National Instruments 322179A-01 - Manuals

Contents LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum viii © National Instruments Corporation Tables Table 1-1. Installation Requirements .................................................................... 1-2 Table 1-2. Common LabVIEW Launch Errors on UNIX ..................................... 1-13 Table 2-1. HiQ and MAT...

© National Instruments Corporation 1-1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information This chapter describes the system requirements for the LabVIEW software and contains installation instructions and updated documentation information. Read the Required System C...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-2 © National Instruments Corporation Table 1-1. Installation Requirements Platform Media and System Requirements Important Notes All Windows Versions Distributed on CD-ROM. A separate CD contains the compl...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-4 © National Instruments Corporation Operating System Patches For your LabVIEW package to run effectively, be sure to install the following patches. Concurrent PowerMAX LabVIEW 5.1 requires version 4.2 or ...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information © National Instruments Corporation 1-5 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Distribution Changes in LabVIEW 5.1 This section explains changes in platform support and installation media with this and subsequent versions of LabVIEW. LabVIEW 5.1 P...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-6 © National Instruments Corporation Installing LabVIEW If you are upgrading from an earlier version of LabVIEW, read the Upgrading to LabVIEW 5.1 section later in this chapter before installing LabVIEW. (...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information © National Instruments Corporation 1-7 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Note The installer gives you the option of performing a full installation or a minimal installation. If you do not have sufficient disk space (approximately 85 MB), cho...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-8 © National Instruments Corporation 3. If your CD was mounted automatically, type the following command: pkgadd -d /cdrom/cdrom0/solaris2 4. If you used the mount command in step 2, type the following com...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information © National Instruments Corporation 1-9 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 3. To change the current directory to the mounted CD-ROM, type the following command: cd /mnt/cdrom. 4. To run the installation script, type the following command: ./IN...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-10 © National Instruments Corporation For More Information about LabVIEW After you have installed LabVIEW completely, it is ready to run. The LabVIEW User Manual and the LabVIEW Online Reference, which you...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information © National Instruments Corporation 1-11 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum You can find further information about the NI-DAQ driver in the NI-DAQ Read Me File. To view this file, click the Start button and select Programs»LabVIEW»NI-DAQ Read ...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-12 © National Instruments Corporation Installing HiQ for Windows The Windows CD includes HiQ, a mathematics application from National Instruments. If you install HiQ from the LabVIEW installation CD, a reg...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information © National Instruments Corporation 1-13 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Low-Level Register I/O for Windows 95/98 LabVIEW is very similar on all Windows operating systems. Unless your application communicates with hardware that is not suppo...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-14 © National Instruments Corporation Configuring LabVIEW Windows on UNIX This section describes procedures for configuring LabVIEW windows on UNIX operating systems. Configuring LabVIEW with the Tab Windo...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information © National Instruments Corporation 1-15 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum (Motif) To change the behavior of mwm , use the xrdb command to set two mwm settings: mwm.clientAutoPlace: False mwm.positionIsFrame: False (CDE) To change the behavio...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-16 © National Instruments Corporation 3. At the ok prompt, type: module-info You then see information similar to the following lines: CPU FMI,MB86904 Rev. 2.5 : 70.0 MHz SBus (Divide By 3) : 23.3 MHz 4. Ty...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information © National Instruments Corporation 1-17 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum previous versions. For more information about the new ActiveX functionality, refer to the Improvements to ActiveX Automation section in Chapter 2, New Features in LabV...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 1-18 © National Instruments Corporation Converting VIs Upgrading LabVIEW is an automated process. When you open a VI created in a previous version, LabVIEW automatically converts and compiles the VI. Convers...

Chapter 1 Required Configuration, Installation, and Upgrade Information © National Instruments Corporation 1-19 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum You must upgrade the following add-ons for compatibility with LabVIEW 5.1: • LabVIEW Application Builder—You must upgrade to LabVIEW Application Builder 5.1. This upgr...

