LabVIEW 8.5.1 Released

[Jim Kring]

http://www.ni.com/support/lv8_51.htm

[Val Brown]

QUOTE (Jim Kring @ Apr 4 2008, 09:38 AM)

http://www.ni.com/support/lv8_51.htm

What are your impressions of it?

[jaegen]

There's something wonderful about the fact that the link to the "Bug Fixes" page is currently broken. :thumbup:

Jaegen

[Tomi Maila]

QUOTE (jaegen @ Apr 4 2008, 08:39 PM)

There's something wonderful about the fact that the link to the http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/6927' target="_blank">"Bug Fixes" page is currently broken. :thumbup:

QUOTE (NI website)

No content exists for document id:6927

Well, maybe there just were no bug fixes

[Jim Kring]

QUOTE (Val Brown @ Apr 4 2008, 10:29 AM)

What are your impressions of it?

Actually, I posted the link to encourage brave souls to upgrade and report back, here. I haven't upgrade, yet, but I'll probably do so, on a virtual machine and run some tests on my existing 8.5 projects.

I would assume that since it took so long to get this release out, NI has had a lot of time to test it thoroughly and iron out any kinks.

[LAVA 1.0 Content]

QUOTE (Jim Kring @ Apr 4 2008, 12:52 PM)

Actually, I posted the link to encourage brave souls to upgrade and report back, here. I...

"Let Mikey try it. He hates everything."

I can't fault you since I do the same.

Ben

[Val Brown]

QUOTE (neB @ Apr 4 2008, 11:31 AM)

"Let Mikey try it. He hates everything."

I can't fault you since I do the same.

Ben

Anybody here been part of the beta release?

[orko]

QUOTE (jaegen @ Apr 4 2008, 10:39 AM)

There's something wonderful about the fact that the link to the "Bug Fixes" page is currently broken. :thumbup:

Here's the LV8.5.1 readme.html from the install directory (no...I haven't installed it yet)

Download File:post-3266-1207335090.html

[eaolson]

QUOTE (jaegen @ Apr 4 2008, 12:39 PM)

There's something wonderful about the fact that the link to the http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/6927' target="_blank">"Bug Fixes" page is currently broken. :thumbup:

"If we had access to the bug fix page we could put the broken link to the bug fix page on the bug fix page." Maybe it's just because it's difficult to do recursion in LabVIEW?

(And a cookie to anyone that can identify the obscure, reworded quote.)

[Darren]

QUOTE (Val Brown @ Apr 4 2008, 01:46 PM)

Anybody here been part of the beta release?

I don't think any discussion of beta software (including the topic of having been a beta tester) is allowed outside the private NI channels.

-D

[Val Brown]

QUOTE (Darren @ Apr 4 2008, 02:20 PM)

I don't think any discussion of beta software (including the topic of having been a beta tester) is allowed outside the private NI channels.

-D

So I understand that being the case DURING the beta program but presumably the actual release is at least as good as the beta and the "good" experiences of that could perhaps be posted just to say things like, yes I really liked...

[TobyD]

QUOTE (Jim Kring @ Apr 4 2008, 10:52 AM)

Actually, I posted the link to encourage brave souls to upgrade and report back, here.

I'm not sure how brave I am, but I guess I have enough downtime right now to take the risk. The install went well on Vista Enterprise Edition. It didn't break any of my settings or palettes and VIPM can still find it. The Code Capture tool also appears to work normally. That's about all I know so far.

QUOTE (Val Brown @ Apr 4 2008, 11:46 AM)

Anybody here been part of the beta release?

I don't think there was any public beta of 8.5.1. The 8.6 beta is going on now.

[Val Brown]

QUOTE (TobyD @ Apr 4 2008, 03:23 PM)

I don't think there was any public beta of 8.5.1. The http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&thread.id=302212' target="_blank">8.6 beta is going on now.

Hmmmm you may be right and I may be conflating those two ideas. No wonder no one can say anything!

[REM1]

QUOTE (Val Brown @ Apr 4 2008, 04:48 PM)

So I understand that being the case DURING the beta program but presumably the actual release is at least as good as the beta and the "good" experiences of that could perhaps be posted just to say things like, yes I really liked...

