LabVIEW 8.5 Application Builder Readme for Mac OS

August 2007

This file contains important last-minute information about the LabVIEW 8.5 Application Builder. Refer to the LabVIEW Upgrade Notes for more information about upgrade and compatibility issues, and a complete list of new features in the LabVIEW 8.5 Application Builder. You can access the LabVIEW Upgrade Notes document by selecting Help»Search the LabVIEW Help in LabVIEW and navigating to the Technical Support and Professional Services»LabVIEW Documentation Resources topic on the Contents tab of the LabVIEW Help. The LabVIEW Help also includes step-by-step instructions for creating and completing builds and caveats and recommendations to consider before you use the Application Builder.

The LabVIEW Application Builder is a LabVIEW add-on package you can use to create source distributions, stand-alone applications, shared libraries, and zip files. You can distribute the builds without the LabVIEW development system. Refer to the National Instruments Software License Agreement located on the LabVIEW Professional Development System and Application Builder distribution CDs for the licensing requirements for distributing builds you create with Application Builder.

You must use Application Builder 8.5 with LabVIEW 8.5.

Refer to the National Instruments Web site for the latest information about the LabVIEW 8.5 Application Builder.

Supported Platforms
Installing Application Builder
Known Issues

Supported Platforms

Applications and shared libraries you create with the Application Builder have the same approximate requirements as the LabVIEW development system. Refer to the LabVIEW Release Notes for more information about the requirements for the LabVIEW development system. Memory requirements depend on the size of the application or shared library. Typically, applications and shared libraries require about the same amount of memory required to run VIs in the LabVIEW development system.

Installing Application Builder

The installation of the LabVIEW Professional Development System includes the installation of the Application Builder. Complete the following steps to install the Application Builder for the LabVIEW Full Development System.

  1. Insert the LabVIEW Application Builder installation CD.
  2. Open LabVIEW85AppBuilder.mpkg.

    The Install LabVIEW 8.5 Application Builder window appears.
  3. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

Known Issues

The following items are known issues in the LabVIEW 8.5 Application Builder.

IDKnown Issue

LabVIEW automatically writes configuration tokens to the preferences file of a built application, shared library, or the LabVIEW Web Server. For example, if you open the built application on the same computer you developed it on, the .ini file of the built application might contain the same port and service name as the LabVIEW development system. Because ports and service names must be unique, either the application or LabVIEW might not have the VI Server on when you expect it to. To avoid this issue, create a custom preferences file for the built application, library, or LabVIEW Web Server.

Workaround—N/A

If you enable debugging in a stand-alone application or shared library and configure the build specification to use a custom file in the LabVIEW project as the LabVIEW configuration file (preferences), the resulting configuration settings file does not include the tokens needed to enable debugging. You must add the following tokens to the custom configuration settings file:

DebugServerEnabled: True
DebugServerWaitOnLaunch: True

Workaround—N/A

LabVIEW does not prompt you to add the custom icon file to source control when you create a build specification and you choose to use a custom icon file.

Workaround—N/A
3ZCF7KJ1Build Setting to NOT remove additional exclusions fails when library has missing members, and error message is not helpful
If you do not select Disconnect type definitions and Remove unused members of project libraries on the Additional Exclusions page of the Application Properties dialog box, LabVIEW might return the following error when you build an application, shared library, or source distribution that includes a library:

LabVIEW cannot find a file that is a dependency of a Startup, Exported, or Always Included VI.

Workaround—The missing file might be referenced by a library included in the build, or by another file. To fix the issue:

  • Open all Startup, Exported, or Always Included VIs. If no subVIs are missing, recompile the VIs (CTRL+SHIFT Click the Run arrow) and save them to update their dependencies.
  • Open all libraries included in the build and verify the existence and locations of referenced files. Also, try building with the additional exclusion option, Remove unused members of project libraries, checked.

In LabVIEW 8.5, LabVIEW application builder no longer treats libraries as folders. If you load a LabVIEW 8.0 or 8.2 build specification in LabVIEW 8.5, and it includes a library in which you did not explicitly include all members of the library, only referenced members of the library might be included in the build.

Workaround—Set the inclusion individually on all members of the library you want to include in the build. Alternatively, uncheck Remove unused members of project libraries on the Additional Exclusions page.

Copyright

© 2007 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved.

Under the copyright laws, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.

Trademarks

National Instruments, NI, ni.com, and LabVIEW are trademarks of National Instruments Corporation. Refer to the Terms of Use section on ni.com/legal for more information about National Instruments trademarks.

Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Patents

For patents covering the National Instruments products, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your CD, or ni.com/patents.