NI recommends using a single version of LabVIEW to compile all the VIs for a test system. However, some situations exist that might require a test system to use multiple versions of LabVIEW. For example, you might need to update a validated test system you created in one version of LabVIEW to add a test that requires a feature available only in a later version of LabVIEW. In this case, you do not need to update and revalidate the entire test system to use the later version of LabVIEW.

You can execute code modules in different versions of LabVIEW in the same test system by using the following techniques:

  • If you use the LabVIEW development system to execute code module VIs, you can force TestStand to run specific VIs in a different version of LabVIEW by enabling the Always Run VI in LabVIEW Run-Time Engine option in the LabVIEW Advanced Settings window. When you enable this option, TestStand always runs the VI in the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine (RTE) version that matches the version of LabVIEW in which you last compiled the VI, regardless of the option you select in the Select or Type Which LabVIEW Server to Use section in the LabVIEW Adapter Configuration dialog box.
  • If you use the LabVIEW RTE to execute code module VIs, select the Auto detect using VI version option from the Version ring control of the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine option in the Select or Type Which LabVIEW Server to Use section in the LabVIEW Adapter Configuration dialog box. When you enable this option, TestStand always runs the VI in the LabVIEW RTE version that matches the version of LabVIEW in which you last compiled the VI.

NI recommends that you organize VIs specific to a LabVIEW version in separate sequence files and store those sequence files and related code modules in a separate directory.

Notice When you use a later version of LabVIEW to load a VI you saved in an earlier version of LabVIEW, the later version of LabVIEW recompiles the VI and marks the VI as modified. When you close the VI or exit LabVIEW, LabVIEW prompts you to save all modified VIs in memory. Accidentally saving VIs in later versions of LabVIEW might happen when you use common subVIs with VIs that require different versions of LabVIEW. NI recommends that you build common VIs into packed project libraries you compile with a specific version of LabVIEW because you can load packed project libraries only with the version of LabVIEW you used to compile the packed project library.

Deploying VIs that Require Multiple Versions of LabVIEW

To run VIs on a test station computer that includes only the LabVIEW RTE, you must include all the VI dependencies in the deployment. The TestStand Deployment Utility analyzes and processes the VIs you include in a deployment to ensure the deployment includes the dependencies. However, the deployment utility can use only a single version of LabVIEW to process the VIs.

To work around this issue, you can create a packed project library that includes all dependent files for the deployment. Alternatively, you can create a source distribution that includes all dependent files for the deployment and enable the Include without Processing Item or Dependencies option in the File Properties section on the Distributed Files tab of the deployment utility for every file created in the source distribution. When you enable this option, the deployment utility does not attempt to find any dependencies of the file during analysis. Therefore, you must manually include all the dependencies in the deployment.