Unable to genrate preview

[Ben]

Hi All,

I have a project (that I can not post do to super secret nature) that shows an error while attempting to build (a source distribution).

I get the same error when I attempt to do a "preview".

The error message I get is

Unable to generate preview. An included VI or one of its dependencies does not exist. Open all  Startup/Exported/Dynamically called VIs, recompile them  (Ctrl-Shift Click the run arrow), and save them to update their dependencies.

<Call Chain>Error 7 occurred at ABAPI Dist Report Read Link Info Error.vi -> ABAPI Dist Cmp Settings to Disk Hier.vi -> ABAPI Get Settings From File2.vi -> SDBEP_Invoke_Build_Engine_Preview.vi -> SDBUIP_Build_Rule_Editor.vi -> SDBUIP_Item_OnDoProperties.vi -> SDBUIP_Item_OnDoProperties.vi.ProxyCaller

Possible reason(s):

LabVIEW:  File not found. The file might have been moved or deleted, or the file path might be incorrectly formatted for the operating system. For example, use \ as path separators on Windows, : on Mac OS, and / on Linux. Verify that the path is correct using the command prompt or file explorer.
=========================
NI-488:  Nonexistent GPIB interface.

1) All of the files are there.

2) I opened and saved all of the VI as instructed.

If I select "removed unreferenced...." it build OK.

BUT... I don't have any libraries in the project.

Can anyone explain what is happening?

Ben

Message Edited by Ben on 07-12-2007 12:55 PM

Message Edited by Ben on 07-12-2007 12:59 PM

[mrak1]

Hi Ben,

Your project file seems to have very little in it!  Is this the actual project file? 

I have seen this issue before with some of my projects ( especially ones with multiple targets). 

The way that I got around it was the following:

• Remove all referenced vi files from the project, save, close the project file, reopen, re-add the files
• Re-create the project file if the above didn't work

I know that these are cheesy but they worked for me!!

Good luck!

Mike

[Ben]

Mike wrote

The way that I got around it was the following:

• Remove all referenced vi files from the project, save, close the project file, reopen, re-add the files
• Re-create the project file if the above didn't work

---

Ouch!

Well it looks like I am not alone.

I'll add that to my list of work-arounds.

Thank you Mike!

Now if we only knew WHY.....

Ben

[Kennon_Cotton]

Ben,

Without the actual project I can't say exactly why, but I have a good idea.

So it works if you choose 'Remove unreferenced project library members' but it doesn't work if you choose the third option which is essentially include everything.  Your project may not include a Project Library but one of the subVIs of the VI you wrote must include a project library somewhere, even if it is a vi.lib or instr.lib one.  If you refresh your dependencies node in project explorer it/they should show up.  So the problem comes in where your VI or one of its subVIs uses a VI in a project library but there is another VI in the project library that your code isn't using that is missing.  So building removing unreferenced project library members will work just fine since you aren't including the whole library, but including everything won't because it copies the VIs your app uses plus everything else included in the project library and there is a VI that is missing.

After refreshing dependencies and expanding any twisties you should see a [Warning: File doesn't exist] message.  That is where the problem most likely lies.

Now it would be really handy if App Builder would tell you what VI it thinks is missing maybe who is calling it and what to do about it (CAR 3ZCF7KJ1).

Another reason this can come up (which is what I think Mike ran into) is that Source Distributions by default in 8.2 include everything in the project (you have to opt out of including something rather than opting in like with building EXEs/DLLs) so if there are any items in your project that aren't actually on disk you'll get an error 7, you need specify not to include them in the Source Distribution.

Kennon

[Ben]

Thank you Kennon!

I will try that and feed back.

Ben

[falkpl]

I dont like the new remove as much as possible on 8.21  I recently built a code where this was checked only to findowt that some of my UIs that had strict typdef clusters as visual elements got screwed up, once I changed this tab to not remove additional information all worked well.  I havent had the time to really explore the options on the new builder (I have only been using 8.2 since january so it is still somewhat new to me) but I dont get it all yet.

Paul

[Ben]

Hi Kennon,

Here are my results.

I did the rfresh and got the pop-up looking for a "SIM" Vi. See image.

I canceled and got a buch more

SIM Continuous Solvers.ctl
SIM Init From Cluster (user cluster).vi
\SIM Integrator for core.llb\SIM Integrator distributor (for core)(vector).vi (X2)
..\SIM Report Error.vi
\SIM Integrator for core.llb\SIM comprehensive manager (for core).vi
....

Took screen shot "Proj_After_Refresh.png"

saved proj

Generate Preview >>>> Same error

removed missing stuff and re-saved project

Same error

Expanded all and could not find anything else missing.

Did another refresh >>>> the SIM stuff I deleted was back!

So how do I tell who/what is calling the SIM stuff?

Is this just a bad install?

Ben

Message Edited by Ben on 07-13-2007 12:27 PM

[Kennon_Cotton]

---

@Ben wrote:

Did another refresh >>>> the SIM stuff I deleted was back!

So how do I tell who/what is calling the SIM stuff?

Is this just a bad install?

Ben

Message Edited by Ben on 07-13-2007 12:27 PM

---

The SIM stuff will keep coming back because some other VI in the same library as one of your VI's dependencies is calling it.  And because your dependency is dependent on its owning library, all of that library is also a dependency (if that makes sense).

Right clicking on the VI and choosing Find>Callers would be very handy but isn't in 8.2 and really should be added .  You can easily find where those VIs are supposed to be by right clicking on the Project item at the top of the project explorer and choosing View>Full Paths.  You'll notice this SIM stuff is in vi.lib so it should be installed and if it isn't there (right click on one and choose Explore to jump to the folder) rerunning the LabVIEW installer and doing a repair would be a good idea.

Kennon

[tst]

Ben, there was a thread in the LAVA forums a couple of days ago with (I think) the same issue where Michael A pointed to a KB about this (apparently this has to do with installing 8.2.1 on top of 8.2).

[MichaelAivaliotis]

Here's the link:

http://forums.lavag.org/index.php?showtopic=8601

Message Edited by Michael Aivaliotis on 07-14-2007 03:52 PM