4

QUICK REFERENCE LabWindows/CVI Using Function Panels

Use interactive function
™ ™
panels to generate library

LabWindows /CVI LabWindows/CVI meets the changing needs of test engineers with an
interactive development environment designed for virtual instrumentation.
calls, test the calls, and
insert them into the program.
A function panel is a
graphical representation of
a LabWindows/CVI function
National Instruments LabWindows/CVI is a proven test and measurement ANSI C With easy-to-use development tools, you can quickly create, configure, and its parameters.
development environment that increases the productivity of engineers and scientists.
and display measurements during program design, verification, and testing.
LabWindows/CVI streamlines application development with hardware configuration
assistants, comprehensive debugging tools, and interactive execution utilities you can LabWindows/CVI automates much of the manual coding and compiling.
use to run functions at design time. Use the built-in measurement libraries to rapidly
develop complex applications such as multithreaded programs and ActiveX
1 Designing User Interfaces 5 Editing Source Code
server/client programs. The flexibility of LabWindows/CVI optimizes data acquisition, Design graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in the intuitive User Interface Editor. Complete your program using the built-in source editor. Use the
analysis, and presentation in test and measurement applications. Select from controls designed specifically for instrumentation. source code completion options to view functions, variables,
prototypes, and function help within the Source window. You also
can access input selection dialog boxes for parameters and
declare parameter variables from within the Source window.

System Requirements
• Personal computer using a Pentium 1GHz or higher microprocessor

• Microsoft Windows Vista/XP or Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or later

• 1024 x 768 resolution (or higher) video adapter

• Minimum of 128 MB of RAM, 256 MB recommended

• 200 MB free hard disk space

• Microsoft-compatible mouse

Product Resources 2 Customizing Controls

Customize each GUI control with easy-to-use dialog boxes.
National Instruments provides extensive Documentation Resources 6 Debugging
product resources for new and experienced Use LabWindows/CVI debugging tools to catch common programming mistakes.
LabWindows/CVI users. • LabWindows/CVI Help—Use the The patented User Protection feature automatically checks for invalid program
LabWindows/CVI Help to access behavior. Set breakpoints and use tooltips to pause program execution and view
Online Resources comprehensive information about or modify variable values.
For complete technical information, developer LabWindows/CVI windows, functions,
exchange opportunities, and the latest news tools, and menus. To launch the
about LabWindows/CVI, visit ni.com/cvi: LabWindows/CVI Help from
LabWindows/CVI, select Help»Contents.
• Technical support
• Guide to Documentation—Use the Guide
• Online community to LabWindows/CVI Documentation topic
to find resources that can help you
• Example programs develop applications in LabWindows/CVI.
The Guide to LabWindows/CVI
• Application notes and white papers Documentation contains information
about context-sensitive help, directions
• Add-on products for searching installed PDFs, and links to
PDFs of the following documents:
• Training information
– LabWindows/CVI Release Notes
• Product tutorials – Getting Started with LabWindows/CVI
– LabWindows/CVI Instrument Driver
Example Programs Developers Guide
Use the National Instruments Example Finder – Application notes 7 Distributing Applications
to browse and search installed examples and
– White papers Create a distribution to package your LabWindows/CVI application and all of its
examples on NI Developer Zone. To launch the
dependencies so that you can distribute your application to another computer.
NI Example Finder from LabWindows/CVI,
To access the Guide to LabWindows/CVI
select Help»Find Examples. 3 Generating Code
Documentation, select Guide to
Documentation in the LabWindows/CVI Automatically generate an ANSI C
Help table of contents. program based on the GUI with
LabWindows/CVI CodeBuilder.
CodeBuilder creates code that
responds automatically to user
events such as mouse clicks,
key presses, and menu selections.

National Instruments, NI, ni.com, and LabVIEW are trademarks of National Instruments Corporation. The mark LabWindows is used under a license from
Microsoft Corporation. Refer to the Terms of Use section on ni.com/legal for more information about National Instruments trademarks. Other product and
company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. For patents covering National Instruments products, refer to
the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your CD, or ni.com/patents. For copyright notices, conditions, and
disclaimers regarding certain components used in USI (Xerces C++, ICU, HDF5, Citadel 5, b64 library, and Stingray), refer to the USICopyrights.chm.
© 2003–2007 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in Ireland.

