LabVIEW 8.6f1 for Windows Readme

The LabVIEW 8.6f1 patch for Windows fixes five issues. National Instruments has tested the patch to ensure it fixes the specific problems reported, but only a limited amount of general testing has been done to detect potential problems introduced by these fixes. National Instruments strongly recommends that you test to verify these changes are acceptable before you use this patch in a production environment.

System Requirements
Fixed Issues
Modified LabVIEW Files
Installing the Patch

System Requirements

You must install LabVIEW 8.6 or the LabVIEW 8.6 Run-Time Engine for Windows before you can install this patch. The same system requirements for LabVIEW 8.6 and the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine apply to this patch. Refer to the LabVIEW 8.6 Release Notes for more information about those system requirements.

Fixed Issues

This patch includes the following changes:

• Fixed an issue where LabVIEW 8.6 incorrectly displays certain fonts, such as Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, and so on. This affects all languages that do not use the Windows 1252 codepage or an IME for input. Text in these languages displays correctly in previous versions of LabVIEW. However, in LabVIEW 8.6, the text either displays incorrectly or with an error about Unicode characters. VIs developed in previous versions of LabVIEW work correctly after you upgrade to LabVIEW 8.6 unless you enter new text. Refer to the KnowledgeBase at ni.com for more information about this issue. This issue was tracked through NI bug IDs 123758 and 124752.
• Fixed an issue where the NI TestStand Sequence Editor slows down during certain LabVIEW steps. NI TestStand uses a function to get the checksum of the connector pane of a VI without loading the VI to check whether the prototype of the VI has changed. LabVIEW 8.6 calls this function more slowly than LabVIEW 8.5, especially when you wire an I/O control to the connector pane. This issue was tracked through NI bug ID 124319.
• Fixed an issue where string caching causes incorrect capitalization of VI filenames when you change their case. Caching is a process by which LabVIEW remembers previously used names, characters, and so on. As a result, if you change the capitalization of the filename of a VI on disk, LabVIEW does not reflect the change when you include the VI in a new project. This issue was tracked through NI bug ID 119144.
• Fixed an issue where LabVIEW crashes when you perform VI Analyzer tests with source control enabled. The crash occurs if you select a large number of VIs or projects to test and source control is enabled. LabVIEW usually crashes after it analyzes the first few VIs. This issue was tracked through NI bug IDs 119731 and 111652.
• Fixed an issue that slows down the performance of source control operations in LabVIEW 8.6 projects. The use of source control increases the access time to project folders compared to LabVIEW 8.5. The slowdown is proportional to the number of files in the project. This issue was tracked through NI bug ID 118693.

For additional information on any of the issues described, contact National Instruments support through direct email or phone and have the NI bug ID available.

Modified LabVIEW Files

Below is the list of modified files where <NI DIR> is the location on your computer where you have installed NI software, usually C:\Program Files\National Instruments\:

• <NI DIR>\LabVIEW 8.6\labview.exe
• <NI DIR>\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\8.6\lvrt.dll
• <NI DIR>\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\8.6\lvffrt.dll

Note  The lvffrt.dll file might not exist on all systems. If the file does not exist on your machine, you do not need to install it with this patch.

Installing the Patch

Before continuing, National Instruments strongly recommends that you back up all files you replace during this process in case you wish to revert back to the default installation. You can add an extension to the filenames such as .bak or .installed to back up the files.

Patching Development Systems

Complete the following steps to patch machines with LabVIEW installed. Systems with LabVIEW installed also include the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine.

1. Close all NI software.
2. Run the self-extracting zip file LV86f1DevSystemWithRunTimePatch.exe to replace the existing files on the machine with the modified files. The default unzip path is C:\Program Files\National Instruments\. If your National Instruments software exists in a different directory, use the browse function of the unzip utility to point to the appropriate directory while unzipping. To verify that the patch was installed correctly, check to see that the modified date of the files is Thursday, September 11, 2008, Universal Time.
3. Repeat these steps for all development systems you want to patch.

The patch copies this file, readme_LV86f1.html, to <NI DIR>\LabVIEW 8.6\readme\.

Patching Deployed Systems

Complete the following steps to patch machines with only the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine installed.

1. Close all NI software.
2. Run the self-extracting zip file LV86f1RunTimePatch.exe to replace the existing files on the machine with the modified files. The default unzip path is C:\Program Files\National Instruments\. If your National Instruments software exists in a different directory, use the browse function of the unzip utility to point to the appropriate directory while unzipping. To verify that the patch was installed correctly, check to see that the modified date of lvrt.dll and lvffrt.dll is Thursday, September 11, 2008, Universal Time.
3. Repeat these steps for all deployed systems you want to patch.

The patch copies this file, readme_LV86f1.html, to <NI DIR>\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\8.6\.

Note: If you are using NI TestStand or creating installers or deploying code using LabVIEW, it is recommended that you install the LabVIEW 8.6f1 Run-Time Engine after you finish applying the above patch. The Run-Time Engine installer contains the same fixes as the above patch. but will cause deployments built from a patched system to also include the patch. Distributions made on patched systems will automatically include the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine fixes. This will affect customers who are building installers that include the LabVIEW 8.6 Run-Time Engine

Copyright

© 2004–2008 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved.

Under the copyright laws, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.

Trademarks

National Instruments, NI, ni.com, and LabVIEW are trademarks of National Instruments Corporation. Refer to the Terms of Use section on ni.com/legal for more information about National Instruments trademarks.

Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Patents

For patents covering the National Instruments products, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or ni.com/patents.