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There is a known issue using VIPM 3.0 that prevents VIPM from managing VI Packages installed in LabVIEW 2010 beta. We’ve identified the cause and will have a new version of VIPM (3.0.1) out soon that fixes the issue. If you need this fix immediately and/or would like to help test the release candidate, please contact us.
Bug photo courtesy of spakattacks.
In my last article, I talked about one of the major new features in VIPM 3.0: the ability to manage your own VI Package Repository. Repository management is critical to JKI because we have one of the largest reusable LabVIEW code libraries in the world (hundreds of packages, thousands of VIs), and it’s all managed using VIPM. That’s what we mean when we talk about eating our own dogfood.
Having the world’s largest VI Package repository means that we can identify scaling problems before they start to affect our customers. That’s why we identified some key bottlenecks when using VIPM to manage large repositories, and fixed them in VIPM 3.0. The result is that VIPM 3.0 is faster than VIPM 2.0, especially when dealing with large numbers of packages. Here are a few of the benefits you’ll see as a VIPM user:
Faster initial setup time for new VIPM users
In VIPM 2.0, you might have noticed that it could take several minutes for VIPM to download information from the VI Package Network about all the packages available. Now, in VIPM 3.0, we’ve implemented lazy downloading of package information (see the lazy acquisition design pattern [PDF] for more info), which means that VIPM downloads only the information it needs, right when it needs it.
Faster “Check Network for Package Updates”
Another effect of the lazy downloading of packages (described above) is a faster check for package updates.
Faster Installation and use of VI Packages and VI Package Configurations
We’ve optimized the zipping and unzipping of VI Packages and VI Package Configurations. We found some areas where we were using high-level OpenG Zip Tools functions, but there were more optimal ways to use some of the lower-level functions. This means that saving and loading of VI Packages & VI Package Configurations is now a lot faster. You’ll notice a big difference especially when working with large VIPC files.
Faster Package Search and Column Sorting
We noticed that when there were a lot of packages in VIPM’s package list, the search and column sorting got a little slow. So, we took a close look and found some ways to optimize this. This wasn’t rocket science; VIPM mostly just caches certain data now, rather than recalculating it every time the search/sort operation is performed. The result is that searching your package list for the package you want will be more responsive with larger numbers of packages in your library.
We hope you find VIPM 3.0’s performance to be better than ever. If you haven’t downloaded it already, what are you waiting for? Get it now!
And, stay tuned for more articles about “What’s new in VIPM 3.0?“
Tags: What's new in VIPM 3.0?
JKI has just released VIPM 3.0, and there are some great new features that I’d like to share with you. So, I’m going to be blogging about them in a series called “What’s new in VIPM 3.0?” (of course, you can check out the release notes for a quick overview).
One of the most important new features in VIPM 3.0 is the ability to create and manage your own VI Package Repository using VIPM Enterprise. Now you can find, download, and install VI Packages of your team’s reusable code from a VI Package Repository located on your corporate network or the Internet. Your developers will be able to install and use your VI Packages just as easily as they install and use packages from OpenG or JKI Software!
How Does It Work?
Sharing VI Packages with VIPM Enterprise is easy. VIPM provides a Repository Manager window that lets you create a VI Package Repository on any standard file or web server. Using the Repository Manager window, you can see what’s in your repository, add or remove packages from the repository, and manage users’ access to the repository. To publish a package, just drag & drop a package file from Windows Explorer into the Repository Manager window.
Once the VI Package has been published to your VI Package Repository, VIPM users on your team will get a message from VIPM, telling them that the new package is available for download and installation into LabVIEW.
VIPM is so “Web 2.0″
As an added bonus, VIPM allows you to publish an RSS feed of your package releases, so your team can also receive notifications of package releases in any RSS reader (Outlook, Google Reader, Thunderbird, etc.). Now go tweet your coworkers, telling them that your LabVIEW code reuse system is Web 2.0 compatible! 
But that’s not all! VIPM 3.0 includes other cool features, like:
I’ll be going over these features (and other VIPM 3.0 features) in future articles, so stay tuned.
