exe-files in distribution kit (CVI7.0) launch when installing/uninstalling

[_Aleksi]

Hi

I've made a user interface with CVI7.0. The distribution kit files include update.exe, TestStandLVRTS.exe and the main.exe for the UI.

The problem is, that when I install or uninstall this distribution package, it executes all these exes. The finnish NI support claimed, that is a feature that came with CVI7. They also recommended creating a distribution kit for all of these files, but if I've understood correctly, there must be an exe-file in the distribution kit?

For example, if I have a CVI-project that is compiled/executed as main.exe, I have to include this main.exe in the distribution kit? CVI doesn't automatically create and include the exe of the project in to the distribution kit
? This is not big problem, mostly irritating.

Also, I'd like to know, that is it possible to integrate the TestStandLVRTS directly in to a CVI-project? My user interface currently uses the "LaunchExecutableEx" to launch LVRTS during the loading of the software. I'm trying to embed it to the main.exe, so I wouldn't have launch it separately.

And as a final question, I'd like know how many of you have created an custom user interface? And please also tell what programming language you have used? I was basicly forced to create a custom interface, because I wanted automate a lot test file related operations, mainly just to make testing as simple as possible for the operator.

Best regards,
Aleksi Sandqvist
Finland

[David Mc]

Hello Aleksi,

Thanks for contacting National Instruments! Since TestStand is a framework for creating a test executive system that meets your specific requirements, the answer is yes - most customers do customize the Operator Interface samples provided with TestStand to meet their needs.

CVI by default will include in a project distribution kit the project EXE. Your EXEs are probably all executing because the "Register Files as ActiveX Servers" option is checked in the Create Distribution Kit screen. You only want to have TestStandLVRTS.exe registered as an ActiveX EXE, so put it in a separate file group to keep the other EXEs (main.exe, update.exe) from executing.

I hope this answers your questions.

David Mc.
National Instruments.

[_Aleksi]

Hi David!

That did the trick, thanks! I still had to include the project EXE in the distribution kit, but everything else is working correctly. But I have a few other problems also...

I have a runtime computer in our production facility that has PCI-DIO-96 and NI 4060 PCI-cards installed. I have a really strange problem; every once in a while, when I exit my user interface, the computer crashes. It doesn't give any error messages, nothing. Basicly the computer resets itself the same way when you press the reset button on the side of your computer. Have you ever heard of problem like this? The computer is 600MHz Duron, 256Mb. This also happened when I had 1GHz, 256mb computer. I was wondering, that could exiting of the UI somehow reset the I/O car
d? This could cause the above action, if the power couldn't manage that kind of load. The power source in the computer is 300W.

And the other problem I have is, that I cannot run any tests (in runtime environment) if the user isn't logged in to our network domain. If the user logs in to the local workstation only, the UI gives the 18002 error when trying to run tests (I'm using the TestStandLVRTS as the labview adapter). It doesn't matter what priviledges you have (guest, user administrator), always the same result. My UI does copy test files from the network drive, but these files and network drives are available even if you login to the local workstation. And this error comes when start testing.

Best regards,
Aleksi Sandqvist

[David Mc]

Hello Aleksi,

Sorry I've been away and haven't been able to get back to you recently.

Exiting the UI should not reset the I/O card, unless there is a code module that is performing the reset - so I'm not sure what's causing this problem for you.

Regarding the second problem you mentioned - take a look at this Knowledge Base article here:

Knowledge Base: 29HDLQO6 - Why Do I Get Error -18002 "VI is not executable" with TestStand?

This article may or may not be related - but I would double-check to make sure that all your VIs are working (in LabVIEW) when not connected to the network. By this, I mean to make sure that none of th
em have the "broken run arrow", which you can probably do on your development machine just by logging into that local computer itself.


Regards,
David Mc.
National Instruments

[_Aleksi]

Hi David!

Actually I contacted NI Finland and told them, that reason for the crashing was the TestStandLVRTS. I used the TerminateExecutableEx() function in CVI to stop it when exiting my OI and when it terminated that exe, the whole computer crashed. It's likely that there's a whole lot of references to different measurement cards etc... that were terminated when the TestStandLVRTS was closed and that caused the crash.

I had to start and close the LVRTS manually, because the TSEngine didn't start it when starting a test. As i've mentioned in my other posts, the TSLVRTS just flashes in the screen and then I get the 18002 error. When I checked the task manager, it wasn't running.

Actually after discovering this, I switched t
o using the runtime engine as the adapter for LabVIEW. Now everything's working just fine! I'm actually not sure why I didn't use it from the beginning? I had some kind of idea, that it would only work with the development environment...

Best regards,
Aleksi