LabVIEW 8.0 Readme for GNU/Linux (x86)

October 2005

This file contains important last-minute information about LabVIEW 8.0 for GNU/Linux, including installation and upgrade issues, compatibility issues, and changes from LabVIEW 7.1. Refer to the LabVIEW Upgrade Notes for more information about upgrade and compatibility issues and for a complete list of new features in LabVIEW 8.0. Refer to the LabVIEW Release Notes for installation instructions. You can access both of these documents by selecting Help»Search the LabVIEW Help in LabVIEW and navigating to the Related Documentation book.

Refer to the National Instruments Web site for the latest information about LabVIEW 8.0.

Supported Platforms
Known Issues
Documentation Additions
Documentation Corrections
Support

Supported Platforms

LabVIEW runs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 3, SuSE Linux Professional 9.1, and Mandrake Linux 10.0 or later. LabVIEW can run without hardware driver support on any other distributions that provide GNU C Library (glibc, also known as libc.so.6) Version 2.2.4 or later.

Refer to the LabVIEW Release Notes for a complete list of system requirements.

Known Issues

If you uninstall LabVIEW 8.0 and a previous version of LabVIEW remains on the system, the previous version of LabVIEW might try to repair itself the next time you open it. The repair process might remove any patches you installed for that version of LabVIEW. Make sure to reinstall any patches you have on the system after the repair finishes. Refer to the KnowledgeBase for more information about correcting this problem.
If the Auto Dispose Ref parameter of the Run VI method is TRUE and the method returns an error, LabVIEW disposes the reference. However, if the Auto Dispose Ref parameter is TRUE and the error in terminal contains an error, LabVIEW does not dispose the reference.
A blue field does not surround the palette icons for Express VIs from LabVIEW 7.x and earlier that you open in LabVIEW 8.0. For example, if you open a LabVIEW 7.1 toolkit in LabVIEW 8.0, a blue field does not surround the icons for Express VIs on the toolkit palette. You must mass compile the Express VIs to display the blue field around the icons.
You cannot set the position mode of the Sound File Read VI to From End.
The links to subVIs from the labview\vi.lib directory might break when you use File»Save for Previous Version to save application VIs for a previous version of LabVIEW. Right-click the subVIs and select Relink To SubVI from the shortcut menu to relink the subVIs.
You cannot use keyboard shortcuts to navigate or operate the front panel in the subpanel control.
The LabVIEW Fundamentals Manual might not contain the most updated information about LabVIEW programming concepts, techniques, features, VIs, and functions you can use to create test and measurement, data acquisition, instrument control, datalogging, measurement analysis, and report generation applications. Refer to the LabVIEW Help for the most updated information.
If you select File»Save As and select the Duplicate hierarchy to new location option in the Save As dialog box, LabVIEW creates a source distribution build specification for the original VI and its hierarchy. Keep a backup copy of the VIs you want to use to create the build specification.
If an example VI from LabVIEW 7.x or earlier opens another VI by specifying the example VI name as a path in the Open VI Reference function, you receive an error when you run that example in LabVIEW 8.0. Remove the String To Path function wired to the vi path input of the Open VI Reference function to correct the error.
You cannot use the http protocol with the DataSocket VI and functions in LabVIEW-built shared libraries.
You cannot localize elements of clusters that you create from functions, Property Nodes, or Invoke Nodes.
Some Comparison functions, such as the Greater Than 0? and Equal to 0? functions, do not accept inputs with units or behave incorrectly if you specify inputs with units.
Read-only shared variables have a read-only connection to the server to which they are connected. However, you still can wire controls to read-only shared variables and write to the shared variables on the block diagram. Similarly, write-only shared variables have a write-only connection to the server to which they are connected, but you still can wire indicators to write-only shared variables and read from the shared variables on the block diagram.
You can read from and write to private single-process shared variables.
If you open a VI that contains a shared variable from a zip file, LabVIEW displays a file dialog box indicating that it cannot find the file for the global VI associated with the shared variable. Click the Cancel button to recreate the global VI.
The maximum size of datalog files is 2 GB.
If you wire a hex value greater than x7FFFFFFF as an unsigned, 32-bit integer to a Formula Node, LabVIEW coerces the value to 0.
The Compare VI Hierarchies window compares only top-level VIs. LabVIEW considers subVIs of these top-level VIs as shared subVIs if the paths and names of the subVIs are identical.
When you select Tools»Options to display the Options dialog box, select Revision History from the Category list, and place a checkmark in the Add an entry every time the VI is saved checkbox, LabVIEW does not automatically generate a comment in the History window if you change the VI and save it.
You cannot use the Call Library Function Node to call a LabVIEW-built shared library from the Full Development System of a different version of LabVIEW.
If you install LabVIEW as an administrator, when you login to LabVIEW as a normal user and select Tools»Options, LabVIEW returns an error.
LabVIEW does not support front panel datalogging through remote panels.
If you type cast an empty VISA Resource Name constant to an integer or Boolean data type, LabVIEW crashes.
The VISA Open VI can cause other VISA I/O operations on any other buses and ports to wait until the VI finishes running.
LabVIEW runs out of memory when a VI built in one version of LabVIEW calls a DLL that in turn calls another DLL built in a different version of LabVIEW.
The Exponential Fit VI does not support negative numbers. As a workaround, you can use the Remove Outliers VI to remove the negative numbers.
Dynamically registering for Menu Selection (App) events in another VI does not work if the VI uses the default run-time menu. As a workaround, you can create a custom run-time menu that is a copy of the default run-time menu.
The Read From Measurement File Express VI returns an error if you call it on the same file multiple times without first unloading the Express VI, which makes using the Read From Measurement File Express VI as a subVI problematic.
If you define a custom run-time menu for a control and you save that run-time menu with the control, you are not able to localize the run-time menu. As a workaround, you can save the custom run-time menu to an external file and point the control to that file, or you can build the run-time menu dynamically with localized strings.
LabVIEW does not correctly hide subpalette menus that belong to locked project libraries.
When you print the VI Hierarchy window, LabVIEW does not print the VI labels.
If a remote panel server is a LV development system, when a client requests a VI, LabVIEW saves an in-memory image of the VI and sends an up-to-date VI image to the client. Therefore, the remote front panel and the local VI front panel look the same. However, if a built application is a remote panel server, LabVIEW acquires the VI image from disk and sends it to the client. In this case, the VI image that the client receives might be out of sync with the in-memory image of the VI on the server computer if the client connects to a VI that has already been running. The remote front panel might not show an updated version of the VI front panel on the server computer.
If you use DataSocket functions to read or write to a PSP URL that does not exist, the DataSocket functions do not return an error to indicate that the URL does not exist. However, the DataSocket Read function returns a quality output that indicates that the data item is of bad quality.