I believe your interpretation of the rules is correct but I will verify this when I return to the office on Monday.

QUOTE (TobyD @ Apr 4 2008, 05:23 PM)

I don't think there was any

public

beta of 8.5.1. The

8.6 beta

is going on now.

You are correct on all of your statements, both explicit and implied.

[Val Brown]

It just gets "curiouser and curiouser" -- now the NI Activation process is failing. It appears that some parts of NI.COM are "under repair" and the Activation Center is one of them.

[Aristos Queue]

8.5.1 went live on the web sooner than a lot of groups expected. Have a bit of patience -- everything should be linked (such as the bug page and the activation stuff) on Monday.

[Val Brown]

QUOTE (Aristos Queue @ Apr 5 2008, 07:34 AM)

8.5.1 went live on the web sooner than a lot of groups expected. Have a bit of patience -- everything should be linked (such as the bug page and the activation stuff) on Monday.

Yes that's how it appears. I'm just like the guy waiting by the microwave saying it takes TOO long....

BTW is there a separate update for the SCM? I found a patch for the SCM to download but not a separate update.

[Val Brown]

QUOTE (Val Brown @ Apr 5 2008, 10:20 AM)

Yes that's how it appears. I'm just like the guy waiting by the microwave saying it takes TOO long....

BTW is there a separate update for the SCM? I found a patch for the SCM to download but not a separate update.

OK, so I'm activated now (gosh had to wait a whole 12 hours!!!)

Haven't yet checked out SCM.

[Justin Goeres]

QUOTE (eaolson @ Apr 4 2008, 01:18 PM)

"If we had access to the bug fix page we could put the broken link to the bug fix page on the bug fix page." Maybe it's just because it's difficult to do recursion in LabVIEW?

(And a cookie to anyone that can identify the obscure, reworded quote.)

I can't identify the quote, but it feels like something from Futurama.

Same show, different quote: "Hey! I don't tell you how to tell me what to do, so don't tell me how to do what you tell me to do!"

And to keep this relatively on-topic, I haven't upgraded yet. I'm going to let some other schmuckspoor, tortured souls try it out first .

[Travis H.]

Just as a heads up, make sure you read through the readme as the LabVIEW 8.5.1 maintenance release is different than previous maintenance releases. I'll let you read through the readme for all of the details, but here are the high-level points:

• You cannot have both LabVIEW 8.5 and 8.5.1 installed simultaneously (this is the same as all previous maintenance releases)
  
• LabVIEW 8.5.1 can be installed with or without LabVIEW 8.5 currently installed (this is the same as LabVIEW 8.2.1)
  
• LabVIEW 8.5.1 does not automatically recompile VIs saved in LabVIEW 8.5 upon load (this is different than all previous maintenance releases)
  
• Of the 204 bug fixes, 19 of them require a VI recompile to activate the fix (this is different than all previous maintenance releases)
  

Previous to now, all X.Y.z maintenance releases recompiled VIs upon load that were saved in X.Y. This caused a lot of headaches since it was more or less required to mass compile your VI directories containing not only your source, but also VIs installed by drivers, toolkits, and modules. We were able to avoid the recompile upon load in LabVIEW 8.5.1 as none of the 19 bug fixes requiring a recompile were deemed as showstoppers. Unless you suspect you are encountering one of these 19 bugs, a recompile is not necessary. Remember, any further edits on a VI will trigger a recompile and enable these 19 bug fixes for that VI. If you think there is a chance you are currently encountering one of these 19 bugs, a recompile is recommended. You can recompile a single VI, all VIs in memory, a static VI hierarchy, or a directory of VIs on disk (instructions in readme). If you don't want to have to think at all, you can recompile all of your VI directories (excluding vi.lib VIs installed by LabVIEW), making the install process much like the LabVIEW 8.2.1 maintenance release. Hopefully most users will save time by not having to do this.

Note, vi.lib is already recompiled for LabVIEW 8.5.1 (just like it was for LabVIEW 8.2.1).

Hope this helps,

Travis H.

[REM1]

QUOTE (REM1 @ Apr 4 2008, 06:56 PM)

I believe your interpretation of the rules is correct but I will verify this when I return to the office on Monday.

