Can't register addon, license shows as invalid

[WireJunky]

Hi there,

Been following all the guides on how to build and package the addon I'm currently working on. I cannot use VIPM as there is a problem (which I have already reported), so I need to create an installer the old fashioned way. Just a couple of issues I'm running into

1. Packaged my licensed lvlib with a source distribution and the installer puts it in the right place "vi.lib\Lanyon\", but when the installer calls the 'register addon exe' I get the following:

'Error -314502 occurred at Main.vi' - I have tried several different path combinations, but without success.

So I cannot automatically register my addon with LabVIEW, no big deal.. because when you open or use a VI from the library LabVIEW will add it to the registry.

2. This is where the second problem pops up - the addon shows as being 'invalid' and not in 'evaluation' mode the first time it is installed. Is there an obvious reason for this? I will add the machine I test deployment on has an evaluation version of LabVIEW2010 installed.

Then lastly, my addon interfaces to two dlls.. the Third Party Licensing & Activation toolkit licenses the .lvlib, and copies it to a new directory - the thing is - the paths in the CLF nodes are not updated to point to the newly copied dll files. This creates a little a problem when creating a source distribution as LabVIEW sees the original and the copied dlls as dependencies. Is there a way around that? maybe by placing the dlls in a directory that has the same path relative to the licensed copy? I am currently getting around this issue by manually changing the path in a single CLF, LabVIEW then updates the rest.

[Sumedha]

1. Packaged my licensed lvlib with a source distribution and the installer puts it in the right place "vi.lib\Lanyon\", but when the installer calls the 'register addon exe' I get the following:

'Error -314502 occurred at Main.vi' - I have tried several different path combinations, but without success.

Are you trying this in LabVIEW 2010? If yes, then try calling RegisterAddon using the format: RegisterAddon.exe -- -l "<librarypath>"

There was a bug on our side, a workaround to which is to call RegisterAddon with the above format when installing in LabVIEW 2010 and using the format RegisterAddon.exe -- -s -l "<librarypath>" when installing in LabVIEW 2011 or later.

2. This is where the second problem pops up - the addon shows as being 'invalid' and not in 'evaluation' mode the first time it is installed. Is there an obvious reason for this? I will add the machine I test deployment on has an evaluation version of LabVIEW2010 installed.

Does restarting LabVIEW change the status to evaluation? Also, does the above workaround fix this?

Let us know if this works for you.

Regards,

Sumedha

[David_L]

Then lastly, my addon interfaces to two dlls.. the Third Party Licensing & Activation toolkit licenses the .lvlib, and copies it to a new directory - the thing is - the paths in the CLF nodes are not updated to point to the newly copied dll files. This creates a little a problem when creating a source distribution as LabVIEW sees the original and the copied dlls as dependencies. Is there a way around that? maybe by placing the dlls in a directory that has the same path relative to the licensed copy? I am currently getting around this issue by manually changing the path in a single CLF, LabVIEW then updates the rest.

You probably want to copy your DLLs into a directory that has the same relative path to your VIs as the original.  This way you don't have to do any manual re-configuration of the CLFN. 

[WireJunky]

Thanks so much, the RegisterAddon issue is resolved by changing the commandline parameters as suggested. The dll problem is also sorted by moving the directory to a path that is the same relative to the licensed copy.

I'm still stuck with the addon showning 'invalid' once installed on a test system, is there a specific way to license the library using the
Third Party Licensing & Activation toolkit? - using the standard licensing scheme with a NI based solo server test account.

[David_L]

Does your installer move the license file to the C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\Partners\<company>\Licenses directory? This is required, otherwise the license will show as invalid.

[vishots.com]

Can you indicate the problem or point me to where you reported the issue with VIPM? I want to make sure that issue is resolved if possible.

[WireJunky]

I think the problem is - I am trying to install on windows XP, which does not have the C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\ directory. Am I wrong to say that with the NI installer method of creating an addon that you can only target specific versions of LabVIEW? If this is the case, then I will have to make VIPM work for me somehow...

Michael_Aivaliotis, my thread in connection with VIPM is http://forums.jki.net/topic/2001-stuck-at-building-source-distribution/ and as stated there I think I've narrowed the problem. If I remove my recursive VIs then VIPM builds the package no problem, building a plain source distribution through LabVIEW works without any problems (includes the recursive VIs).

I've had a look at the package format (vip/zip) VIPM creates, and have successfully 'injected' the LabVIEW built source distribution into it as a work around. I do not want to go this route, but options being limited...

[vishots.com]

We've been working on this issue and will have a fix in the next VIPM Service Pack release. If you need a fix sooner for this issue. Please send a ticket here.

[Sumedha]

For making licensing work on XP your license file needs to be under the Application Data folder which on most XP systems is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\National Instruments\Partners\<company>\Licenses directory.

Let us know if that works.