Documentation Additions

You must use NI Spy 2.3 or later in LabVIEW 8.0. NI Spy 2.3 is available on the National Instruments Device Drivers CD.
In LabVIEW 7.x and earlier, the connector pane of a VI generally has one terminal for each control or indicator on the front panel. In LabVIEW 8.0, the default connector pane pattern is 4 x 2 x 2 x 4.
The Frequency Response Function (Real-Im) VI now computes the frequency response and the coherence for the Blackman Nuttall, Triangle, Kaiser, Dolph-Chebyshev, and Gaussian windows.
In LabVIEW 7.x and earlier, the time stamp data type can store accurately 15 digits of precision each in the whole second and the fractions of a second. In LabVIEW 8.0, the time stamp data type can store accurately 19 digits of precision each in the whole second and the fractions of a second.
Select Tools»Shared Variable»Register Computer to register a computer that is not on the local subnet. You can specify the computer name or the IP address of the computer. You then can bind a shared variable to the computer.
LabVIEW initializes a Shared Variable node the first time you run a VI that contains that node.
If you deploy a LabVIEW project library that includes shared variables and then use the Variable Manager dialog box to create new shared variables in the same project library, the new shared variables only exist until you deploy the project library again.
LabVIEW does not enable debugging automatically for reentrant VIs from LabVIEW 7.x or earlier that you open in LabVIEW 8.0. To allow debugging on a reentrant VI, select File»VI Properties to display the VI Properties dialog box, select Execution from the pull-down menu, and place a checkmark in the Allow debugging checkbox.
In LabVIEW 7.x and earlier, LabVIEW enables debugging automatically for new VIs. If you then make a VI reentrant by selecting File»VI Properties to display the VI Properties dialog box, selecting Execution from the pull-down menu, and placing a checkmark in the Reentrant execution checkbox, LabVIEW automatically removes the checkmark from the Allow debugging checkbox. In LabVIEW 8.0, LabVIEW does not automatically remove the checkmark from the Allow debugging checkbox.
The code generator now is easier to debug because of changes to the LabVIEW compiler. These changes do not affect the performance of LabVIEW.
Select File»VI Properties, select Window Appearance from the Category pull-down menu, click the Customize button, and place a checkmark in the Window Runs Transparent checkbox to use a semi-transparent window style when the VI is running. You can adjust the level of transparency of the window from 0, which is opaque, to 99, which is the most transparent value you can set statically for a window.
LabVIEW now supports smooth scrolling, or scrolling by pixels, on the front panel and block diagram of a VI.
Select File»Close to display the Save changes before closing? dialog box. Select File»Close All to display the Save changes and Close All? dialog box.
Right-click an object label or caption and select Lock Label or Lock Caption, respectively, from the shortcut menu to lock the label or caption in place relative to the object. You also can use the Lock property to lock an object label or caption in place programmatically.
The content in the Context Help window adjusts when you narrow the window. LabVIEW word wraps text in the Context Help window, shortens wires in the connector pane, and lists inputs and outputs in a table if the window is too narrow to display all the content.
With the Rice University Connexions® project, you can embed VIs in a Web page and execute the VIs on the same machine from which you view the Web page. By default, the LabVIEW browser plug-in does not permit this action in order to prevent it from occurring without your explicit permission and understanding. You must configure the LabVIEW browser-plug in to allow VIs to run locally.
The Blinking property does not apply to subpanel controls or XControls.
The No startup VIs build specification error specifies that no startup VIs were listed in the build specification or that LabVIEW could not find the startup VIs.