© National Instruments Corporation 2-1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 This chapter describes the features added and the significant changes made between versions 5.0 and 5.1. To help you learn more about LabVIEW, version 5.1 offers extensive online documentation, which you can ac...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-2 © National Instruments Corporation • Once an object scales itself automatically, it might not scale back to its exact original size, when you size the window back to its original position. However, you can use the Undo command to restore...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-3 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Setting All Objects on a Front Panel to Scale You can designate an entire front panel so that all of its objects scale automatically to match changes to the front panel window. 1. From the front panel o...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-4 © National Instruments Corporation Saving for a Previous Version With LabVIEW 5.1, you can save your VIs for the previous version of LabVIEW (LabVIEW 5.0). This makes upgrading LabVIEW very convenient, and helps you to maintain your VIs ...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-5 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum When you choose File»Recently Opened Files, a submenu appears that contains the list of recently opened files. Select the file name to open it. The files are listed in chronological order, with the most...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-6 © National Instruments Corporation To find all instances of an object, right-click the object for which you want to find references: • If you are searching for a reference to a type definition, select Find»All Instances. (For more inform...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-7 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum New VIs, Functions, and Controls This section describes the new functionality in LabVIEW 5.1 for advanced mathematics, picture control, report generation, and image management. Changes to Controls and I...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-9 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum platform. The Dialog Recessed Frame control behaves like other decoration objects found in the Decorations palette. You can use it as a grouping border to put around other dialog controls. 3D Graph Cont...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-11 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum • History»Prompt for Comments at Save • History»Record Application Comments • History»Use Defaults Ring Enhancements All ring and enum constants include a down arrow, which distinguishes them from nume...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-12 © National Instruments Corporation IVI Instrument Drivers and ActiveX Some parameters for ActiveX and IVI take a discrete list of valid values. Previously, when building ActiveX and IVI applications, you used numeric values to set param...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-13 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum To access the ring constant when building an ActiveX or IVI application, right-click the parameter that accepts data values and select Create Constant. To see the corresponding numeric data value, righ...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-14 © National Instruments Corporation 3. Wire the Automation refnum from the container terminal or an Automation function to the Create ActiveX Event Queue VI. 4. Place the Wait On ActiveX Event VI on the block diagram. 5. Wire the event q...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-15 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum HiQ and MATLAB Functionality for Windows HiQ and MATLAB are software packages that help you organize and visualize real-world math, science, and engineering problems. You can use HiQ and MATLAB to expr...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-16 © National Instruments Corporation Creating a HiQ Script Complete the following instructions to create and run a VI that uses a HiQ script. 1. From the block diagram, choose Functions»Mathematics»Formula»HiQ-Script. Place the node on th...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-18 © National Instruments Corporation Creating a MATLAB Script Complete the following instructions to create and run a VI that uses a MATLAB script. 1. From the block diagram, choose Functions»Mathematics»Formula»MATLAB Script. Place the n...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-19 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 7. Run the VI. LabVIEW launches MATLAB and a new MATLAB window appears, labeled Figure No. 1, that displays the matrix. The values that make up this matrix are displayed in the a indicator of your fron...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-20 © National Instruments Corporation Scrolling through a HiQ or MATLAB Script Just as with a regular formula node, you can display a scrollbar within your script node by right-clicking the node and selecting Show»Scrollbar. A scrollbar ap...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-21 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Debugging a HiQ or MATLAB Script Use the following programming techniques to make debugging your script easier: • Write your script and run it within the native engine (HiQ or MATLAB) for testing and d...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-22 © National Instruments Corporation Error Codes The following table explains error messages you might receive at runtime when working with a script node. Integration of Mathematics and Signal Processing VIs LabVIEW 5.1 includes more VIs ...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-23 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum For function and reference information about the Mathematics VIs and functions, refer to the Mathematics VIs topic in the LabVIEW Online Reference. Mathematics Palette Table 2-3 lists the subpalettes y...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-24 © National Instruments Corporation Signal Processing Palette For function and reference information about the Signal Processing VIs, refer to the Signal Processing VIs topic in the LabVIEW Online Reference. Table 2-4 lists the subpalett...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-25 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Note The Picture Control VIs are available on all platforms and versions with the exception of the Windows base version. You can find examples of the Picture Control VIs in the Examples\Picture directo...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-26 © National Instruments Corporation To create reports using the Report Generation VIs, go to the Functions»Report Generation palette. You can use the Report Generation VIs to do the following: • Set up a report’s headers and footers (whi...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-27 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum See the Easy Text Report VI description in the Report Generation VI Descriptions section later in this chapter for information on this VI’s parameters. Tip See the block diagram of the Easy Text Report...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-28 © National Instruments Corporation Report Generation VI Descriptions This section describes the Report Generation VIs, including descriptions and data types of each parameter. From the block diagram, you can reach the new Report Generat...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-29 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum The Report Generation palette has two subpalettes: • Functions»Report Generation»Report Layout • Functions»Report Generation»Advanced Reports You can find examples of the Report Generation VIs in the E...