Shared variables not updating in exe

Question

Hi,
I've created a project with 2 vi's, they share data via Networked Shared Variables, one vi writes while the other reads.
The data is passed between the 2 vi's whilst running in the Labview 2009 SP1 development environment, but when I create an exe, the screen values in the reader vi do not update at all.
In the build specification I've tried both including the vi's which reference the shared variables and the
option to list the shared variable libaries for deployment at run time, as methods to overcome the problem.
Please, any clues why the exe should fail to allow shared variables to pass data ?
 thanks,
Gary. 

Answer 1

Hey Gary,
I've just created a project to replicate the issue you are having and indeed when I built the application, the Shared Variables were no longer working. This is because I hadn't deployed the Shared Variables in code; which I think may be the problem that you're having at the moment. When create a Network Published Shared Variable library in LabVIEW, it auto-deploys itself for the development environment; but this is definitely not the case for when you build an executable. Instead, you must deploy the library yourself in code.
In the attached zip folder, please follow the following instructions and hopefully you'll be able to fix your VI:
Unzip the folder and extract the files.
Open up the project.
Look at the project layout. Notice the SharedVariableLibrary.lvlib and inspect the Shared_Double variable.
Look at how the Reader.vi and the Writer.vi interact with the variable.
Go into the Main.vi. See that I make an Open Application Reference VI and Invoke Node to manually deploy the library in code. You'll have to change the path to this library to match the directory structure of your own computer, so just make sure it navigates to the library in the extracted folder.
Check out the Build Specifications. I've done nothing here except ensure I only include the Main VI. Finally build the VI and run the executable. 
You should see that this will give you a working Shared Variable setup. The Machine Name input for the Open Application Reference is blank because you only want to communicate with the localhost i.e. Your computer. Therefore by explicitly deploying all libraries you require, your VIs should be able to communicate effectively.
Does this solve your problem?
Alex Thomas, University of Manchester School of EEE LabVIEW Ambassador (CLAD)
Attachments:
GlobalVariableProject Folder LabVIEW 9_0SP1.zip ‏26 KB