Having two different versions of LV on same computer

[Haddock01]

I have Labview 2013 installed on my computer. The lic are own by a customer. I have lot of llb:s and prototypes made by this LV version. Now, we going to buy our own Labview 2020 but I still need to have LV 2013 unchanged. Does anyone know how this going to be? Do I need to install 2020 in a normal way and then convert the llb:s/prototypes from 2013 to 2020 when I need them? So, if I make an improvement in one vi I need to manually update the twin?

Does anyone have any tips to give? Are there any converter that convert a folder/llb for 2013 vi:s to 2020 vi:s?

[GerdW · Accepted solution]

Hi Haddock,

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@Haddock01 wrote:

I have Labview 2013 installed on my computer.

Now, we going to buy our own Labview 2020 but I still need to have LV 2013 unchanged. Does anyone know how this going to be?

Does anyone have any tips to give? Are there any converter that convert a folder/llb for 2013 vi:s to 2020 vi:s?

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Using LV2013 and LV2020 in parallel is not recommended, they are to far away from each other. NI supports only the last 4 versions of LabVIEW, this includes LV217 to LV2020 right now.

That being said you can:

• Use VMs for each version of LabVIEW to avoid hassles because of needed drivers (like DAQmx) in each of those versions.
• Use two different computers for both versions to avoid hassles…
• You can load VIs from LV2013 in LV2020 wthout problems. (There might be some deprecated toolkits or missing external device drivers you need to look out for.)
• You can downconvert most VIs from LV2020 back to LV2013 - avoid using new features not available back in LV2013!
• Setup a SCC system to have revisions of all changes you make to your VI repository!

Most often it is recommended to use the LabVIEW version as is used by your customer…

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@Haddock01 wrote:

I have lot of llb:s and prototypes made by this LV version.

Are there any converter that convert a folder/llb for 2013 vi:s to 2020 vi:s?

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• LLBs aren't recommended anymore: use the LLB-Manager to convert them to regular folders of VIs.
• You can mass-compile a folder of VIs/files to convert them all to LV2020. (Atleast that was available before LV2020, haven't tested this feature in LV2020 so far.) But you don't need to as LabVIEW will upconvert files anyway when you open them the first time in a more recent LabVIEW version…

[Haddock01]

That was important information. Thanx! I'm using Oracles Virtualbox for Linux. Perhaps I can use that solution OR move my customers LV 2013 to another computer. I got a new laptop last week. That computer are clean and I can use that one when I working with LV 2013.

Thanks again for your feedback.

[RavensFan]

You can have both versions of LabVIEW on your PC.  The problem comes with the drivers.  So if you install the DAQmx drivers that come with and work for 2020, it will replace the DAQmx that is on there now that works with LV 2013.  That is where that 4 year window Gerd talks about becomes an issue because  the drivers in 2020 won't support the 7 year old 2013.

So LabVIEW, no problem,  Drivers, problem.  And that will violate your desire to have a fully functioning version of LV13.  Now if those original projects don't use DAQmx, or other drivers, then you won't have a problem opening them and running them in your LV13 version.

[billko]

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@RavensFan wrote:

You can have both versions of LabVIEW on your PC.  The problem comes with the drivers.  So if you install the DAQmx drivers that come with and work for 2020, it will replace the DAQmx that is on there now that works with LV 2013.  That is where that 4 year window Gerd talks about becomes an issue because  the drivers in 2020 won't support the 7 year old 2013.

So LabVIEW, no problem,  Drivers, problem.  And that will violate your desire to have a fully functioning version of LV13.  Now if those original projects don't use DAQmx, or other drivers, then you won't have a problem opening them and running them in your LV13 version.

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I'm pretty sure Bob_Schor will weigh in on this eventually, and he will caution you against installing LV 2020 alongside any other LV installs.  It used to be that the only restriction was the driver gap, but I'm not so sure anymore.

[Haddock01]

Aa. Ok. Perhaps I take a chance.
I have DAQ+LV 2013 in my desktop computer but I don't use the NI-hardware in the customers application (and never will) EXCEPT RJ45-port. I'm sending and receiving IP-data through the Ethernet port and therefor using LV2013 'TCP Open conn' and 'TCP Read'.

I will install LV-2020 in parallell with LV-2013 and see what happens. If something goes wrong with the customer LV2013-application I will clone the project to another computer that has LV 2013 only.

My large collection of prototypes I have in a git. perhaps I can make a branch and have one for 2013 and one for 2020. 

Another possibility is that I convert the customer's project to LV-2020. I can talk to them about this. 

[Yamaeda]

I have an unrecommended range of LV installed (2010-2016) and it works well, with the caveat that DAQmx only supports 4 versions. So, since I need HW support on the 2011 version I run DAQmx 2014 and the newest LVs are only used for 'normal' programming.

Still, I'd agree with the recommendation of only having LV's installed within a DAQmx range. 🙂

[Haddock01]

Yes, I want a minimum of problems. Can I make a new user on my Win10 desktop computer and that user install LV 2020? Can that be a solution?

[Yamaeda]

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@Haddock01 wrote:

Yes, I want a minimum of problems. Can I make a new user on my Win10 desktop computer and that user install LV 2020? Can that be a solution?

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No. As they're on the same windows installation they affect each other.

[Haddock01]

Of course. Ok. I will install LV 2020 in parallel with LV 2013. The customer's application uses the ethernet port and I can simulate it the few times I need to change something. So I let LV 2020 own the hardware and LV 2013 is used without hardware.