Include Dynamically Loaded Files in a PCB Test Deployment

A test program can work on its developer’s computer and fail on a clean station because some dependencies were never packaged. Files selected by expressions, configuration values, or runtime paths are easy to miss. Audit what the program actually loads, not only what its build tool lists.

NI’s deployment guidance notes that dynamically or implicitly referenced files may not be recognized by the deployment utility. This makes a runtime dependency inventory an important complement to automatic packaging.

Trace runtime file selection

List code modules, configuration files, limit sets, instrument definitions, report templates, and supporting documentation used by the released sequence. Identify which paths are fixed and which depend on product, variant, station, or environment variables.

Exercise representative branches during validation. A nominal product can load successfully while another supported variant references a missing file. Include recovery and reporting paths, because a dependency used only after a failed test may remain untested during an all-pass demonstration.

Record dependency identity and purpose

Check for absolute paths into user folders or development workspaces. A station may accidentally find an older local copy and appear functional even though the deployment is incomplete. Log resolved paths where that helps verify the actual resource used. Include the account under which production runs, because its access permissions and working directory can differ from those used during development and installation. Validate those permissions before releasing the package.

Test the package on a clean environment

1. Install the defined runtime prerequisites.
2. Deploy the package without developer-only directories.
3. Run supported product and failure-path cases.
4. Review loaded file identities and missing-resource errors.
5. Archive the validated package and dependency manifest.

A clean environment need not mean an uncontrolled production experiment. Use an appropriate validation station or isolated setup representing the intended deployment. The point is to remove accidental assistance from the development machine’s accumulated files.

Do not fix each failure by copying another unidentified folder until the program starts. Add the discovered dependency to the controlled package and repeat the relevant validation. Otherwise the next station inherits the same undocumented installation process.

The successful release is reproducible: another station can be prepared from the package and documented prerequisites, with no hidden dependency on a developer account or a remembered manual copy operation.