[Article]Guide for LAVA Package Building in VIPM

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This article is a guide on how to build a package in VIPM to meet the requirements of publishing under LAVA on the LabVIEW Tools Network.

You can build packages in VIPM Community Edition (which is free). Alternatively you can use OpenG Package Builder - whatever is preferred.

This guide is aimed to help developers new to package building and for everyone to see what the requirements look like in VIPM and is presented as a walk-through of each screen in the VI Package Builder UI.

An example package named LAVA Test Package is used for all screenshots:

Download attachment: Package Information.png

LAVA Test Package is available for download here:

Download attachment: lava_lib_lava_test_package-1.0.0.6.vip

(Code is in LabVIEW 2009).

LAVA Palette (external dependency) is avialable for automatic download in VIPM (hosted on LabVIEW Tools Network).

Basic

Build Information

Set the build information for your package here.

Download attachment: Build Information.png

Display Information

Set the Company Name to LAVA; Legal Copyright and Author Name should be your own; Set the License Agreement name (a flexible license is preferred and should be Open Source Initiative approved).

Setting the License Agreement Text File Location requires VIPM Professional, so it is recommended to use only if you have it.

Set the Product Homepage (URL) to the LAVA-CR page of the package (as this is just an example package it cannot be done here) - every package published will have its own LAVA-CR page e.g. Rename LVOOP Labels.

Download attachment: Display Information.png

Palettes

Do not include a Custom Category, this functionality will be provided in a dependent package (see Package Dependencies).

Set the palette Installation Location to Addons\LAVA (minimum requirement).

You can also include as many other palettes as you like that make sense for your package.

Download attachment: Palettes.png

Note: You must have installed the LAVA Palette package first to be able to see and select the LAVA sub-palette in the Palettes in LabVIEW dialog.

Download attachment: Palettes in LabVIEW.png

Destinations

The LAVA installation directory for palette VIs is <vi.lib>\LAVA. Create a sub-folder for your package. The folder structure under this sub-folder is entirely up to you.

Download attachment: Destinations.png

Source File Settings

Namespace your code to be distributed. In this example VIPM old school namespacing is used.

At a minimum, namespacing should reference lava.

Note: If you are importing an existing API over from the LAVA-CR then keeping the existing namespacing for VIs can be considered via discussion).

Download attachment: Source File Settings.png

Advanced

Package Dependencies

List all external package dependencies here. All external package dependencies must be avialable for automatic download from the internet in VIPM (e.g. hosted on VI Package Network or LabVIEW Tools Network).

Tool distributions should minimize external dependencies.

Download attachment: Package Dependencies.png

When the user of your package downloads and installs it, VIPM will automatically install the dependencies if they are not already installed, for example:

Download attachment: Install Dependendies.png

Licensing & Activation

Currently not used.

Download attachment: Licensing and Activation.png

Install Requirements

Set the installation requirements for your package.

Download attachment: Install Requirements.png

Incompatible Packages

If you are converting an existing package (which will have a different name) for publishing under LAVA then that package should added as an incompatible package so that VIPM will uninstall it automatically to avoid any conflicts when the new LAVA package is installed.

Download attachment: Incompatiable Packages.png

Custom Actions

Set these if needed.

Download attachment: Custom Actions.png

Package Filename

The package name should be as per the requirements. This is important as the palettes files generated by VIPM use this name and therefore, by following this convention the LAVA Addons palette will be ordered alphabetically.

Download attachment: Package Filename.png

Once your package is built and installed it will appear in LabVIEW as follows:

Controls Palette

Download attachment: Controls.png

Functions Palette

Download attachment: Functions.png

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