Once the release is made public you may talk about your general impressions of the release but discussion of the beta is still forbidden. Please remember, however, that some bug fixes go in after we post the last beta.

[Aristos Queue]

8.5.1 bug fix page works now.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/6927

[AutoMeasure]

QUOTE (Travis H. @ Apr 7 2008, 09:52 AM)

...Unless you suspect you are encountering one of these 19 bugs, a recompile is not necessary. Remember, any further edits on a VI will trigger a recompile and enable these 19 bug fixes for that VI. If you think there is a chance you are currently encountering one of these 19 bugs, a recompile is recommended. You can recompile a single VI, all VIs in memory, a static VI hierarchy, or a directory of VIs on disk (instructions in readme). If you don't want to have to think at all, you can recompile all of your VI directories (excluding vi.lib VIs installed by LabVIEW), making the install process much like the LabVIEW 8.2.1 maintenance release. Hopefully most users will save time by not having to do this. Note, vi.lib is already recompiled for LabVIEW 8.5.1 (just like it was for LabVIEW 8.2.1).

...

Is Kring's 'fast mass compile tool' that he made for the 8.0.1 upgrade still the best way to go when I need to do a mass compile (and does it work in 8.5.1), or is Labview's built-in mass compile efficient enough now? Thanks.

[Ton Plomp]

QUOTE (AutoMeasure @ Apr 10 2008, 07:43 PM)

Is Kring's 'fast mass compile tool' that he made for the 8.0.1 upgrade still the best way to go when I need to do a mass compile (and does it work in 8.5.1), or is Labview's built-in mass compile efficient enough now? Thanks.

Since we all whined about the mass-compile duration of 8.0.1 NI has distributed patches as full blown installers (so it claims it needs 1 GB of HD-space and needs activation).

This means the vi.lib doesn't need to be recompiled, the user.lib needs to be recompiled though, and Jim Kring's tool is most likely (untested by me) the fasted.

Ton

[Aristos Queue]

QUOTE (tcplomp @ Apr 10 2008, 01:57 PM)

Since we all whined about the mass-compile duration of 8.0.1 NI has distributed patches as full blown installers (so it claims it needs 1 GB of HD-space and needs activation).

This means the vi.lib doesn't need to be recompiled, the user.lib needs to be recompiled though, and Jim Kring's tool is most likely (untested by me) the fasted.

IMPORTANT. Read the http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/3efedde4322fef19862567740067f3cc/e419aede3b053a46862573d200609d39/$FILE/Windows_Readme.html' target="_blank">readme.html about *how* to perform a mass compile. Doing a mass compile like you normally do WILL NOT suffice. The version number between 8.5 and 8.5.1 is not internally bumped, so a mass compile won't work -- LV won't see that anything needs to be recompiled.

=========Quoting from the readme.html=============

Recompiling VIs for Bug Fixes

The following fixes in LabVIEW 8.5.1 require you to manually recompile the VIs to correct the problem. To force a recompile of a VI without recompiling its subVIs, <Ctrl>-click the Run button. To force a recompile of all VIs in memory, <Ctrl>-<Shift>-click the Run button. To force a recompile of the entire current VI hierarchy, close all VIs currently opened, open the top-level VI, and <Ctrl>-<Shift>-click the Run button. This method will not recompile any of the VIs called dynamically in the hierarchy.

You also can force recompile all VIs in a specified directory using the following steps. Note that you do not need to perform these steps for VIs installed with LabVIEW 8.5.1.

1. Use a standard text editor to open the LabVIEW.ini file located in the LabVIEW directory.
   
2. Add massCompAll=True as a new line at the end of the file.
   
3. Save and close the LabVIEW.ini file.
   
4. Open LabVIEW.
   
5. Select Tools»Advanced»Mass Compile to display the Mass Compile dialog box.
   
6. Navigate to the desired directory and click the Current Folder button.
   
7. Click the Mass Compile button to force recompile all VIs in that directory.
   
8. Click the Done button to return to LabVIEW.
   
9. Once you finish the force recompile, reopen the LabVIEW.ini file.
   
10. Remove massCompAll=True from the file.
    
11. Save and close the LabVIEW.ini file.
    

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