If you haven’t downloaded VIPM 3.0 already, what are you waiting for? Get it now!
Tags: What's new in VIPM 3.0?
JKI is very excited to announce the availability of VI Package Manager 3.0 with Enterprise Package Sharing. This release allows you to take share your reusable VIs over the network with your team, via a centralized VI Package Repository.
VI Package Manager™ allows you to get your reusable LabVIEW VIs into the palettes, organized the way you want, in just minutes. It has powerful, easy-to-use features that make sure you’re always in control of your reusable VIs, without the worry of missing subVIs in your LabVIEW projects. And, it allows you to share your reusable VIs with your entire team, over the network.
Want to hear what others are saying about VI Package Manager? See our Customer Quotes.
VIPM Community
VIPM Professional - In addition to all the features available in VIPM Community, VIPM Professional offers the following additional features:
VIPM Enterprise – In addition to all the features available in VIPM Professional, VIPM Enterprise offers the following additional features:
You can learn more about VIPM 3.0, as well as download it on the Web at: jkisoft.com/vipm
We’re very proud of this release and hope you find that it’s full of great new features that help you in your LabVIEW projects. Thank you for all your feedback and support.
We’ve created a new video (below) for the VIPM product homepage to help explain the features and concepts behind VIPM, including the Professional and Enterprise (coming soon) editions of the product. We’re really happy with how it came out and hope you like it, too.
It goes without saying that VI Package Manager is JKI’s tool of choice for managing our reusable code and library dependencies in LabVIEW. But even though VIPM makes it easy to build your own packages, it’s still kind of hard to share those packages among your team members.
That’s why the next release, which we’re calling “VIPM Enterprise Edition“, is going to focus on features that will enable a team of LabVIEW developers to share packages easily.
Here’s a sneak peak at the VI Package Repository Manager…
Note: Please, keep in mind that this is under active development and might change significantly before release.
A new toolbar button opens the VI Package Repository Manager window
Managing the repository in the new VI Package Repository Manager window
VIPM Enterprise Edition will enable you to:
In the coming weeks, we’ll be doing a series of articles about VIPM Enterprise Edition. We’ll start by taking a brief look at the big pieces of VIPM Enterprise Edition.
VIPM Enterprise System Components
VIPM Enterprise Edition will consist of three main parts:
1. VI Package Repository – a collection of VI Packages (and other related information) that will be accessible over a corporate network or the Internet
2. VIPM Clients – VIPM (Community, Professional, or Enterprise) installations that will access the VI Package Repository (e.g. over the network), in order to download VI Packages
3. VI Package Repository Manager – a special window in VI Package Manager Enterprise Edition that allows you to create/manage your VI Package Repository and the packages it contains
More Articles on the Way…
We’re working hard on VIPM Enterprise Edition, and will have more to say as time goes on. Soon, we’ll be posting articles about other VIPM Enterprise concepts, such as:
It is now possible to upload VI Packages (and other VIPM file types) to the NI forums.
VI Packages are a great way to share your reusable VIs with other LabVIEW developers, allowing you to get your reusable LabVIEW VIs into the palettes, organized the way you want, in just minutes.
NI has helped make sharing reusable VIs even easier by allowing packages to be attached to forum posts – Thanks, NI!
One LabVIEW feature that (if it existed) would make a big difference for VIPM users is the ability to refresh the menus (e.g., the File, Tools, and Help menus) programmatically after installing packages that add menu-launch VIs. Maybe we could do this if LabVIEW added a new VI server method called Application:Refresh Menus.
Note: this would be similar to how we can refresh the palette menus programmatically by invoking the Application:Refresh Palettes method (shown below).
I bring this up, because one feature that I’d love to see added to VIPM (some day) is an easier way to build menu-launch tools into VI Packages, and I’m sure more people would be asking us why their add-on doesn’t show up in LabVIEW after it’s installed.
Hopefully, we can help NI get this feature onto the LabVIEW roadmap by convincing them that it’s worthwhile.
Tags: add-on, feature request, LabVIEW
