Enabling Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit to Remotely Debug a LabVIEW Executable

Updated Apr 30, 2024

Environment

Software

  • LabVIEW Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit
  • LabVIEW

This article is a tutorial on configuring the LabVIEW Development Environment and a Build Executable so the LabVIEW Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit (DETT) can connect to the executable for further debugging and code analysis. 

This article assumes that you have knowledge regarding the usage of the LabVIEW Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit (DETT), if you are not familiar with the tool visit the following link:

There are 3 major step to connect the LabVIEW Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit (DETT) to an executable for debugging: 
  • Enable VI server on LabVIEW Development Environment
  • Enable Debugging in your LabVIEW project's Build Specification
  • Enable VI server access for your LabVIEW project

Enable VI Server on LabVIEW Development Environment

To enable the VI Server on the LabVIEW Development Environment, refer to Enable VI server on LabVIEW Development Environment. This procedure is required not only when debugging executables but also when connecting the DETT to LabVIEW applications running in the development environment. 
 

Enable Debugging in Your LabVIEW Project's Build Specification

To enable debugging in your executable, refer to Remotely Debugging Executables in LabVIEW. You will notice the article also explains the debugging process once the executable is moved to the target machine. This is not required for the DETT integration.

Enable VI Server Access For Your LabVIEW Project

To enable VI server access, follow these steps:
  1. Open your LabVIEW project.
  2. In LabVIEW's Project Explorer, right-click on My Computer and open Properties.
  1. Go to the VI Server tab, enable TCP/IP and define a Port number (in this example 3364):
  1. Scroll down and add the IP address of the PC you want to execute DETT on to the Machine Access list. This can be the same PC as your application will be execute on, or a remote PC.
  1. Build your application.
  2. Completely close the LabVIEW Development Environment. If you leave LabVIEW open, it keeps the TCP/IP port you specified for your project in step 3 reserved, not allowing your compiled application to use it.
  3. Launch your application.
Once you have completed these required steps, test the connection. Open Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit, and connect to your compiled application by following the steps below:
1. Enter the IP address of the machine that the executable is running on in the Machine field
2. Enter the port number you specified earlier in the Port field
3. Click the Refresh icon
4. After selecting the executable's name from the Application Instance drop-down menu
 
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Additional Considerations

  • In the steps above, changing the VI server settings was achieved by right clicking My Computer. A similar setting for applications executed inside the LabVIEW Development Environment can be changed in menu Tools » Options » VI Server. DETT needs to use the port set in the above described steps in order to connect to the executable.
  • The VI Server settings are stored in the configuration file that gets created along with the executable. Make sure you add the corresponding settings if you are using a custom configuration file included in the Advanced category of your application build specifications.