Combining run time engine into the executable (not installer)

[billko]

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@blessedk wrote:

No that’s not an option at all

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With those kinds of restrictions, I'm surprised they will let you put an executable on another PC.

[rolfk]

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@blessedk wrote:

That’s why I am also considering the LabVIEW to C generator 

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It was discontinued in LabVIEW 2017 and almost certainly couldn’t be just enabled in the LabVIEW build nowadays anymore. Any feature and change introduced since then was not tested to Huu be compatible with the C generator and would require additional work to make it compile and run again. 

That all said there are other gotchas. The generated code is convoluted and really not just ready for compile and run. You need to adjust it to work for your platform and compiler but as it is convoluted that is quite a task.

Also a C compiler needs a C andC++ runtime and while if you use a recent Visual C compiler (but not the greatest and latest) and have only well updated Windows 10 or 11 computers, you can assume that that is already installed, but if you have no control about on what computers your app should run, you can NOT rely on that!

[rolfk]

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@blessedk wrote:

No that’s not an option at all

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Why would such a company allow anyone to put a USB stick or even a CD in the computer? Or download any  executable code to it?

[blessedk]

I agree, its annoying they can accept a USB stick to copy an exe but wont allow installs,  but it is what it is. They would always be on windows 10 so I guess availability of the C run time is covered. The code is actually on LV2017 so that works for me except you said the c code is not compile ready even with 2017? I am just hoping that since LabVIEW had the ability to include the runtime with its executables some time in the past that NI would be able to help.

[JÞB]

This is one of those times you go back to the customer.  Simply, you put in the work and provided the deliverables. you should get paid.  Then, let them figure out how to get value from the expense.

[RTSLVU]

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@blessedk wrote:

I would be glad to find a better way, the end user PCs will not allow any installation. I just want to run an exe file and that’s it. Please if you have better ideas let me know. 

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Then your idea has no chance of this working anyway as most security programs that block unapproved executables will block unapproved DLL's too. 

Because it is just as easy to put malware, viruses, spyware, etc. in a DLL as it is an exe.

[santo_13]

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@RTSLVU wrote:

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@blessedk wrote:

I would be glad to find a better way, the end user PCs will not allow any installation. I just want to run an exe file and that’s it. Please if you have better ideas let me know. 

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Then your idea has no chance of this working anyway as most security programs that block unapproved executables will block unapproved DLL's too. 

Because it is just as easy to put malware, viruses, spyware, etc. in a DLL as it is an exe.

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Exactly my thought too, any unknown exe running off a removable drive is a potential malware or virus

[rolfk]

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@blessedk wrote:

They would always be on windows 10 so I guess availability of the C run time is covered.

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Not so fast alligator. I never said that Windows 10 is a guarantee to have the right runtime installed. Until Visual Studio 2013, each Visual C version had its own version of C Runtime. Since many standard Windows tools are compiled with Visual Studio too, Windows always came with one or more of them preinstalled. If the Visual Studio version that-was used to compile a specific program was a different one (older or newer) the program couldn’t run unless the according runtime gets installed. Since 2015 the runtimes are upwards compatible. This means if you compile in Visual Studio 2019 for instance but run on W10 2004 you should be fine but if it is W10 1809 you might not be unless that macine has other applications installed which were compiled with at least Visual Studio 2019 or newer.

As to the C Generator, that was a licensed tool and needs activation. Without NI wanting to sell you such a licence you would have to resort to be illegal to use it. Also its price was hefty. Unless you were ready to part with a sum that had 5 digits before the decimal point you could not hope to use it beyond the 30 days evaluation period. So it’s really a dead end on commercial, maintenance and technical reasons!

You can insist to bang your head against this wall but I guarantee you that you won’t gain anything but headaches.

[blessedk]

As always I would keep a positive mind on any thing. NI had the ability to combine these at some point, so I would not consider it "banging my head". Will make enquiries.  As for the cost of the C-generator, not a problem as long as it does what I am looking for. (If the evaluation version proves successful)

[rolfk]

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@blessedk wrote:

As always I would keep a positive mind on any thing. NI had the ability to combine these at some point, so I would not consider it "banging my head". 

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That was for LabVIEW 6 and earlier. The LabVIEW runtime was at that time exactly one DLL and a few support files! Very easy to track down and add to the executable directory. Then in LabVIEW 7 they added many features and it got a more complex setup and the LabVIEW executable was changed to refer to the runtime in a standard installed location. You still could copy the whole runtime folder into the executable folder and unless your exe didn't use to exotic drivers and features all was well.

LabVIEW runtime nowadays are a whole bunch of DLLs and in the name of modularization not everything is located in the same location. And it continuously changes.

Good luck on your head banging sessions! 🙂