NI-SCOPE Readme

Version 3.3

February, 2007

Thank you for using the NI-SCOPE instrument driver for Windows Vista/XP/2000. This file contains important information about NI-SCOPE, and is organized into the following sections:


New Features in NI-SCOPE 3.3

New Hardware Support

NI PCI-5152

New Software Support


New Features in NI-SCOPE 3.2


Supported Hardware

The following table shows which hardware products are supported under particular operating systems.

Hardware Product Windows XP/2000 Windows Vista
32-Bit
Windows Vista
64-Bit
NI PXI/PCI-5102
Yes
Yes
No
NI PCMCIA/USB/AT-5102*
Yes
No
No
NI PXI/PCI-5105
Yes
Yes
Yes
NI PXI/PCI-5112
Yes
Yes
No
NI PXI/PCI-5114
Yes
Yes
Yes
NI PXI/PCI-5122
Yes
Yes
Yes
NI PXI/PCI-5124
Yes
Yes
Yes
NI PXI/PCI-5142
Yes
Yes
Yes
NI PXI/PCI-5152
Yes
Yes
Yes
NI PXI-5620
Yes
Yes
No
NI PXI-5621
Yes
No
No
NI PCI-5911
Yes
No
No
NI PXI/PCI-5922
Yes
Yes
Yes
*NI PCMCIA/USB/AT are Legacy products.

Note: MXI-4 is supported on Windows Vista/XP/2000. MXI-3 is supported only on Windows XP/2000.

System Requirements

This section lists the minimum system and the recommended system for using NI-SCOPE.

Minimum System

Recommended System


Installed File Names and Locations

The following table shows the file names and default installation locations for each operating system.

Files Installation Location on Windows XP/2000
and Windows Vista 32-Bit
Installation Location on
Windows Vista 64-Bit
NI-SCOPE Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niScope Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niScope
LabVIEW support Program Files\National Instruments\<LabVIEW>\instr.lib\niScope Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\<LabVIEW>\instr.lib\niScope
LabVIEW Examples Program Files\National Instruments\<LabVIEW>\examples\instr\niScope Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\<LabVIEW>\examples\instr\niScope
CVI support Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niScope Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niScope
CVI Examples Program Files\National Instruments\<CVI>\samples\niScope Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\<CVI>\samples\niScope
C Examples Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niScope\Examples\c Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niScope\Examples\c
VB Examples Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niScope\Examples\VB Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niScope\Examples\VB
Scope Soft Front Panel 2.7 Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niScope Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niScope
NI LabVIEW Run-Time Engine 8.0 Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\8.0 Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\8.0
NI LabVIEW Run-Time Engine 7.1 Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\7.1 Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\7.1
NI-DAQmx 8.5 and
NI-DAQ Traditional 7.4.4
Program Files\National Instruments\NI-DAQ Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI-DAQ
IVI Compliance Package 3.0 Program Files\National Instruments\IVI Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\IVI
NI-VISA 4.1 Program Files\National Instruments\Shared Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Shared
Measurement & Automation Explorer 4.2 Program Files\National Instruments\MAX Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\MAX
NI Hierarchical Waveform Storage 1.4.4 Program Files\National Instruments\NI-HWS Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI-HWS
Documentation Files Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niScope\Documentation Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niScope\Documentation

Documentation

The following installed documents are accessible from Start»Programs»National Instruments»NI-SCOPE»Documentation:

Note: Printed copies of device specifications are shipped with each device.


Installing/Uninstalling/Modifying NI-SCOPE

Installing NI-SCOPE

This section provides information on installing NI-SCOPE and NI-DAQ and upgrading from previous versions of NI-SCOPE.

NI-SCOPE installs NI-DAQ if it is not already installed, or if an earlier version of I-DAQ is installed. NI-DAQ support files will be installed if you have LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI in your system. However, the only component that NI-SCOPE needs from NI-DAQ is the device driver.

