Packaging an Application

Use a Package document (.lvdist) to build an application into a package or package installer. The Package document contains the build configuration and metadata for your package, such as version, maintainer, and display name.

1. Click File»New»Package/Installer. The Package document opens in the project.
2. Drag the files you want to distribute from the Project Files tab to the Files section. You can include applications and other support files. The Package document automatically calculates the package dependencies that your application requires.
3. Optional: Click Select Hardware Configuration to select the hardware configuration settings your application requires.
4. Review the contents of the Package Dependencies section, which displays package dependencies your application requires. You can include additional dependencies by clicking Dependencies and selecting packages under Add Dependencies.
5. In the Information section, confirm that the Package document filled the text boxes with information you want. The Package document automatically gathers information from the project and your NI User Account to complete the Information section. The values in the text boxes become metadata in the package. NI Package Manager reads the metadata of packages to sort them and display information about them to users.
6. On the Document tab, choose the target on which to build the package contents in Build target.
7. Select the package output type from Output type.
8. In Output directory, specify the location to save the package output.
9. Optional: In the Hardware configuration section of the Document tab, select the behavior settings you want to apply to the package output.
10. Click File»Save all.
    
11. Click Build. The Build Queue tab shows the status of the build process.

Click Locate directory in Windows Explorer to locate the package or package installer in the output directory. You can distribute your software content using NI Package Manager or other distribution channels.