Hardware drivers for executable files

[Mylonit]

I have previously created executables that run on PCs that don't have LV development software installed, but this was with NI hardware with daqmx tasks set up in NI MAX, which are easily imported to any PC running the executable.

I am now looking to add third party acquisition hardware and I am wondering if there is anything I need to be aware of when running executable code files. Is it simply a case of installing the correct drivers for the third party daq on the PC running the executable or could there be other complications?

[Bob_Schor]

---

@Mylonit wrote:

I am now looking to add third party acquisition hardware and I am wondering if there is anything I need to be aware of when running executable code files. Is it simply a case of installing the correct drivers for the third party daq on the PC running the executable or could there be other complications?

---

I suspect that the "correct" answer is "It depends", and the easiest way to find out is to use your experience with building DAQmx-based Executables and porting them to PCs without LabVIEW.  Another thing you could try (but I have little direct experience with this feature, so am not sure if this suggestion makes any sense) is to Build an "Installer" -- my understanding is this is a way of packaging something that you run on the PC where you want to "install" your Executable and it installs all the bits and pieces in the right place.  Again, I've not had to try this out myself, but I'm sure others on this Forum can chime in ...

Bob Schor

[AeroSoul]

I recently built an Installer and it can be somewhat daunting at times, because if labview can't find some drivers on it's own, it's up to you to locate them. It generally tells you which drivers your application needs to run properly, so that's helpful.

What i most liked about installer tho, was that you could create a folder structure and populate it with files your program needs to run (such as config, i managed to include a database file as well).

So as Bob suggested, installer might be the way to go here, just pack runtime engine and your drivers and you should be good to go.

[pincpanter]

In my experience, it's enough to install the proper drivers. In some cases, I had to make sure interface dll(s) were installed in the program directory.

[rolfk]

If the driver comes with a proper installer, it is usually the easiest to simply use that installer. It knows best where everything needs to be on a target machine, eventual OS version dependencies and any possibly secondary dependencies it has. It's no guarantee as some software developers barely know what they are doing beyond writing the actual software driver, so the installer may have insufficiencies that can cause trouble on certain OS versions or conflicting with other software from the same or a different manufacturer, but it's a better chance to work than trying to find out all these things by hand yourself. 

If you are positive that the driver only exists of a (very) limited set of DLLs that you know exactly about, you can also simply include the DLL in your application build. Any secondary dependencies will need to be placed in the application directory or installed to the OS common locations for this to work however.

If the third party driver consists of more than 2 or 3 DLLs and doesn't come with a dedicated installer at all, ask for a refund for the device. We don't live in 1995 anymore where you could get away with such software support!