Upgrading from a Previous Version of NI-SCOPE

Upgrading from NI-SCOPE 1.0 and 1.1—NI-SCOPE 3.3 does not install over NI-SCOPE 1.0 or 1.1. You must uninstall these versions of NI-SCOPE before installing NI-SCOPE 3.3.

Upgrading from NI-SCOPE 1.5 and later—NI-SCOPE 3.3 automatically uninstalls any previous version that is greater or equal to 1.5. If you have modified any old examples, these will be overwritten by the new versions.

Uninstalling/Modifying NI-SCOPE

For Windows XP/2000, complete the following steps:

  1. Launch the Control Panel by selecting Start»Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
  3. Select National Instruments Software.
  4. Click Change/Remove.
  5. Select NI-SCOPE 3.3 from the dialog box that appears.
  6. Click Remove to uninstall the product; click Modify to change the components that are installed.

For Windows Vista, complete the following steps:

  1. Launch the Control Panel by selecting Start»Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Programs and Features.
  3. Select National Instruments Software.
  4. Click the Uninstall/Change button.
  5. Select NI-SCOPE 3.3 from the dialog box that appears.
  6. Click Remove to uninstall the product; click Modify to change the components that are installed.

Do not attempt to uninstall by deleting files, which may be shared with other programs. The following additional software packages may have been installed as part of the NI-SCOPE installation. Exercise care when removing these packages because they may be used by other NI products:


Programming in NI-SCOPE

NI-SCOPE provides an intuitive, full-featured interface for programming your hardware. NI-SCOPE is IVI-Scope compliant. For more information, refer to C:\Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niScope\Documentation\niScopeIVIComplianceDocument.txt.

Software Examples

NI-SCOPE ships with several examples for LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, Measurement Studio, MSVC, Visual C++, and Microsoft Visual Basic that will help you develop your software. These examples illustrate how to perform the most common operations with your hardware. To find the examples, go to Start»Programs»National Instruments»NI-SCOPE»Examples.

Scope Soft Front Panel

The Scope Soft Front Panel (SFP) is a software oscilloscope application for NI high-speed digitizers. It has the following features:

The Scope SFP demonstrates some of the capabilities of NI high-speed digitizers and enables you to start using your new digitizer immediately without the need to know a programming language. The Scope SFP is installed by default as a feature of the NI-SCOPE installation. To remove the Scope SFP use the Add/Remove Programs option.


Known Issues

Window Power Management

NI recommends that you disable Windows power management modes, such as sleep, standby, and hibernate, when using NI-SCOPE. These modes terminate any NI-SCOPE operation in progress. In Windows Vista or on a laptop computer, the default power management settings are likely to enable sleep mode.

Security Prompts

When you run setup.exe to install the software from the CD, you are prompted to choose whether you want to always trust software from National Instruments. If you do not select this option, your installation may be interrupted by one or more Microsoft Windows security dialog boxes. However, if you run setup from the command line, you will not receive this prompt, and the installer will automatically install NI's Software Publisher Certificate to your Windows Trusted Publisher Store. If you do not want to make this change to your Windows Trusted Publisher Store, do not choose this installation method.

LabVIEW Support for Traditional NI-DAQ 7.4.2

Starting with version 7.4.2, Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) will install support for the latest version of LabVIEW found on the system. If you require support for more than one version of LabVIEW, complete the following steps:

  1. Install Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) 7.4.2 (included in the NI-SCOPE installer).
  2. Restart the system.
  3. Copy the following folders from the latest version of LabVIEW to the folder of the older version of LabVIEW. [LVDIR] indicates the folder of the latest LabVIEW version.
    • [LVDIR]\vi.lib\daq
    • [LVDIR]\examples\daq
    • [LVDIR]\help\lvdaq.chm
    • [LVDIR]\menus\default\daq

You should now be able to use Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) with both versions of LabVIEW.

The Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) API is mass-compiled in LabVIEW 7.0. This will not affect the functionality of your VIs. However, LabVIEW will prompt you to save the Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) subVIs if your LabVIEW version is greater than 7.0. To avoid the prompts, mass-compile the folders referenced above. If you require Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) support for earlier versions of LabVIEW, you need an earlier version of Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy).

