feat: Add sub-palette file for Client Generator wrapper VI and Update Generator build spec

[varshini-senthil]

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What does this Pull Request accomplish?

• Adds the new sub-palette file Client Generator.mnu to the NI Measurement V2 Client Generator Runtime.lvlib library. This sub-palette file will hold the Generate Client.vi wrapper VI
• Updates the existing parent palette file Measurement Plug-In SDK.mnu to create a place holder for the new sub-palette file.
• Updates the NI Measurement V2 Client Generator Runtime.lvlib library to set the Client Generator.mnu file as the default palette file for the library.
• Adds custom post install and pre uninstall action VIs required for the Measurement Plug-In SDK Generator build spec. These action VIs are essential for the deployment of the Client Generator.mnu sub-palette menu file in the expected location.
• Updates the Measurement Plug-In SDK Generator.vipb to align with latest changes made to the source code.

Why should this Pull Request be merged?

• To add the new sub-palette menu file and to update the existing parent palette file Measurement Plug-In SDK.mnu file.
• To update the Measurement Plug-In SDK Generator.vipb to align with latest changes made to the source code and to add the custom action VIs required for the Generator package build.

What testing has been done?

Built the Service and Generator package with the changes and tested the packages to ensure the palette files are deployed and work as expected.

[Prem-MysteryPro]

@varshini-senthil
I hope we are planning to raise another PR to enable the separate compiled code from source option for the existing build or install action VI's.

[varshini-senthil]

@varshini-senthil I hope we are planning to raise another PR to enable the separate compiled code from source option for the existing build or install action VI's.

Yes @Prem-MysteryPro, I have raised the changes as a separate PR.

[Prem-MysteryPro]

In the testing I hope we covered the scenario of installing the service package alone and made sure that plugins are working, and service-related palette are loading appropriately. Similarly, what will happen if I install older version of service package already and install latest version of generator package.

[varshini-senthil]

In the testing I hope we covered the scenario of installing the service package alone and made sure that plugins are working, and service-related palette are loading appropriately. Similarly, what will happen if I install older version of service package already and install latest version of generator package.

Yes, I tried with certain combinations of installation of the Service and Generator packages to see how the palette files will be affected. In the cases you have mentioned where we will install:

1. Only the service package - The Measurement Plug-In SDK palette will be visible along with its sub-palettes and the Service-related APIs as it is now (i.e., will be unaffected).
   Note: The place holder created in the Measurement Plug-In SDK palette for the Client Generator sub-palette will not be visible from the Block diagram as the question mark for the missing palette will be hidden by the readonly.txt file. But, the question mark will become visible in the palette editing mode.

2. Older version of Service and latest version of Generator - In this case, the Measurement Plug-In SDK palette will not have the placeholder created for the Client Generator sub-palette file, as the palette file is not updated. So, the installation of latest Generator package will deploy the APIs and the Client Generator sub-palette file. But the sub-palette will not become available under LabVIEW's Functions palette.

[varshini-senthil]

Image of the updated Measurement Plug-In SDK palette with the new Client Generator sub-palette:

Palette documentation:

[Prem-MysteryPro]

In the testing I hope we covered the scenario of installing the service package alone and made sure that plugins are working, and service-related palette are loading appropriately. Similarly, what will happen if I install older version of service package already and install latest version of generator package.

Yes, I tried with certain combinations of installation of the Service and Generator packages to see how the palette files will be affected. In the cases you have mentioned where we will install:

1. Only the service package - The Measurement Plug-In SDK palette will be visible along with its sub-palettes and the Service-related APIs as it is now (i.e., will be unaffected).
   Note: The place holder created in the Measurement Plug-In SDK palette for the Client Generator sub-palette will not be visible from the Block diagram as the question mark for the missing palette will be hidden by the readonly.txt file. But, the question mark will become visible in the palette editing mode.
2. Older version of Service and latest version of Generator - In this case, the Measurement Plug-In SDK palette will not have the placeholder created for the Client Generator sub-palette file, as the palette file is not updated. So, the installation of latest Generator package will deploy the APIs and the Client Generator sub-palette file. But the sub-palette will not become available under LabVIEW's Functions palette.

Then I think we might need to update the service dependency version to be latest. Related comment.
Let us request suggestion from Jason.

[jasonmreding]

Waiting to see next round of changes before approving.

[varshini-senthil]

I have updated the approach for deploying the Generator package menu files to follow the method used by the Service package. In this approach, the menu files are single-sourced before the package build through a custom pre-build action and then deployed to the respective location during installation. As part of this change, I have made the following updates:

• Removed the Pre-Uninstall Custom Action.vi, as it is no longer required for the new approach.
• Updated the Post-Install Custom Action.vi to remove the logic for deploying copies of the Generator package palette files. Only the logic essential for relinking the palette files to the libraries has been retained.
• Updated the Pre-Build Custom Action.vi to identify the package based on the Product Name obtained from the variant input provided by VIPM. The corresponding package's palette files are then copied to the Source\Runtime\Palette Files\Measurement\_Measurement Plug-In SDK folder to single-source the files.
• Updated the Generator build specification to deploy the palette files copied to the Source\Runtime\Palette Files\Measurement\_Measurement Plug-In SDK folder to the <LabVIEW>\menus\Categories\Measurement\_Measurement Plug-In SDK folder.

Note: This change in approach is to avoid the programmatic creation of the _Measurement Plug-In SDK folder and the copying of the palette files as post-install actions. This was necessary because, in some cases, the <LabVIEW>\menus\Categories\Measurement\_Measurement Plug-In SDK folder, created programmatically by the Generator package during installation, was retained on disk even after uninstalling both the Generator and Service packages.