Slides from JKI's NIWeek 2012 technical session, "Fire and Forget: Bulletproof Builds Using Continuous Integration With LabVIEW," presented by Omar Mussa. With continuous integration (CI), you never have to manually build code. A build server automatically builds the application when new code changes are checked in and sends reports when problems are encountered. Learn how JKI created an automated CI system for LabVIEW code using free, off-the- shelf tools.

1. PUSHING THE LIMITS OF LABVIEW
Fire and Forget:
Bulletproof Builds Using Continuous
Integration With LabVIEW http://xkcd.com/974/
Omar Mussa
JKI Senior Engineer & Professional Services Manager

2. Continuous Integration with LabVIEW
What is Continuous Integration?
What is Jenkins?
Build Automation Process
Considerations for LabVIEW Build Automation
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LIMITS OF LABVIEW

3. Continuous Integration with LabVIEW
What is Continuous Integration?
What is Jenkins?
Build Automation Process
Considerations for LabVIEW Build Automation
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LIMITS OF LABVIEW

4. Continuous Integration In Action
Let’s start with a demo!
FIRE!
Image via: pasukaru76 with Creative Commons Image via: Esparta Palma with Creative Commons
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5. What is Continuous Integration?
End to end automation of your build and release
process...
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6. Continuous Integration with LabVIEW
What is Continuous Integration?
What is Jenkins?
Build Automation Process
Considerations for LabVIEW Build Automation
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LIMITS OF LABVIEW

7. About Jenkins
Open Source (Est. ~2007)
Many users
Many plugins
Some learning curve but overall easy to use
Has GUI
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8. What Problems Does Jenkins Solve?
 Build Triggering (Web Hooks or SCC Polling)
 Build Execution Order (Build Pipelines, etc)
 Build History
 Unit Test History
 Build Failure Notification
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9. Poking around in Jenkins
Let’s take a look around ...
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10. Continuous Integration with LabVIEW
What is Continuous Integration?
What is Jenkins?
Build Automation Process
Considerations for LabVIEW Build Automation
Image via: http://xkcd.com/303/
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11. Build Planning
Q. When do we start making builds of our project?
A. As early and often as possible.
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12. LabVIEW Build Types
Lots of deliverables can be built using LabVIEW
EXE Installer DLL
Package PPL Source Zip
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13. LabVIEW Build Process
Typical LabVIEW Build and Release Process
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14. LabVIEW Build Process using CI
Typical CI Server Automated Build Process
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15. Direct Business Value Benefits
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16. Voila!
Our demo build server revisited ...
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17. Basic Build Automation Development
Image via: http://xkcd.com/303/
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18. Continuous Integration with LabVIEW
What is Continuous Integration?
What is Jenkins?
Build Automation Process
Considerations for LabVIEW Build Automation
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LIMITS OF LABVIEW

19. LabVIEW from the Command Line
Easiest way to call LabVIEW Build VIs is via
command line!
 Use Batch File from CI Software
 Requires some design considerations
 Forcing batch file to wait for build to complete
 Error handling
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20. LabVIEW from the Command Line
Calling LabVIEW.exe from the command line...
 LabVIEW can only receive one set of command line
parameters per call
 LabVIEW must be closed before new build is started
 [ProgramFiles]LabVIEW.exe “[path to VI]” -- [user
arguments]
 Build VI must be set to “Run When Opened”
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21. LabVIEW from the Command Line
Use Application Property node to read command line
arguments
 LabVIEW is ALWAYS the 0th element
Best Practice
 Pass the build number to your build VI
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22. When Builds Break ...
Demo of package build server error detection
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23. Build Design Considerations
Separate project build steps for pipelining
Separate project build steps for distributing builds
Avoid SCC commits within build workspaces during
build process
 Only want to trigger builds from developer commits, not
from build process itself
 Generally means that build number is passed to build
process (via Jenkins)
Avoid development on build server itself
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24. Build Time Considerations
CI Server Impact on Short Build Times
 Fast feedback to developer isolates debugging
 Platform for unit test execution
CI Server Impact on Long Build Times
 Builds are still run ~daily
 Not ‘stuck’ at end of project with broken build
 Frees up a lot of developer time that would otherwise be
wasted waiting for builds to execute.
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25. JKI’s Continuous Build ToolChain
JKI VI Tester
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26. Questions
Questions?
Thank you for participating!
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27. Need Help?
Let JKI build your CI system.
Automated Build VIs
Source Code Control Integration
Unit Test Design
Cloud-hosted Build Servers
Jenkins Setup, Integration, and Maintenance
Reliable, Repeatable, Secure.
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28. Contact Us
jki.net /contact
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