Scope Soft Front Panel Keyboard Shortcuts

Beginning with NI-SCOPE 3.1, the following shortcuts have changed in the Scope Soft Front Panel:

NI-SCOPE Express Step in NI Signal Express 1.0

The NI-SCOPE Express step that ships with NI-SCOPE was designed for use with NI SignalExpress 1.1 or later. The NI-SCOPE Express step is compatible with NI SignalExpress 1.0 with the exception that software start triggers are not supported.

TClk Connector Alignment in NI-SCOPE 2.7 and Later

If you are using NI-TClk to synchronize non-identical devices (for example, an NI PXI-5122 with an NI PXI-5124), you will notice a change in behavior in the skew associated with synchronization when you upgrade from NI-SCOPE 2.6.1 to a later version. The new behavior compensates for delay associated with the input path. This delay varies from device to device. Because the driver now handles this delay, synchronizing any SMC-based products should produce data that has a small constant skew over all sample rates.

NI 5102

Board revision 183612F-01 of the NI PCI-5102 and board revision 184603E-01 of the NI PXI-5102 must be used with NI-SCOPE 2.6.1 or later. Board revision 183442G-01 of the NI PCMCIA-5102 must be used with NI-SCOPE 2.8 or later. To verify the board revision number, remove the device from the computer or chassis and turn it to view the side. The revision number is labeled "ASSY" and is located near the serial number. If you have an earlier version NI-SCOPE installed, go to ni.com/idnet to download the latest version.

NI 5112

You can now read data as soon as it is acquired. However, on a single record acquisition, the fetch functions do not wait for the trigger holdoff to expire. If you configure a trigger holdoff on a single record acquisition, you must make sure the trigger holdoff period has expired before initiating another acquisition. Call niScope_AcquisitionStatus to find out when the entire acquisition, including trigger holdoff, has completed.

NI 5122

NI 5911

When you synchronize multiple NI 5911 digitizers in master-slave mode, the sample rate must be 100 MHz, 50 MHz, or 25 MHz/n, where n is any positive integer. The master-slave operation may also cause trigger jitter.

Call By Reference in LabVIEW

Call By Reference is a LabVIEW feature that allows the execution source for a VI to be dynamically determined at run time. The Call By Reference mechanism by design attempts to dynamically load and unload the code for a VI. This can cause problems with NI-SCOPE and other IVI-based drivers because state information can be lost when the driver DLL is unloaded. To avoid having the NI-SCOPE DLL unload after each Call By Reference VI call, statically place any NI-SCOPE VI, such as the niScope Initialize VI, on the block diagram inside a case structure wired to FALSE. This keeps the NI-SCOPE DLL loaded in between calls to the NI-SCOPE VIs without actually executing the code in the case structure.

Link Library

NI-SCOPE 2.1.4 and previous versions installed a duplicate version of the NI-SCOPE C link library called niscope_32.lib. This duplicate version has been obsoleted and now only niscope.lib is installed. Programs linking against the duplicate name need to be changed to link against niscope.lib.

Visual Basic

ViConstString, ViChar, and ViString are used as parameters for the NI-SCOPE functions. However, these types are invalid in Visual Basic. Visual Basic users should declare variables of type String.

IVI

The trigger type (NISCOPE_ATTR_TRIGGER_TYPE) for immediate triggering used to be returned as NISCOPE_VAL_EDGE (1). It is now returned as NISCOPE_VAL_IMMEDIATE_TRIGGER (6).


Copyright

© 1999–2007 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved.

Under the copyright laws, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.

Trademarks

National Instruments, NI, ni.com, and LabVIEW are trademarks of National Instruments Corporation. Refer to the Terms of Use section on ni.com/legal for more information about National Instruments trademarks.

Patents

For patents covering the National Instruments products, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your CD, or ni.com/patents.