurry would scan back to the left and notice the "2009", after all we searched for "2011"!!! Very confusing and error prone! )

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@altenbach wrote:

 

(The current NI search results are also way too complicated and hard to read because of a scramble of year, OS bitness, LabVIEW bitness, etc. Note that the search results don't show any sort pattern with respect to these parameters, making us carefully read each entry several times before we understand what it really is.)  


I like the matrix idea. This could be useful for many different products and drivers also.

 

To your last point, during NI week, when we had that closed door about the forums, this came up. The NI search engine is miserable. I always search google for everything, even when spec'ing products for customers. I can't remember the last time I went directly to NI's homepage. They mentioned it may be overhauled, but I don't know why a google search engine hasn't just been embedded into their site by now.

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As another example, notice that the LabVIEW 2012 online help pages cannot be found by using the NI search:

 

LabVIEW 2012 has been out for months, so where is it?? 

 

If we do a search for "byte array to string", all we get is the 2011, 2010 and 2009 versions on page 1:

 

 

 

So we narrow it down and search for "byte array to string 2012" and get nothing useful at all!

 

 

 

 

 

If we search Google for "byte array to string 2012" we get the correct 2012 LabVIEW help page as the third hit. Obviously, it exists, even though ni.com search does not seem to know it yet. 😄 Very impressive because you probably noticed that we did not even use the word "LabVIEW" in the query! Google can find it in a much bigger scope!:D

 

(Curiously, Microsoft has been promoting Bing recently, but the above search does not return anything useful. How does google do it?! 🐵

 

Message 3 of 13
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@for(imstuck) wrote:

The NI search engine is miserable.


I use Google as well. Counter-intuitive, i.e. *doesn't make sense* Smiley Indifferent that Google works better than NI's internal search engine.

PaulG.

LabVIEW versions 5.0 - 2020

“All programmers are optimists”
― Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
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Remember that LabVIEW had its roots on Apples, maybe this anti-Google is a hold over   Smiley Wink 

Putnam
Certified LabVIEW Developer

Senior Test Engineer North Shore Technology, Inc.
Currently using LV 2012-LabVIEW 2018, RT8.5


LabVIEW Champion



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This is useful to know (using Google). I often get very frustrated with the NI search engine. Worst of all is searching for my own posts! It jut doesn't find them!?

 

Has NI considered taking the most commonly searched items and intercepting the results with a recommended result? For example, when someone wants the LabVIEW run-time, no matter their specific search criteria, the first result should perhaps always be a link to the the most up to date LabVIEW run-time engine release. The actual search results can then commence beneath that. Same for DAQ drivers etc.

Thoric (CLA, CLED, CTD and LabVIEW Champion)


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... not only that, but it should also know about all possible spellings ("runtime", run time", run-time, etc.) and internally condense it to a single term. The result should be completely independent of the exact spelling.

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@Thoric wrote:

This is useful to know (using Google). I often get very frustrated with the NI search engine. Worst of all is searching for my own posts! It jut doesn't find them!?

 

Has NI considered taking the most commonly searched items and intercepting the results with a recommended result? For example, when someone wants the LabVIEW run-time, no matter their specific search criteria, the first result should perhaps always be a link to the the most up to date LabVIEW run-time engine release. The actual search results can then commence beneath that. Same for DAQ drivers etc.


It's ironic, LabVIEW  itself already has this feature built in, which is also embedded into quickdrop

Message 8 of 13
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Hi all,

Just as an FYI, our search team was aware of this problem when I reported it last week and it should be resolved in the next few days.

Message 9 of 13
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There are actually two problems discussed here. Just make sure both will be addressed. Thanks!

 

  • Scrambled, random, unreliable results when trying to find any specific runtime engine. (we really need a dedicated page with a run-time matrix as outlined above)
  • Missing results for the 2012 online LabVIEW help.
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