FieldPoint Serial, LabVIEW and Windows 7

[AKA_TG]

FieldPoint Serial, LabVIEW and Windows 7

FP 6.1
LabVIEW 2010

             I thought I had my Fieldpoint figured out based on prior headaches I went through to transfer from one XP machine to another. In my first altercation with FP transfer I mamanged to get all working after installing LabVIEW. Thus I can create an executable and FP will work in it. (In my case this was the only reasonable way to get FP Serial working in an executable. I know there is a better way but all the knoledge base papers seem to say different things based on FP version LabVIEW version and so on.)

Now I am trying to transfer again to a new Win7 machine due to our IT policy.

Unlike my last transfer this one is to WIn7 64 bit but using 32 bit mode LabVIEW 2010.
I am now faced with a FP installation that works fine with LabVIEW but will not link properly to the FPLVMgr.dll file when creating an executable.

I tried importing the iak file into the project and also importing FP configuration into the project.

This allows the FP devices to show up in list of items under 'My computer' in the project file. 

But making an executable that can locate and use the dll still seems out of my reach.

I seem to be missing something important here.

How can I instruct the exe builder to point to the FPLVMgr.dll file so that an exe can be built with the correct path to the dll??

FP 6.1
LabVIEW 2010 32 bit
Win7 64 bit

[NetoNI]

Hello AKA_TG, 

I checked the readme file for the FieldPoint 6.1 driver and it says that the Windows 7 version with 64 bit should be running within the 32-bit emulation layer. 

National Instruments
http://download.ni.com/support/softlib//fieldpoint/6.1/FieldPointReadme.html

Be sure to be adding all the files and drivers needed for the executable to run. Here is more information about building .exe and installers. 

Building a Stand-Alone Application - LabVIEW 2012 Help
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361J-01/lvhowto/building_a_stand_alone_app/

Building an Installer (Windows) - LabVIEW 2012 Help
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361J-01/lvhowto/build_installer/

Regards. 

Ernesto

[AKA_TG]

IthinkIfoundawaytomakethiswiork.(WHattheheckiswrongwiththispage)

[AKA_TG]

I cannot believe what I had to do to get this working. 4 days of non stop frustration and head scratching. I have read all the readmes yet none seemed to apply to my case.

The procedure I finally stumbled on actually works.

And just to be sure I tested it in isolation and it still is the only way I can get Field Point Serial working in an exe on this win7 machine.

I installed LabVIEW 2010 SP1 (32 bit)  and FieldPoint 6.01 on WIn7 Pro 64 bit. I then loaded my project file and made a small

VI to make a call to FP read.

However, the steps involved to getting this VI working in an executable have turned out to be so complicated and convoluted that I dare not share it with this forum.

I wish NI had put a little more thought into installing and then utilizing Field Point SERIAL support both within and outside labVIEW. I have had several experiences with this interface in the past 5 years and each time it appears to be different and terrifying. While the actual use of FieldPoint Serial is flawless the installation is not straightforward, not in the least.

The location of 'FPLVMgr.dll' and 'FieldPoint.iak' file must be known to the executable. It would appear that the path to

the dll is loaded only at run time. I would guess the iak file or path to it can be part of the executable.

It turns out that finding the DLL is the flaw. There is no way to tell the executable the path to the DLL. The procedures for making the executable 'aware' of where the dll is do not work for me but I have no idea why.

I tried every sensible recommendation and got absolutely nowhere. The errors returned are not helpful either.

[NetoNI]

Hello, 

I am not sure if the problem is fixed or not so I have a couple of questions/suggestions.

Have you tried relative paths and call library function nodes?

Here is a little example of relative paths:

Community: Support File Settings and Relative Paths for Executables
https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-9267

Here are some Knowledge Base articles that maybe you could find useful.

How Do I Call a Function Named "funcName" From a DLL in LabVIEW?
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/F97B5DDE409C4A3E86256E9200712A52?OpenDocument

Function Not Found in Library Error When Using the Call Library Function Node
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/44E40ACF1644DB77862562990054D672?OpenDocument

Regards.  

Ernesto