Application executable file size - When is it too big?

[dacad]

I have searched through help and all sorts of areas online but am not finding any in depth information on what should be expected for the file size for a built LV application and what techniques can be used to keep it slim.

My case, in LV 2011sp1  I have an extensive application for testing a product.  It has several bells and whistles, reads and writes to a database, reads and writes to configuration files and datalog files, uses several SPC function from the DSC module, and so on.

The size of all the code for this app is about 4.5 MB.   When I build the application, I end up with a 24 MB+ executable.  This just seems excessive to me.  I know my app folder does not physically contain the LV library files and such but almost 20 meg worth?

Not really looking for answers to this in particular but rather some direction on where I can go to research the process so I can understand what causes the exe file to grow and by how much. And then, what approach can I use to minimize the executable file size. 

For instance, would it be better to exclude certain library files from being incorporated into the exe and instead have llb or dll files in the support structure that contains some of these functions?  The size of the overall application folder might not change or actually grow some but would it make the root application run more efficiently ?

Just trying to learn.  Thanks for any input.

Doug

[PaulG.]

A 24M application from such a large amount of source code does not seem that excessive. There is a lot going on in the application code that is otherwise taking place in the developement environment. I would be more concerned with performance, memory leaks and crashes. If you are not having in problems in these areas I wouldn't worry about it.

[NIquist]

I feel your pain:  http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/LabVIEW-App-Builder-Should-Determine-and-Minimize-Dist...

Unfortunately, it appears that when distributing even remotely complex LabVIEW apps we will always be saddled with large file sizes.

[Yamaeda]

It's too big when it wont fit on disk. 🙂

/Y

[NIquist]

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@Yamaeda wrote:

It's too big when it wont fit on disk. 🙂

/Y

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8" or 5 1/4"? 

[Norbert_B]

24+MB?

Seems you configured the build to create a debuggable EXE. This bloats the EXE because it includes the block diagrams and debug hook ups.

There are many ways to reduce the size of the main EXE by creating several modules. One sort of modules would be for example the Packed Project Library.

Norbert

[dacad]

Nope.  Did not enable debugging.  Or any other option for that matter.  Only checkbox I clicked was to disable the "Use LabVIEW 8.x file layout"  which is recommended by NI if you are in a newer version.  (Seems the builder would be able to detect your version and default to the preferred setting automatically)

Not sure if that affects file size and in fact, the help file really does not explain the actual implications of this option.

Have considered making some llb's or dll's with some of the stuff but it appears the majority of what is being added is stuff that does not show up as dependencies in my project file so not sure if that approach would do much for me.

Doug

[amazed]

Came upon same issue when i upgraded from 7.0 to 2010.  I brought it up for a solution and though marked as solved but not really. Just didn't want to waste people's time and the solutions given might work for others. 

I did a second check to confirm a stand alone build in 7.0 became > 10x larger when built under 2010. It did.  It's the way it is.  For me, this is an issue, for others, not so much.  Luckily, more and more of the equipment I work with have built in browsers negating the need for the kind of programs I was doing. 

Good luck-

[Yamaeda]

3,5" zip drive?

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@NIquist wrote:

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8" or 5 1/4"? 

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[mikeporter]

There are a lot of issues that go into the question of what is "too big". Some of it is what you are trying to accomplish, some of it is how you have your application architected, some of it is how well the application is implemented, some of it is how you have the build itself configured.

In short, there are simply too many variables to try and think about the issue in that way.
Moreover, it's dangerous comparing V7 code sizes with the new version. Over time priorities change. People don't distribute code on floppies any more (8" or 5 1/4"!) , we have DVDs, thumb drives and high-speed networks. Executables can afford to optimize for something other than size on a disk and there are many ways to quantify "efficiency".

If I have done the best I can in all the areas of design and implementation, the size of the application is meaningless, it just is what it is.

Mike...