Mixing LabVIEW Versions?

[ChristopherPovey]

We have a PC based test set which is currently running development versions of TestStand 3.5 and LabWindows 8.0.

Two independent projects are developing new software for this test set.  Both projects want to add an install of LabVIEW to the PC.  Currently one project will ultimately be using LabVIEW 2010 RTE and the other is using LabVIEW 2012 Development.

Is there any potential problems with adding LabVIEW 2010 and/or LabVIEW 2012 to a PC already running TestStand 3.5 and LabWindows 8.0?  Can LabVIEW 2010 RTE and LabVIEW 2012 Dev co-exist on the same PC?  Or would it be better for both projects to use LabVIEW 2012?

Note: TestStand 3.5 and LabWindows 8.0 cannot be upgraded as it is used by legacy software on the test set!

Thanks.

[Dennis_Knutson]

There is no problem having multiple versions of LabVIEW installed. The only issue is with device drivers. There are versions of DAQmx, VISA,etc. that are required for the most recent versions of LabVIEW but will not work for your older version. Since the conversion from LabVIEW 8 to the latest version is mostly painless, I'm assuming the 'cannot' upgrade statement to be really ' don't want to' due to some other issue.

[JÞB]

Dennis, You missed that.

LabVIEW and LabWindows/ CVI will not cause each other problems if they are on the same PC.

On the other hand........ Driver support for LabVIEW 2012 will cause changes to your sequences that were last saved in TestStand 3.5

MORE trouble, TestStand 3.5 won't know a thing about LabVIEW 2012 so no sequences will be able to use the new code modules

Now, lets see.... you appear to be adding tests to a system that is at least 7 years old.  WHY? buy a new PC.  you'll thank me later.

[Dennis_Knutson]

You are right that I missed the fact that the old version of TestStand will not load a 2012 Vi. I always built my LabVIEW into steps and then into a dll so that would work. I don't understand why a LabVIEW upgrade would modify existing sequences though.

[ChristopherPovey]

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@JÞB wrote:

Dennis, You missed that.

LabVIEW and LabWindows/ CVI will not cause each other problems if they are on the same PC.

On the other hand........ Driver support for LabVIEW 2012 will cause changes to your sequences that were last saved in TestStand 3.5

MORE trouble, TestStand 3.5 won't know a thing about LabVIEW 2012 so no sequences will be able to use the new code modules

Now, lets see.... you appear to be adding tests to a system that is at least 7 years old.  WHY? buy a new PC.  you'll thank me later.

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Interesting about LabVIEW 2012 and TestStand 3.5.  LabVIEW has been added to the PC so that it can drive a PXI chassis running LabVIEW RT.  Updating TestStand 3.5 and CVI 8 to 2012 (while would be very nice) simply is not an option.  There are legacy programs built on TestStand 3.5 on the PC belonging to another customer.  There is no budget to update these legacy programs. 😞

[Norbert_B]

Christopher,

as far as i understand, the legacy project DOES NOT USE LabVIEW.

Is that correct?

If so, binding LV to TestStand isn't a concern for you, right?

If it is, refer to this information regarding officially supported combinations of TestStand, CVI and LV.

Please note that "officially supported" means that any combination which is not listed might still work, but if there is an issue....well, it is there.

The only cultrip indeed are device drivers. NI is anxious for creating upward compatible software, so moving to newer version should work in most cases. But the issue is that newer drivers are only tested for a limitied amount of older versions (connected to "Mainstream Support"). So for CVI (as seen in the second link), device drivers from NI are only tested until release date Oct. 2011 when talking about CVI 8.5. All drivers released later are not tested with CVI 8.5 anymore.

hope this helps,

Norbert

[ChristopherPovey]

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@Norbert_B wrote:

Christopher,

as far as i understand, the legacy project DOES NOT USE LabVIEW.

Is that correct?

If so, binding LV to TestStand isn't a concern for you, right?

If it is, refer to this information regarding officially supported combinations of TestStand, CVI and LV.

Please note that "officially supported" means that any combination which is not listed might still work, but if there is an issue....well, it is there.

The only cultrip indeed are device drivers. NI is anxious for creating upward compatible software, so moving to newer version should work in most cases. But the issue is that newer drivers are only tested for a limitied amount of older versions (connected to "Mainstream Support"). So for CVI (as seen in the second link), device drivers from NI are only tested until release date Oct. 2011 when talking about CVI 8.5. All drivers released later are not tested with CVI 8.5 anymore.

hope this helps,

Norbert

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as far as i understand, the legacy project DOES NOT USE LabVIEW.

Is that correct?

Correct.  Up to this project the only NI software on the test sets is TestStand 3.5 and CVI 8.0 (and all the drivers, IVI, etc that goes with it).

I need to investigate the driver issue.

If so, binding LV to TestStand isn't a concern for you, right?

No, because the TestStand 3.5 will need to use LabVIEW VI's to interact with a PXI LabVIEW RT rack on the end of a Ethernet cable...

[Norbert_B]

Well, if you are concerned about possible conflict issues, the best way is to use LV to implement software for the RT System.

Define a TCP based command/data interface in this software which can be utilized by any host application. So chosing a well defined interface, you can implement the host interface using CVI to keep compatibility to the old TestStand version.

Also note that you can have different TestStand versions installed in parallel. But different to CVI and LV, you cannot launch two different TestStand versions concurrently.

As TestStand is a registered ActiveX server, you would have to use a tool called "TestStand Version Selector" to switch between the "active version".

hope this helps,

Norbert

[ChristopherPovey]

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@Norbert_B wrote:

Well, if you are concerned about possible conflict issues, the best way is to use LV to implement software for the RT System.

Define a TCP based command/data interface in this software which can be utilized by any host application. So chosing a well defined interface, you can implement the host interface using CVI to keep compatibility to the old TestStand version.

Also note that you can have different TestStand versions installed in parallel. But different to CVI and LV, you cannot launch two different TestStand versions concurrently.

As TestStand is a registered ActiveX server, you would have to use a tool called "TestStand Version Selector" to switch between the "active version".

hope this helps,

Norbert

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There will only be one version of TestStand on the target PC, version 3.5.  We are adding LabVIEW 2012 to it.

Another worry is that MS are pulling support for XP next year and our IT support are replacing all XP PCs with Windows 7 and it seems TestStand 3.5 does not work Windows 7! 😞

[Norbert_B]

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@ChristopherPovey wrote:

[...] and it seems TestStand 3.5 does not work Windows 7! 😞

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Have you tested this already?

It is not supported for sure, but it might be possible to get it to run on Win7.... never tried it though.

In order to handle legacy projects, you should talk with your IT department if you can leave an XP as virtual machine.

Making modifications to that project i highly recommend you to update both CVI and TS as first step.
 Otherwise, you will work with unsupported versions of the tools which is equally "risky: as keeping Win XP after April 2014.

Norbert