Add Third Party Installer In LabVIEW

[Himanshu_Goyal]

Hi Friends,

To add a third party installer in LabVIEW, we can follow few simple steps.

1. Add third party installer in LabVIEW project.

          My Computer-->ADD-->File (Add third part software installer)

2. Build the EXE

          Build Specification-->New-->Application (EXE)
          Source File-->File(Third Party Installer)-->Always Included

3. Create Installer

These steps configure your third party installer in LabVIEW Installer...

Thanks and Regards
Himanshu Goyal | LabVIEW Engineer- Power System Automation
Values that steer us ahead: Passion | Innovation | Ambition | Diligence | Teamwork
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[rawlukn]

Himanshu,

Thank you for posting this note on how to add third party installers to a LabVIEW generated installer (and have them run). Unfortunately, following the steps precisely, it does not work for me. When I got to build the EXE it fails and complains that:

You did not specify any startup VIs. Select a startup VI before building the application.

Which is true because the steps did not tell us to and the EXE is not a VI so we cannot make it a startup VI.

Have a missed something, or should we be taking a different approach?

Thanks for you help.

[Himanshu_Goyal]

Thanks for your query.

I think first you have to build LabVIEW EXE and in this EXE if any addon tool is required you can add that tool inside your EXE.

In any LabVIEW exe you must required a Main VI that we call as a Startup VI. You have to select under source file mail VI as a startup Vi and reset important VIs as always include Vis.

[anothersunnyday]

I tried following the instructions that Himanshu kindly posted. I don't think they are quite complete.

I've created a .exe. The startup VI is the final user interface for my device.

I've added the 3rd party installer .exe files to the "Always included" list when I create the .exe

I then created the Installer, specifying the .exe in the Source files box.

When I open the contents of that, I have some files in the \data subdirectory, which includes the 3rd party installer .exe files.

I install the software on a new computer using the installer "Setup.exe" that was generated.

The 3rd party .exe files are in the \data subdirectory on the new computer.

But they haven't automatically run during the installation process.

What do I have to do to make sure they are executed during the installation?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Theo_K]

This post is a little misleading.

The steps described above will simply cause the third party installer file to be copied to the installation directory as anothersunnyday has correctly pointed out.

If fact, the steps listed above are the standard steps for including/copying any file into the generated executable directory when the installer is run.

Under no circumstances the above steps will result in the third party installer to automatically run during the installation process, which is what most meople who visit this  post would actually want to acomplish.

If you want the third party installer to be included AND run automatically then it seems like you would need to use this approach mentioned here:

https://lavag.org/topic/9624-automatically-including-3rd-party-installers-on-cd/

"Create a batch file that calls the multiple installers and have that  execute instead. You can configure the LabVIEW installer to run an executable (or batch file) in the 'Advanced' page in the installer build dialog."

Here's how to create a batch file:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/B2640E34C4654F7B86256D07006D843D

This may also prove useful:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/5CF9526FF069EA8E862564C400579DBA

UPDATE:

This is just an update after having successfully managed to get a third party installer to run automatically at the end of my executable's installation.

So, the simplest way is as follows:

step 1) Add the 3rd party installer file (.exe) to the executable's build spec in the same way you would add any other file. During the exe build process a copy of the 3rd party installer will be placed in the specified folder inside the executable's directory.

step 2) Set your installer to run the third party installer upon completion. This can be set up through the 'Advanced' page in the installer build dialogue.

This approach is the easiest way to automatically run a single 3^rd party installer when your installer completes running.  For running more than one 3^rd party installers use a batch file.

I hope this helps.