Install multiple versions of Traditional NI-DAQ on same OS

[dt713]

Hi all,

I am trying to resurrect an old labview program that was programed and used on LabView 7.0. The computer it is currently the program on does not work. So on a different computer with the same OS (Windows XP 2003) I'm trying to install all the programs that last computer had on it from the developer suite of 2004 plus some extra software such as the PXI and motion control. I have installed all of the software to run the program except for the PXI chassis however when I try to run the .vi file, it tries to use the NI-DAQmx not the Traditional NI-DAQ 7.1. The error codes come as missing files such as AI Config.vi, AI Start.vi etc. The current computer I am using already has LabView 2011 on it. When I try to install the old version of traditional NI-DAQ it says a newer version of it already exists and will not let me install it. Additionally, I have installed LabView 7.0 into a separate "national instruments" program file from LabView 2011.

Is there a way to install the older Traditional NI-DAQ 7.1 without unistalling the newer version of LabView?

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

[Dennis_Knutson]

The installation of the driver is separate from LabVIEW. If you get the message that you have a newer version, that means a newer version of traditional daq and not LabVIEW or DAQmx. A VI written with the old driver will not try to use DAQmx. The latest version of traditional daq is 7.4.

[BoKnows]

If the VI you're running is looking for DAQmx, why are you trying to install NI-DAQ?  Are you saying it's finding DAQmx to interface with the hardware and then the VIs are failing to find NI-DAQ?  If the VIs look for the DAQmx API, installing NI-DAQ shouldn't provide you with any benefit.

[Bob_Schor]

In my experience, you cannot (or cannot easily, if ever) install an older version of LabVIEW or NI DAQ on a PC that has a newer version already installed.

What I did when I needed to maintain a LabVIEW 7 system was to create a VM and only install LabVIEW 7 and the appropriate NI Devices (from the May 2004 disk set).  Note that this gives you MAX 3.1.  You might be able to get away with using the Nov 2004 disks (LabVIEW 7.1, MAX 3.1.1).

     Hold on -- I'll fire up my VM and see what version of MAX I have installed on that system ...  Aha, that's running MAX 4.2.1, which seems to be from the May 2007 distribution ...

Anyway, I have notes to myself that talk about How To Install LabVIEW (older versions).  In 2007, I wrote the following to myself:

• For best results, install drivers last.  
• I have a note that after installing LabVIEW 8.2 with Traditional DAQ, I tried to install a LabVIEW 8.5 system with its drivers.  The Traditional DAQ drivers didn't install, and were not found when I loaded my application (I was specifically missing Counter Set Attributes, from vi.lib\daq\zadvdctr.llb).  I was able to locate the missing LLB under a LabVIEW 8.2 folder, copied it to the corresponding locating in the LabVIEW 8.5 Folder Tree, and got it to work.
• When installing, install the base version of LabVIEW first.  Install LabVIEW RT (if using) next.  Then install the toolkits and other modules you'll need.  Before installing the Drivers (last), reboot.  I see by my notes "You can generally use a more recent set of drivers, as they are (somewhat) backward-compatible".  But see the previous Point.

Bottom line -- if you need to develop in "ancient LabVIEW", try to do it on a dedicated machine (Real or Virtual) that has no "modern LabVIEW" installations.

Bob Schor

[altenbach]

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@Dennis_Knutson wrote:
The latest version of traditional daq is 7.4.

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I thought it was 7.5 for Vista & higher and 6.4.4 7.4.4 for Windows XP, etc..

(corrected spelling error, see below. thanks Dennis)

[Dennis_Knutson]

That's correct for 7.5 but 7.4.4 is supposed to work for XP - http://www.ni.com/product-documentation/5434/en/ 

[altenbach]

Yes, sorry, I of course meant 7.4.4 (using a keyboard with different spacing, so things are a bit random :D)

[dt713]

Thank you all for the responses and help. 

To answer some of your questions, it was looking for NI-DAQ, I may have worded it incorrectly in my original post. In the original installation setup I had my labview 2011 files in C:\program files\national instruments\ and labview 7.0 in C:\program files\national instruments_2\ . It could not find NI-DAQ because it was not installed and the newer version was in a different directory. So it was just an installation mistake on my part I guess.

Also, I wish I could start fresh on "clean" computer but due some budget restrictions this is the only computer I can get my hands on and I cannot delete anything on it as it may be used again for a different purpose. 

But last night, I tried to just open the VI with labview 2011 (probably should have tried that first). The NI-DAQ errors were fixed. However, somewhat unsurprisingly, I am still receiving some errors such as "Unbundle function inserted on output of Unflatten from String Function", "Constant changed to hidden control", and "Unbundle function inserted on output of File Dialog function".

I have never seen these errors before as I have only been using labview for about a year now. Is this a compatibility issue or just because I have not installed the full set of software add-on tools yet? I will be using the Real-Time module and Industrial monitoring which i have not installed yet.

Thanks again.

[Bob_Schor]

Be very careful if you have two versions of LabVIEW (LabVIEW 7.0 and LabVIEW 2011) on the same machine.  LabVIEW has a "Version Arrow" built into it -- you can open LabVIEW 7 code in LabVIEW 2011, but you cannot open LabVIEW 2011 code in LabVIEW 7.  Similarly, if you save a VI or control that has been opened with LabVIEW 2011, it will no longer be open-able in LabVIEW 7.

Since you have only the one PC that has two versions of LabVIEW on it, you should (at a minimum) try to put your LabVIEW code under some form of Version Control -- many of us use Tortoise Subversion (the client is free, and, in a pinch, you can create a repository on your PC).  Commit Early and Commit Often, keeping the LabVIEW Versions in separate repositories.  This way, when you inevitably "accidentally" open a LabVIEW 7 VI with LabVIEW 2011 and save it, thereby "losing" the LabVIEW 7 version, you can get the last-committed version back from SubVersion.

One other "gotcha" -- be careful about starting LabVIEW by double-clicking on a LabVIEW file (a VI, Control, or Project).  If multiple VIs are installed, the version of LabVIEW that you last opened will be the default version used to open the selected file.  [I think that NI has had numerous requests to alert the User if a LabVIEW file is about to be opened by a LabVIEW version more recent than the version that created the file, but I'm unaware of any proposed "solution"].

Good luck.

Bob Schor

[Dennis_Knutson]

You also need to grasp the difference between an error and a warning.