373551E-01 Oct07
LabWindows/CVI Library Reference LabWindows/CVI
Use built-in instrumentation libraries to interface test applications to the
outside world. LabWindows/CVI includes a large set of run-time libraries for
Advanced Analysis Library
The Advanced Analysis Library contains functions that simulate
and analyze large sets of numerical data quickly and efficiently.

Signal Generation
Utility Library
The Utility Library contains functions that perform various
operations, including using the system timer, managing disk
files, launching another executable, and using multiple threads.

Timer/Wait
NI-DAQmx Library
The NI-DAQmx Library contains functions that communicate
with and control data acquisition devices.

Task Configuration/Control
ActiveX Library
The ActiveX Library contains functions that create and control
ActiveX servers. Use these functions in conjunction with
ActiveX Controller instrument drivers, which you can generate
using the ActiveX Controller Wizard. Also use the ActiveX
Library functions with ActiveX server code, which you can
generate using the Create ActiveX Server Wizard.
instrument control, data acquisition, analysis, and user interface creation. Array Operations Advanced
Date/Time
This chart illustrates the classes in each library. To find specific functions, 1D Operations Events Variant Related Functions
Keyboard
press <Ctrl-Shift-P> in the Source window. You also can use the Library Tree to 2D Operations Channel Creation/Configuration Passing Values as Variants
File Utilities
browse to and search for functions. Complex Operations Create Analog Input Channels
Directory Utilities Assigning Values to Variants

Complex Numbers Position Querying the Type of a Variant

Multithreading
1D Complex Operations Thread Pool Create TEDS Analog Input Channels Retrieving Values from Variants
User Interface Library
Signal Processing Call Scheduling Functions Position Array Functions
The User Interface Library contains functions that programmatically control the user interface.
Frequency Domain Analysis Advanced Functions Create Analog Output Channels C Array to SafeArray Conversion
Panels Timers
FFT Tables Callbacks Create Digital Input Channels SafeArray to C Array Conversion
Menu Structures Tables
Time Domain Analysis Thread Safe Queue Create Digital Output Channels Querying SafeArrays
Menu Bars Splitters
IIR Digital Filters General Functions Create Counter Input Channels BSTR Functions
Menus and Submenus Tabs
Cascade Filter Functions Reading/Writing Position Resource Management
Menu Items ActiveX Controls
Filter Information Utilities Callbacks Timestamp Error Processing
Control Menus Data Binding Functions
One-Step Filter Functions Thread Safe Variable Create Counter Output Channels Configuration
Controls/Graphs/Strip Charts Color Ramp Functions
Old-Style Filter Functions Thread Lock Analog Input Channel Calibration Locales
General Functions Pop-Up Panels
Thread Local Variable
FIR Digital Filters Timing Multithreading
List/Tree (Label/Value) Controls Message/Prompt Popups
External Modules
Windows Advanced Low-Level Functions
Trees File/Directory Popups
Port I/O
Measurement Triggering Creating ActiveX Objects
Text Boxes Graph Popups
Standard Input/Output Window
Statistics Start Trigger Calling Methods and Properties
Graphs and Strip Charts Font Popups Run-Time Error Reporting
Basics Reference Trigger Events
Graph Plotting and Deleting Event Functions Old-Style Functions
Probability Distributions Advance Trigger Server Creation Functions
Graph Cursors Callback Functions Physical Memory Access
Analysis of Variance Read Functions Object Functions
Graph Annotations Windows Interrupt Support Task Switching
Nonparametric Statistics Advanced Advanced Functions
Graph Legend User Interface Management Launching Executables
Curve Fitting Write Functions Object Helper Functions
Strip Chart Traces Printing Extended Functions
Intervals Miscellaneous Advanced IUnknown Functions
Digital Waveform Graph Plotting Mouse and Cursor
Old-Style Functions Export HW Signals IDispatch Functions
Axis Scaling Rectangles and Points
Interpolation Scale Configuration DLL Server Entry Points
Axis Label Strings Creating and Modifying

