LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard Help

Version 18.0

August 2018

This document contains important information about the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard, including system requirements, a getting started tutorial, and known issues.

Overview

System and Software Requirements

Launching the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard

Tutorial: Getting Started with the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard

Known Issues


Overview

The LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard is a tool to convert VXIplug&play and IVI-C instrument drivers into LabVIEW VIs.

System and Software Requirements

The LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard has the following system requirements:

The LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard has the following requirements for instrument drivers:

Note  To run the VIs LabVIEW creates for VXIplug&play instrument drivers, you must have NI-VISA installed. To run the VIs LabVIEW creates for IVI-C instrument drivers, you must have the IVI Compliance Package installed. Both NI-VISA and the IVI Compliance Package are available on the NI Device Drivers DVD that is included with your LabVIEW Platform media. If the instrument driver from which LabVIEW creates VIs requires other support files, ensure that those support files are installed on the computer on which you run the VIs.

Launching the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard

Complete the following steps to launch the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard.

  1. In LabVIEW, select Tools»Instrumentation»Import LabWindows/CVI Instrument Driver to display the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard dialog box.
  2. Select Basic or Advanced depending on how you want to convert the instrument drivers. In the Basic mode, you can specify only the function panel (.fp) file. In the Advanced mode, you can specify advanced configuration, including selecting the instrument driver files, selecting the files and VIs to generate, and editing documentation conversion tasks.
  3. Click Next.

Tutorial: Getting Started with the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard

This tutorial introduces you to the basics of converting instrument drivers into VIs in the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard. This tutorial consists of the following exercises:

Exercise 1: Creating VIs in the Basic Mode

Complete the following steps to create VIs in the Basic mode of the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard. In the Basic mode, you can specify only the .fp file.

  1. Launch the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard, select Basic, and click Next.
  2. In the Function Panel (.fp) File field, specify the .fp file of the instrument driver to convert. Click Next.
  3. Verify the following instrument driver configuration and click Next.
  4. Review the summary of conversion tasks. Click Next to start the conversion.
  5. (Optional) After the conversion completes, select View the Report and View VI Tree. When you click Done, the conversion report and the VI Tree VI open. The VI Tree VI illustrates the functional structure of the generated VIs.
  6. Click Done to close the dialog box.

Exercise 2: Creating VIs in the Advanced Mode

Complete the following steps to create VIs in the Advanced mode of the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard. In the Advanced mode, you can specify advanced configuration, including selecting the instrument driver files, selecting the files and VIs to generate, and editing documentation conversion tasks.

Part 1: Selecting Instrument Driver Files and Directory

In Part 1 of this exercise, you select the instrument driver files to convert and the directory to save the generated VIs.

  1. Launch the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard, select Advanced, and click Next.
  2. In the Function Panel (.fp) File field, specify the .fp file of the instrument driver to convert.
  3. Specify the .h file corresponding to the .fp file.
  4. When you convert IVI-C instrument drivers, specify the .sub file corresponding to the .fp file.
  5. In the Destination Directory section, specify the directory to save the generated VIs. By default, LabVIEW saves the VIs in the LabVIEW\instr.lib directory.
  6. Click Next to select files to generate.

Part 2: Selecting Files and VIs to Generate

In Part 1 of this exercise, you select the instrument driver files to convert and the directory to save the generated VIs. In Part 2 of this exercise, you select the files and VIs to generate.

  1. Configure one or more of the following options to select the files to generate.
  2. Click Next to review the instrument driver configuration.
  3. Verify the following instrument driver configuration.
  4. Click Next to select the VIs to generate.
  5. (Optional) Place a checkmark in the checkbox next to a VI name to select the VI. Select a VI or palette and click Edit Name to rename the VI or palette.
    Note  The number in the upper-right corner of the listbox indicates the number of selected VIs.
  6. Click Next.
  7. (Optional) If you selected a non-class-defined VI that contains an output control with the array data type, complete the following steps to adjust the size of the output array.
    1. Select the output array from the tree on the left.
    2. In the Size Parameter pull-down menu, select the parameter name whose value you want to use as the size of the output array. You also can select Use constant to specify a constant value.
    3. (Optional) If you selected Use constant, specify a constant integer for Constant Value.
    4. Click Next.

Part 3: Editing Documentation Conversion Tasks

In Part 2 of this exercise, you select the files and VIs to generate. If you select Generate Property Node help (.rc file) or Convert help text for VIs and controls in Part 2, you can complete the steps in Part 3 to edit documentation conversion tasks.

  1. Click in a table cell to edit or create a conversion task.
  2. Click in the Change column to specify when to make the change in the help text. The pull-down menu contains the following options:
  3. Place or remove the checkmark in the Show prompts checkbox to specify whether to prompt to accept or skip a change that has a value of Prompt in the Change column.
  4. (Optional) If you select Show prompts, click Next to review proposed changes and click Accept or Skip to handle proposed changes.
  5. Click Next to review the summary of conversion tasks.

Part 4: Generating VIs

In Part 3 of this exercise, you edit documentation conversion tasks. In this part of the exercise, you generate the VIs.

  1. Review the summary of conversion tasks.
  2. Click Next to generate the VIs.

Part 5: (Optional) Reviewing the Conversion Report and VI Tree VI

In Part 4 of this exercise, you generate the VIs. In this part of the exercise, you review the conversion report and VI Tree VI.

  1. Select View the Report and View VI Tree. When you click Done, the conversion report and the VI Tree VI open. The VI Tree VI illustrates the functional structure of the generated VIs.
  2. Click Done to close the dialog box.

Known Issues

The LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard has the following known issues:

You can access the software and documentation known issues online. Refer to the National Instruments website for the latest known issues in the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard.


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