Temporary Directories

When is data written to a temporary directory?

When Rxn Rover is used with the “Continue without Experiment” option, some files, like plugin data logs, are written in a unique directory generated in a temporary directory. This helps to prevent data loss if the temporary data logs must be referenced at a prior date.

Starting without an experiment file is a feature primarily added to aid in rapid testing and debugging during software development. Test runs during development are usually short, so the files are small and should not noticably affect system performance. However, new plugins should be tested on the scale of days to ensure robustness, which can cause the log files to become quite large. Therefore, it is recommended to create an Experiment for long test runs.

There are also valid use cases during routine usage of Rxn Rover as well, such as testing newly downloaded plugins and troubleshooting hardware. If the “Continue without Experiment” option is used frequently and for long periods of time, many large files may be created in the temporary directory, which you may want to delete periodically to free space on your system.

Where is the temporary directory?

The location of the temp directory used by LabVIEW varies by operating system. To find which temporary directory LabVIEW is using, or change this temporary directory, go to Tools > Options… > Paths and select “Temporary Directory” from the dropdown list. Common temp locations are listed below:

Operating System	Temporary Directory Location
Linux	/tmp
	/var/tmp
Mac OS	~/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems
Windows	%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Temp

Which directories are from Rxn Rover?

All Rxn Rover directories in the temporary directory take the form <tmpdir>/lvtemporary_<random_number>.RxnRover, where <tmpdir> is the temporary directory used by LabVIEW.

Recovering Temporary Rxn Rover Data

See tutorial.

Removing Temporary Rxn Rover Data

See tutorial.