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-30 © National Instruments Corporation Font Settings indicates what font settings currently are used in a report. Charset indicates the character set used in the report (such as the set for a specific language). Weight indicates how dark bo...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-32 © National Instruments Corporation orientation specifies how the report appears when it is printed. You can choose from portrait, which prints the report widthwise, or landscape, which prints the report lengthwise. Printer Name specifie...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-33 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Text Options specifies how the text appears in the report. Italic determines whether subsequent text appears in italics in the report. Strike Through determines whether subsequent text appears with str...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-34 © National Instruments Corporation You might find using tokens with this VI helpful, particularly in the Headers and Footers parameters. For example you might want to give the report a time stamp. See the Tokens topic, earlier in this c...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-35 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Append Numeric Table to Report Takes a 2D array of numbers and appends it to a report as a table with the given column widths. Append Text Table to Report Takes a 2D array of strings and appends it to ...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-36 © National Instruments Corporation Dispose Report Closes the report and releases its interface, which saves memory. No further operations are permitted on the report. However, you can create a new report. You can use this VI only as the...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-37 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum New Report Page Adds a new page in the report to which you can append text or append another file. Print Report Prints the report to a designated printer or to the default printer set up on your comput...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-38 © National Instruments Corporation Set Report Header Text Sets the text for the VI header. You might find that using tokens with this VI is helpful, particularly in the Headers and Footers parameters. For example, you might want to give...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-39 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Set Report Tab Width Sets the tab width in the report. To place a tab in your text, insert the token <tab> in the text string. Alternatively, you can use the Concatenate String function and inser...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-40 © National Instruments Corporation If you are scanning modules, you can scan an arbitrary number of channels for each module using channel list elements that are components of the SCXI channel syntax. Previously, however, the channels o...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-41 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum three VIs could be found on the VISA Serial palette but are now on the Interface Specific palette: • VISA Set Serial Buffer Size • VISA Flush Serial Buffer • VISA Serial Break In addition to the above ...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-42 © National Instruments Corporation Building an Application Complete the following instructions to build an application in LabVIEW. 1. Select Project»Build Application…. The Build Application dialog box appears. The Build Application dia...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-43 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum c. If you want to add support files, click Add Support File…. When you use this option, data files copy over to your application directory automatically. In addition to VI files (VIs, controls, menus, ...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-44 © National Instruments Corporation ActiveX server. When you build an application myapp.exe , an ActiveX type library myapp.tlb is also created along with the executable. The type library defines a createable class, Application, and a di...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-46 © National Instruments Corporation file or a registry file. Install the file as part of your installation and then run it afterwards to make the necessary modifications. The file that you run must be one of the files that you install. 4...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-47 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Enhancements to Networking This section describes the networking enhancements in LabVIEW 5.1. DataSocket VIs for Windows DataSocket technology facilitates the exchange of data and information between a...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-48 © National Instruments Corporation The Web Server With the Web Server in LabVIEW, you can publish your VI front panels on the World Wide Web along with HTML documents. The built-in Web Server is intended for users that need to make the ...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-49 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum The Web Server Browser Access Dialog Box The Web Server Browser Access dialog box lists the remote computers on the Internet that are allowed to access the Web Server. Access the Web Server Browser Acc...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-50 © National Instruments Corporation Table 2-7 describes the available options. When a browser attempts to connect to the Web Server, the server examines the entries in the Browser Access List to determine whether the computer is permitte...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-51 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum For example, if you give a.test.site.com and b.test.site.com access, but do not extend access to all addresses ending in .test.site.com (where the * wildcard indicates all), the two computers still hav...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-52 © National Instruments Corporation The Web Server Visible VIs Dialog Box Because the Web Server publishes front panels to the Web, it is best to specify which VI front panels you allow to be published. Through the Web Server: Visible VI...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-54 © National Instruments Corporation how that entry is set up. If a subsequent entry also matches the VI, its access permission is used in place of the previous permission. If there is no VI in the list that matches the requested VI, acce...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-55 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum the string srvr_ and ends with the string .vi is exported. No VI that begins with the string local_ and ends with the string .vi is exported, even if it is located within the c:\labview\server director...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-56 © National Instruments Corporation Publishing Front Panel Images on the Web Complete the following steps to publish a VI front panel image on the World Wide Web. 1. Run the Web Server by checking Enable Web Server in the Preferences»Web...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-57 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Viewing an Animated Version of a Front Panel Complete the following steps to view an animated version of a front panel. 1. Open a Web browser. 2. Type in a URL that includes the address of the LabVIEW ...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-58 © National Instruments Corporation What URLs Can I Use with My Front Panel Images? With the Web Server, you can publish images of your VI front panels on the World Wide Web. You do not need to modify the VIs to display their front panel...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 © National Instruments Corporation 2-61 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum The syntax to use in the URL for static front panel images is as follows (parameters in brackets [ ] are optional): .monitor?VI_Name [&type=type] [&depth=depth] [&quality=quality] [&com...

