LabVIEW Intermediate II

Connectivity

11500 North Mopac Expressway

Austin, Texas 78759
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What You Need To Get Started

LabVIEW Intermediate II
Course Manual

LabVIEW Intermediate II CD

• .NET Framework version 1.1 Service

Pack 1

Computer running
LabVIEW 8 and Windows XP

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File Locations

Root Exercises LabVIEW Intermediate II

Directory <or>
Solutions

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Instructional Methods
Demonstration
• Lecture gives a
foundation in the topic
• Instructor reinforces
Lecture Quiz
foundation through
demonstrations and Topic
quizzes

Development Concept
Exercise Exercise

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Instructional Methods
Demonstration
• Concept exercises
allow you to further
explore a topic
Lecture Quiz
• Examples:
– Watch a simulation Topic
– Experiment with example VIs
– Search the documentation
Development Concept
Exercise Exercise

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Instructional Methods
Demonstration
• Development exercises
give you hands-on
experience in a topic
Lecture Quiz
• Demonstration of a
finished development Topic
exercise further reinforces
the learning process
Development Concept
Exercise Exercise

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Getting The Most Out Of This Course

• Experiment with hands-on exercises to understand the

methods used
• Implementations given are only one possible solution—you
may find a better one
• Do not come to class prepared to develop an outside
application; concentrate on the exercises given to build a
good foundation

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Courses
New User Experienced User Advanced User

LabVIEW Basics I LabVIEW Intermediate I LabVIEW Advanced I

LabVIEW Basics II LabVIEW Intermediate II
Skills learned: Skills learned: Skills learned:
• LabVIEW environment • Modular application • Large application design
navigation development • Advanced development
• Basics application creation • Structured design and techniques
using LabVIEW development practices • Implementing multideveloper
• Basics of data acquisition and • Inter-application projects
instrument control communication and
connectivity techniques
Certifications

Certified LV Associate Certified LabVIEW Certified LabVIEW

Developer Exam Developer Exam Architect Exam
Skills tested: Skills tested: Skills tested:
• LabVIEW environment • LabVIEW application • LabVIEW application
knowledge development expertise development mastery

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 LabVIEW
Course Learning Map Intermediate II

Calling Shared Serving Data to

Calling Objects a Client Using
Libraries in
in LabVIEW TCP/IP
LabVIEW

Broadcasting Publishing Data

VI Server to a Subscriber
Data

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Course Goals
This course prepares you to:
• Develop integrated systems
• Use networking technologies
• Programmatically control VIs using VI Server
• Implement VIs that use DLLs, ActiveX, .NET

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The NI Approach –
Integrated Software Framework
Test and Data Management Software
NI TestStand, DIAdem

Interactive Tools Application Development Software

LabWindows/ Measurement
SignalExpress LabVIEW CVI Studio
VI Logger Graphical Development ANSI C Development Visual Studio Components

Measurement and Control Services

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 Lesson 1
Calling Shared Libraries in LabVIEW

TOPICS
A. Shared Libraries Overview
B. Call Library Function Node
C. Shared Library Import Wizard

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A. Shared Library Overview

• A shared library is a software module containing

executable code and data that can be call by
applications or other shared libraries
• Functions and data in a shared library are loaded
and linked at run time
• Shared libraries can be written in a variety of
languages

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Shared Library Overview (continued)

• Shared libraries expose functions and data through a

standardized interface
• Most types of shared library definition are similar to
function definitions in the C programming language
• Shared libraries are often called by different names
depending upon the platform where they are used
– Windows = DLLs
– MacOS = Frameworks
– Unix = Shared Libraries
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Advantages of Shared Libraries

• Most changes to a shared library do not require

changes to the calling VI
• Shared libraries allow you to call existing code in
another language
• Most modern development environments provide
support for creating shared libraries

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Calling Shared Libraries

• Two methods for calling a Shared Library from

LabVIEW
– Configure functions manually using the Call Library
Function node
– Allow LabVIEW to generate code by using the Import
Shared Library wizard

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B. Call Library Function Node

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Thread-Safe and Thread-Unsafe DLLs

• By default all library calls run in the User Interface thread

• Changing call to Reentrant allows the library to be called
multiple times simultaneously
• Reentrant calls require that the thread library is thread safe

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Thread-Safe and Thread-Unsafe DLLs

Thread Safe DLL Characteristics

– Does not contain any unprotected global data
– Does not access any hardware
– Does not make any calls to any functions that are not
thread safe

Run in UI Thread

Reentrant

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Calling Convention

The calling convention defines the way parameters are passed to and
from the shared library
– Cdecl
– Stdcall (WINAPI)
• Shared library documentation generally specifies the calling convention

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Parameters

• Each parameter corresponds to a terminal pair on the Call

Library Function Node

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Parameter Types

• Select a data type for each parameter

• Common Parameter Types
– Numeric
– Array
– String
– Adapt to Type

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Numeric Parameter Type

• Specify the numeric representation

• Determine whether to pass by value or reference

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Array Parameter Type

• Select the data type of the array

• Select the number of dimensions for the array
• Determine how to pass the array (Array Format)
• Identify another parameter to specify the array size if memory
needs to be allocated (one dimensional arrays only)

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Array formats

• Array Data Pointer,

– Type *Array - Pointer to the first element of the array
– Shared library cannot change the array’s location in memory
• Array Handle
– Type **Array - Pointer to a pointer to the first element of the array
– Shared library can change the array’s location in memory
• Array Handle Pointer
– Type ***Array - Pointer to a pointer to a pointer of the first element
of the array
– Often used for multidimensional arrays

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String Parameter Type

• Define the string format

• Allocate memory for the string if necessary
– Specify another parameter to define the string size
– Allocate the buffer manually by passing a string with sufficient length into the
input terminal

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String Formats
\00 \00 \00 \04 t e x t
LabVIEW String Handles
string length string data

\04 t e x t
Pascal String Format
string length string data

t e x t \00

string data NULL

C String Format
Character

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Adapt to Type Parameter

• Use to pass arbitrary LabVIEW data types to DLLs

– Scalars are passed by reference
– Arrays and string passed according to Data Format
– Clusters are passed by reference

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Working with Unusual Data Types
• Calling a function with unusual data types requires
a deep understanding of the data and how it is
represented in memory
• Data does not contain pointers
– Use Flatten to String to create a string containing the binary image
of the data
– Use byte order input to Flatten to String to specify native byte
order
• Data contains pointers or is otherwise complex
– Create a bridge DLL that accepts the data from LabVIEW and then
calls the other library with the expected data structure

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Callbacks

• Callbacks allow you to call functions from the DLL

automatically when certain events occur in the program
• Most commonly used to clean up resources allocated by
the DLL in the event of an aborted VI

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 Exercise 1-1: Computer Name

Concept
Call a DLL function from the Windows API
GOAL

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C. Shared Library Import Wizard

• LabVIEW provides a wizard to automatically generate call library

function nodes and create a library of subVIs out of shared libraries
• Select Tools»Import»Shared Library to start the wizard
• Wizard requires a header file for the shared library

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Shared Libraries Summary
• Call Library Function node to offer easy access to your shared
libraries.
• To call a function in a shared library, you need to know the following:
– The data type returned by the function
– The calling convention used
– The parameters to be sent to the function, their types and the order in which
they must be passed
– The location of the library on your computer
– Whether the function can be called safely by multiple threads simultaneously
• The Shared Library Import Wizard allows you to automatically
generate shared library calls if you have a header file for the library

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