Distribution of labview built dlls

[rpage]

Hello Everyone,

I've been scratching my head trying to find the best way to distribute dlls I created in labview to other team members that use c# and don't have labview installed on their computers. Right now, the c# developer would need to install the labview run-time engine and then add the dll to their visual studio project. Is there a way to bundle the labview run-time engine and my dlls into a simple installer? My goal is to have a simple installer install all of the necessary files and then register the dlls.

Thanks in advance.

Rick

[rpage]

I'm not sure why I wasn't finding this info earlier, but think it will get me on the right track.

http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361N-01/lvconcepts/building_standaloneapps/

I guess my next question would be which path should I take, .NET interop assemblies or shared libraries? 

Rick

[Hooovahh]

The basic answer to your question is the same for all built binary assemblies.  No you can run your binary without the appropriate runtime.  Just have them install the LabVIEW run-time engine once and then they should be able to use all DLLs built with that version of LabVIEW.  If you get a new version of LabVIEW, have them install the new run-time engine.

There maybe some hacky solutions too.  Years ago if you included some of the core LabVIEW files in a directory with your EXE it would run without needing to install and register the run-time engine. Here is a discussion around the LabVIEW 7.x era.  I believe something like that worked for a while but may not work anymore.  Also not having a UI and being a pure DLL might change what things are needed.  But the right answer is to just doing the way NI recommends.