When you build a zip file, the Application Builder does not automatically include all the dependent files. Review the Preview page of the Zip File Properties dialog box to ensure you included all the files you need.
If you build an application that uses VIs on the SCC palette, there is no automatic way to add the SCC configuration information to the .ini file for the built application. You must manually add the SCCConfigData, SCCProviderName, and SCCProviderLocation tokens to the .ini file for the application or to a custom .ini file if you are building an installer.
LabVIEW does not report an error when you save a VI to a directory outside the SCC specification.
LabVIEW supports comparing VIs in source control only with the Perforce and SourceSafe third-party providers.
When you use the Regular expression option in the Find dialog box to search for text, LabVIEW replaces only the first match in each string. You can iteratively perform the find and replace operation until LabVIEW replaces all the search results, or you can remove the checkmark in the Regular expression checkbox.
The Front Panel Window:Is Frontmost property applies only in the application instance of the calling VI.
You cannot place a VI into a path constant directly from the palettes. Instead, place the VI on the block diagram and Ctrl-drag the VI into the path constant.
You cannot place a subVI into a Static VI Reference node directly from the palettes. Instead, place the subVI on the block diagram and Ctrl-drag the subVI into the Static VI Reference node.
Items in a single-column listbox can display multiple lines of text, so the items no longer ignore newline characters (\n).
The Web Publishing Tool creates an HTML file in the application instance from which you open the VI. If you close the VI and then reopen the VI in a different application instance, clients cannot view the VI.
In LabVIEW 7.x and earlier, if you wire a dynamic data type to a waveform-based polymorphic VI that has Automatic selected in the polymorphic VI selector, LabVIEW selects the 1-channel instance. In LabVIEW 8.0, LabVIEW selects the N-channel instance. The N-channel instance returns arrays of measurement data instead of a single measurement, so VIs that use a waveform-based polymorphic VI might be broken in LabVIEW 8.0. If you want to process only the first signal in the dynamic data type, you must manually select the 1-channel instance in the polymorphic VI selector.
If you are working in multiple application instances, you might need to use an application reference when using VI Server properties and methods.

Documentation Corrections

In the LabVIEW Upgrade Notes and the LabVIEW 8.0 Features and Changes topic in the LabVIEW Help, the NI DIAdem Report Express VI should be the DIAdem Report Express VI.
The LabVIEW Upgrade Notes incorrectly states that you can right-click a single-column listbox and select Visible Items»Horizontal Scrollbar from the shortcut menu to show the horizontal scroll bar. The Visible Items:Horizontal Scrollbar Visible property for single-column listboxes also does not exist.
In the Special Characters for Match Regular Expression topic in the LabVIEW Help, the example given for the * character incorrectly states that be* matches be in beep. This example should state that be* matches bee in beep. The example given for the ? character incorrectly states that be? matches bee in bee. This example should state that be? matches be in bee. The example given for the {} character incorrectly states that be{,3} matches b followed by at most three e characters. This example should state that be{0,3} matches b followed by at most three e characters.

Support

Refer to ni.com/linux for more information and resources related to LabVIEW for Linux systems.

Refer to the Linux Lab Project for more information about computer-based measurement and automation on Linux, including drivers for various National Instruments hardware. Note that these drivers are not developed or supported by National Instruments and significant work might be required to use these drivers with LabVIEW.