FAQs: Supporting Your Add-on

[chris.b]

I've had a few partners who are applying for Compatible with LabVIEW ask me various questions about "supporting" their add-on and what that means for them...

"My product is free. Do I have to provide support to users?"

Silver Compatible with LabVIEW products must have a "documented support policy." This means that you should set the correct expectations with your users. Let the user know how to get support for the product, whether it is through email, phone, or online forums (see next question). If your add-on is not supported by you or anyone else, mention that; however, I would strongly encourage you to provide some contact information for your users.

Gold products must have an "available 2-day response time." This support and response time can be an extra paid service, but it must be available. Add-on products can be used in system critical applications, and users expect the same response for a Gold LabVIEW add-on as they do for LabVIEW itself.

"I don't have a website, but I'd like to provide a forum for support questions. Is there any way I can do this?"

Definitely. Just sign into the NI Community, and create a new group. A few add-on developers have already done this for their products, for example AddQ, SAPHIR, and JKI.

"I've tested my add-on on LabVIEW 8.2 and 2010. How do I test on other LabVIEW versions I don't own?"

Enlist your users! Some of them may even be able to help you test on other operating systems, like Mac OS or Linux. Also, if you are an Alliance Member, you may already have rights to previous versions of LabVIEW. If you're not sure, just ask us.

Do you have any other questions on supporting your product? Let us know.