Possibility to choose the wanted device driver when making an install build

[MartinNilsson]

When I want to do an installation build of my project, I have to include the whole NI-daqmx into my build in order to insert my (in this case) USB-6251-driver. Thus my install package expands from about 150 MB to more than 1 GB. This is way to much!

It would be nice to be able to choose only the wanted driver (in my example the NI-6251 and the SCC68) in the "adding additional driver's" menu and just add this one to the distribution instead of "adding them all".

[RavensFan]

Sounds like a duplicate of this idea.

Segment the LabVIEW Run Time Engine (RTE) to ONLY Necessary Components

[JackDunaway]

Read the whole conversation here at Build executables that do not require a runtime engine.

[MartinNilsson]

Yes and no.

Basically we are talking about the same end problem - to big executables and/or installation packages.

I have however not thought about the RTE (I just supposed it always had to be included) but about the device drivers. I do not see the point in having to include all the NI device drivers for all NI daq-cards (how many could it be? 50...? 100...? more...?) when I only need the one that is to be used in the application.

As a programmer, I usually know what device is to be used and I write my program for this device. Why do I then have to include the rest (which to 100% never will be used)? It's such a dead load.

For general applications where different devices can be used and the programmer don't know which one the user will choose - all device drivers have to be included. But not in the specific applications for just one device.

[JackDunaway]

I do not consider it a duplicate, just very similar. It's another point of view from the same problem many of us are facing. There's tons of stuff we know we don't want packaged, and our distribution footprints are suffering from it.

Message Edited by JackDunaway on 03-05-2010 08:16 AM

[Dennis_Knutson]

There is not a separate driver for each device. There is a single driver for all devices. You can request that NI change it's process and develop individual drivers but I would suspect that it would become much more expensive to maintain 100's of different drivers. The only companies that I have seen with a different driver for each device are companies that only sell a handful of different ones. Most of the NI devices share common architectures so a single driver is very practical.

You do have the option to select different versions of DAQ where the smallest footprint is just the driver and not the documentation, etc.

[MartinNilsson]

Actually that is my request...

Until now I have only found the checkbox "DAQmx" in the "add additional driver" menu and there I get the whole 1GB with absolutely everything inclusive. Could you please tell me what checkbox I have to check in order to stay as slim as possible?

[Dennis_Knutson]

When the difference between one DAQ card and another is simply the number of channels or the sample rate, it would not be very practical, imho, to maintain very large and separate drivers.

In order to change from the full to the minimal install, change the 'Install Type' at the top right of the additional installers page.

[TCPlomp]

You can reduce the additional size of the installer of DAQmx to 190 MB (http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/10182#toc4)

 Ton

[MartinNilsson]

Thanks Dennis Knutson and TCPlomp, I found the reduced DAQmx and now my build shrunk to about 340MB (it's down to a third of the original size). At least it's a start.