Date/Time Axis Formatting Retrieving and Comparing Values

Vector & Matrix Algebra GPIB/GPIB 488.2 Library Internal Buffer Configuration

Real Matrices The GPIB/GPIB 488.2 Library contains functions that Advanced
Pictures Bitmaps communicate with GPIB instruments, control GPIB boards, and
Canvas Clipboard
Complex Matrices acquire GPIB status information. Switch Functions UDP Support Library
Additional Numeric Functions Signal Routing
The UDP Support Library contains functions that provide
Drawing Time Related Functions Open/Close support to a platform-independent interface to the unicast,
Special Functions Device Control broadcast, and multicast capabilities of UDP.
Batch Drawing Miscellaneous Configuration

Watchdog Timer Channel Management

Pens LW DOS Compatibility Functions Note If you have the LabWindows/CVI Base I/O
Package, refer to the Library Tree for a list of the Channel Configuration
Device Control Calibration
Clipping Monitors standard Analysis Library classes.
Data Transfer
Accessing Pixel Values Bus Control External Calibration
Advanced
Miscellaneous Board Control DSA Calibration

Real-Time Utility Library Callbacks PXI-42xx Calibration

The LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module includes the Real-Time
Utility Library, which contains functions for replicating a real-time Locking SCXI Calibration
(RT) system, configuring timing, creating and configuring trace
IVI Library sessions, and configuring RT targets. Thread-Specific Status TEDS

The IVI Library contains functions that program and control IVI drivers. IVI-compliant drivers have a standard Real-Time
interface, so you can interchange similar instruments without changing your code. System Query GPIB 488.2 Functions TDM Streaming Library
System Configuration Device I/O Storage The TDM Streaming Library contains functions that store and
Instrument Driver Session Range Tables retrieve test and measurement data using the .tdms file format.
System Replication Trigger and Clear System Configuration This file format is optimized for high performance data streaming.
Locking Range Table Entries
Microsecond Wait Functions SRQ and Serial Polls Error Handling
Object Management
Channels Get ViInt32 Entry
Execution Trace Parallel Polls Note Refer to the Library Tree for a list of the Advanced
Repeated Capabilities Get ViInt64 Entry
Traditional NI-DAQ Library classes.
Symmetric Multi-Processing Remote/Local Data Storage
Attribute Creation Get ViReal64 Entry
System Control Data Retrieval
Add Attribute Range Table Ptr
Low-Level I/O Enumeration
Add Repeated Attribute Dynamic Range Tables
Network Variable Library RS-232 Library
The Network Variable Library contains functions for reading from The RS-232 Library contains functions that control multiple Properties
Invalidation Lists Error Information
and writing to network variables. RS-232 ports using interrupt-driven I/O.
File
Callbacks Instrument Specific Error Queue
Data Functions ANSI C Library Open/Close
Channel Group
Set Read Callback Memory Allocation
Browser Functions The ANSI C Library contains standard ANSI C functions,
Input/Output
which you can use in LabWindows/CVI. Channel
Set Write Callback Helper Functions
Configuration Functions XModem Miscellaneous
Set Check Callback Inherent Attribute Accessors Character Handling
Process Functions Control
Set Coerce Callback String Callbacks Date and Time
Variable Functions Status
Set Compare Callback String/Value Tables Localization

Comparison Precision Mathematics

Callbacks Internet Library
Direct Instrument I/O
The Internet Library contains functions that communicate
Extension
Set/Get/Check Attribute Value Manipulation .NET Library Nonlocal Jumping with and receive files and commands from remote servers.

Set Attribute The .NET Library contains functions that facilitate calling into
Default Callbacks Signal Handling FTP (Client)
.NET assemblies.
Get Attribute Attribute Information Input/Output Low Level FTP
Assembly Management TCP Support Library
Check Attribute Interchangeability Warnings General Utilities Telnet (Client)
Creating and Calling Objects The TCP Support Library contains functions that provide support
Caching/Status-Checking Control for a platform-independent interface to the reliable, byte-stream
Configuration Store String Handling POP3 (Client)
Resource Management oriented, network connection capabilities of TCP/IP.
Logical Names Low-Level I/O
Array Functions Note The LabWindows/CVI Base Package does not
Server Functions
Multibyte Characters include the Internet Library.
System.Object Methods Client Functions

Miscellaneous Support Functions

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