Querying the build number of a built executable from another built executable

[MartinMcD]

Hello everyone,

I am writing a few applications that will be used my people within our office. Assuming that to use the application you must install a copy of it on your local hard drive then I would like the user to be notified if a newer version is available and offer them the chance to upgrade.

One way I could do this is by changing the filename of the executable when I build a new version, eg from myApp_v1.exe to myApp_v2.exe. Then it is easy to compare file names and if newer copy the newer version across.

However, this seems a bit of a 'hacky' way of doing things. I would like to compare the build version numbers instead. I know how to get the build number from within a build vi but how do I find out what it is on the remote (and possibly newer) executable?

If you have any pointers/tips it would be very much appreciated. I need to implement something or I will have to keep on track of who has the software installed so I can update them manually & with >500 engineers that would be a real pain.

Thanks very much,

Martin

[hooovahh]

Here's something I whipped up. It uses a VBScript to get the version of a file. I then had LabVIEW call it through a command line and parse the output. It's not the cleanest method by any means, but it was the fastest. I googled getting file version and one of the first things that came up was a VBScript for it. This VI should return the same build version that you have in a Build Specification in the application builder. I didn't do any error checking on if the file doesn't exist, so if you just run it without a path it will not error out, and the version will be blank. The VI is saved in 8.6.

GetFileVersion.zip

[smenjoulet]

Here's an alternate version that ships with LabVIEW, though you can't find it on the palettes. Works across a network just fine.

-Scott

[MartinMcD]

Wow, thank you both that is really fantastic.

Thanks again,

Martin