Chapter 2 New Features in LabVIEW 5.1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum 2-62 © National Instruments Corporation Lifespan is the number of seconds the front panel animation lasts. Setting Lifespan=0 implies that the animation continues until the browser cancels it. If no lifespan is specified, the default lifespa...

© National Instruments Corporation A-1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum A Manual Clarifications and Additions This appendix clarifies and corrects information in the LabVIEW manual set. Because these manuals were not revised for the version 5.1 release of LabVIEW, this appendix contains information relevant onl...

Appendix A Manual Clarifications and Additions LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum A-2 © National Instruments Corporation Data Format —The compatibility VIs for the LabVIEW 4.x Automation functions require that you pass flattened data in the LabVIEW 4. x format. LabVIEW 5.x loads your LabVIEW 4. x VIs and automati...

Appendix A Manual Clarifications and Additions © National Instruments Corporation A-3 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum palettes are skipped. Unlike icon palettes, you cannot tack down text palettes or subpalettes. In All Text mode, LabVIEW displays text palettes in the Project menu and the Find dialog box. In S...

Appendix A Manual Clarifications and Additions © National Instruments Corporation A-5 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum contain characters that are invalid on some platforms. By scanning within LLBs, this tool helps you detect potential problems if you move your files out of VI libraries. Use the Show dates opti...

Appendix A Manual Clarifications and Additions © National Instruments Corporation A-7 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Support for Template VIs and Controls You can save commonly used VIs and controls as templates. To create a template VI, save a VI with a .vit extension (or .ctt extension for typedefs). When y...

Appendix A Manual Clarifications and Additions LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum A-8 © National Instruments Corporation • The LabVIEW priority system is reflected in the way the kernel runs LWPs. Higher-priority execution threads (LWPs) take over the system, not allowing lower-priority system tasks to execute. •...

Appendix A Manual Clarifications and Additions © National Instruments Corporation A-9 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum • In Chapter 6, Strings and File I/O, the block diagram in Activity 6-3, String Subsets and Number Extraction, shows the From Exponential/Fract/Eng function. The block diagram should show the S...

© National Instruments Corporation I-1 LabVIEW 5.1 Addendum Index Numbers 3D graph controls for Windows, 2-9 A accessing recently opened files, 2-4 to 2-5ActiveX Automation Open function improvements, 2-14 compatibility VIs for ActiveX functions, 1-16 enhancements for Windows, 2-13 to 2-14 ring enha...