Add the Network Variable Engine Installer as a part of the NI CompactRIO Driver software

[Schliepe]

The RAD tool is not a perfect fit for all cRIO deployments.  If you are unable to use the RAD utility to deploy a new version of drivers to the cRIO the process to get the Network Variable Engine onto the cRIO goes something like this:  Install LabVIEW and LabVIEW Real-Time, install NI CompactRIO drivers, install NVE and other driver software to the cRIO and then uninstall the LabVIEW components from the host PC.  This assumes that an executable will be installed to the host computer as the UI to the cRIO.  Seems like a lot of work for something most people would be using on the majority of cRIO deployments and might assume is a part of the CompactRIO drivers.

At the very least it would be great if the documentation found on the website were explicit as to what software needs to be installed for each of the install options available to install on to the cRIO.

[James@Work]

And, why would you not be able to use the RAD tool or a customized version of it to deploy an image to the cRIO?  The RAD tool is great for manufacturing and a stripped down (deployment only) VI can be created for pushing images from a Windows application.

I'm just uncertain I understand the need for this request.

[Schliepe]

Thank you for the question.  You will have to forgive me, this is almost 10 months old and I'm having a hard time remembering what the specifics of my situation were.  

Using RAD would maybe have been an option but I think at the time I was trying to get the first system setup and I was working on upgrading the first system.  Part of the upgrade was moving to a new version of cRIO drivers (14.5 to 15.0 I think).  I added some new features that needed the network variable engine.  As I was trying to get things to work and found that I needed to install the Network Variable Engine.  So, I had to find a way to get it installed to the cRIO.  I figured it would be a part of the cRIO driver set, so I downloaded and installed that but couldn't find a way to install it to the cRIO.  At that point I downloaded the NVE driver and installed that.  Then I tried to install it to the cRIO using the software installation process through MAX.  It was not an option to be able to install it that way, it appeared to me that the cRIO drivers couldn't see the NVE software.  That is when I had to install all of the LabVIEW components on the PC connected to the cRIO.  I realize that some of what my use case boils down to is the way our network and systems work, but I would have saved a day if the cRIO drivers had been able to install the NVE driver.

I hope that helps understand this a little better.  It is about being able to install software to a cRIO without having to install everything and add the extra time.  The reason I was updating this way is partly because there were files dealing with calibration on the cRIO that are different from system to system that I didn't want to overwrite.

[James@Work]

I didn't expect a response, but thank you.

We switched to images several years ago and it has simplified initial deployments and updates.

With RAD, you can setup retrieve & deploy blacklists:

  Retrieve - to save space by not copying things like data files

  Deploy - to prevent overwriting calibration files, etc.

Cheers