LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard Readme

Version 2.1

Jan 2013

This file contains important information about the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard 2.1. The LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard converts VXIplug&play and IVI-C instrument drivers to LabVIEW VIs that work on all platforms for which the instrument driver is compiled.

Version History

System and Tool Requirements

Creating VIs with the Basic Configuration

Creating VIs with the Advanced Configuration

LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard Dialog Box

Known Issues


Version History

New features in version 2.1

New features in version 2.0

New features in version 1.3

New features in version 1.2

New features in version 1.1

System and Tool Requirements

You can run the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard installer on the following operating systems:

You must have at least one of the following software installed before you can install and use the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard.

Note  National Instruments is committed to maintaining compatibility with Microsoft Windows technology changes. However, NI has become aware of a number of issues of potential significance regarding Microsoft Windows 7. To learn how Windows 7 affects your use of NI products, visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code windows7.

The LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard creates LabVIEW VIs from instrument drivers that meet the following requirements.

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

Creating VIs with the Basic Configuration

If you are not familiar with LabVIEW instrument drivers, use the basic configuration in the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard. Complete the following steps to create VIs for a VXIplug&play or IVI-C instrument driver by specifying only the .fp file.

  1. Select Tools»Instrumentation»Import LabWindows/CVI Instrument Driver to display the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard dialog box.
  2. Select the Basic option and click the Next button.
  3. Click the Browse button, navigate to the .fp file of the instrument driver you want to convert, and click the OK button.

    Note
  4. Click the Next button.
  5. Review the summary of conversion tasks and click the Next button to convert the instrument driver to VIs.
  6. (Optional) Place a checkmark in the View the Report checkbox. The conversion report then appears in the default Web browser when you click the Done button.
  7. (Optional) Place a checkmark in the View VI Tree checkbox. The VI Tree VI that illustrates the functional structure of the instrument driver then opens when you click the Done button.
  8. Click the Done button to close the dialog box.

Creating VIs with the Advanced Configuration

If you want to specify advanced settings for the generated VIs, such as selecting the files and VIs to generate during the conversion process and editing documentation conversion tasks, use the advanced configuration in the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard. Complete the following steps to create VIs for a VXIplug&play or IVI-C instrument driver by specifying advanced options.

  1. Select Tools»Instrumentation»Import LabWindows/CVI Instrument Driver to display the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard dialog box.
  2. Select the Advanced option and click the Next button.
  3. Click the Browse button next to the Function Panel (.fp) File option, navigate to the .fp file of the instrument driver you want to convert, and click the OK button. You also can select the .h or .sub files.
  4. (Optional) Under Destination Directory, select the button next to the text box and click the Browse button to specify the directory where you want LabVIEW to save the generated VIs or LLB. By default, LabVIEW saves the generated VIs in the LabVIEW\instr.lib directory of the currently running version of LabVIEW.
  5. Click the Next button.
  6. Select which files you want the conversion process to generate for the instrument driver VIs and click the Next button.
  7. Verify the Driver Group, Driver Prefix, and Shared Library or DLL and edit if necessary.
  8. (Optional) Click the Edit Icon button to change the appearance of the icon for the generated VIs.
  9. Click the Next button.
  10. Select which VIs to generate and rename VIs and palettes. The number in the upper-right corner of the listbox indicates the number of VIs selected.
    1. Place or remove checkmarks in the checkboxes next to each VI name to specify whether to generate that VI.
    2. (Optional) Select a VI or folder and click the Edit Name button to edit the name of the VI or folder. The folder names represent names of palettes.
  11. Click the Next button.
  12. (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 control.
    1. Select the output control from the tree at 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 control. You also can select Use constant to specify a constant value for the size of the output control.
    3. If you selected Use constant, specify a constant integer for Constant Value.
    4. Repeat the steps above to adjust the size for more output controls.
  13. Click the Next button.
  14. If you placed a checkmark in the Generate Property Node help (.rc file) or Convert help text for VIs and controls checkbox when selecting which files to generate, review the help text conversion tasks.
    1. Click in a table cell to edit a conversion task.
    2. Click in a blank table cell to add a new conversion task.
    3. Click in the Change column and select Always, Never, or Prompt to always make the change in the help text, never make the change in the help text, or be prompted to accept or skip the change, respectively.
    4. The Show prompts checkbox contains a checkmark by default. Remove the checkmark if you do not want to be prompted to accept or skip each change to the help text that has a value of Prompt in the Change column.
  15. Click the Next button.
  16. If the Show prompts checkbox on the previous page of the dialog box contains a checkmark, click the Accept or Skip button to accept or skip each proposed change. Click the Accept All or Skip All button to accept or skip all remaining instances of the proposed change. You can edit the help text directly by clicking inside either text box.
  17. Review the summary of conversion tasks and click the Next button to convert the instrument driver to VIs.
  18. (Optional) Place a checkmark in the View the Report checkbox. The conversion report then appears in the default Web browser when you click the Done button.
  19. (Optional) Place a checkmark in the View VI Tree checkbox. The VI Tree VI that illustrates the functional structure of the instrument driver then opens when you click the Done button.
  20. Click the Done button to close the dialog box.

LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard Dialog Box

Select Tools»Instrumentation»Import LabWindows/CVI Instrument Driver to display this dialog box.

Use this dialog box to convert instrument drivers to LabVIEW VIs.

Note

This dialog box includes the following components:

Known Issues

Refer to the Knowledge Base at ni.com for the latest information about the LabVIEW Instrument Driver Import Wizard.


Important Information

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