Make changes to a .exe file or create new?

[mfiorino]

I am a new LabVIEW user and I am looking to make changes to a .exe file that was created  by a former employee.  Can you modify an existing .exe file or do you have to create a new one?  If you do create a new one, do you need certain software to create an executable?  I had read the LabVIEW help and read the section on Building a Stand-alone Application.  When following the steps, I created a .bld file but the .exe file was nowhere to be found.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Mike

[tst]

You can't modify an executable, because the VIs are saved without the code. You could try renaming the EXE to an LLB and replacing certain VIs with other VIs with the same name, but I don't know if that would work.

You say you managed to create a bld file, which means you have the application builder. In that case, all you need to do is make sure that you know where the EXE will be created (Target tab), that there is a VI in the build (Source Files tab) and that you press the Build button. Pressing Save only causes the build settings to be saved, so you can use them again. You can also create an installer with your EXE, which you will need if you are going to run this on a computer without LV or the LV Run-Time Engine. Once you install, the RTE is installed, and you can just transfer the executable.

[falkpl]

Just like almost any other compiled language, a .exe or compiled code is not easily modifiable without the source code.  If this is developed at your company, I would programmer for the source files which would be a .llb or a collection of .vi files.  An executable code is already translated to a more machine language (or runt-time language) friendly version, where much of the information needed to modify (often hacking when you are dealing with an executable) has been removed.  This is probably worsened by the fact that internal structure of compiled labview programs are not documented and as far as I know no disassemblers exist for such files.  My suggestions are to 1. Get a hold of the source code, modify and re-build the executable, 2. Live with the current version and 3. Redo the application tailored to your exact specifications.  Start with suggestion 1, if this is not possible, see if 3 is worth the time.  Companies should make sure that they retain all source code, in the software industry, this code is all we have, this is our intellectual capital. Without source code, modifying programs become very difficult.  I know this is probably not the answer you are looking for, sorry.

Paul