NI-Fieldpoint support in Windows 7 and LabView 8.6

[natewkidd]

We have a "classic" FieldPoint system with an ethernet controller. We want to be able to read/write from/to the FieldPoint network using a computer with LabView 8.6 and Window 7. Is NI-FieldPoint supported in LabView 8.6 and Windows 7?

Regards,

nate

[Peñata]

Hi natewkidd,

Unfortunately, LabVIEW 8.6 is not officially supported on Windows 7. Most of the Windows 7 testing has been done with LabVIEW 2009. However, that does not mean that you can't try it, but be aware that this is at your own risk and is not supported by NI. For more information on NI software compatibility with Windows 7, please check out this Developer Zone article.

Thank you for choosing National Instruments.

Aaron Pena

National Instruments

Applications Engineer

http://www.ni.com/support

[natewkidd]

Dr. Horrible,

Thanks for the reply. I understand that if we have Windows 7 that we should use LabView 2009. However, I have some follow-up questions about support for "classic" FieldPoint systems.

I have been reading some posts in the forum and some folks have indicated that the FP-2000 ethernet controller is not supported beyond LabView 8.5.1 (http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=110&message.id=8128&requireLogin=False). However, I am not sure if the limitations described for the FP-2000 apply to a system that does not use LabView Real-Time, but a PC with the Windows 7 OS . This leads me to the following questions:

1) What is the difference between LabView Real-Time 2009 and LabView 2009?

2) If I have a FP-2000 on the ethernet network and want to use a computer running Windows 7 and LabView 2009 to record and display data, will I still be able to communicate with the FieldPoint network using the FieldPoint Read/Write VIs from my Windows 7 machine?

I appreciate any insight!

Regards,

nate

[Peñata · Accepted solution]

Hi natewkidd,

I feel like there is some confusion between the operating systems running on a development machine (like Windows 7) and the real-time operating systems that run on our real-time controllers (like the FP-2000). I will do my best to clear up this confusion by first answering your questions.

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1) What is the difference between LabView Real-Time 2009 and LabView 2009?

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LabVIEW Real-Time 2009 is actually a software package officially known as the LabVIEW 2009 Real-Time Module that is installed after the LabVIEW 2009 development software to allow the user to develop and deploy real-time applications to real-time targets such as your FP-2000. You can think of the LabVIEW 2009 Real-Time Module almost as a plug-in for LabVIEW 2009 to allow for real-time application development and deployment.

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2) If I have a FP-2000 on the ethernet network and want to use a computer running Windows 7 and LabView 2009 to record and display data, will I still be able to communicate with the FieldPoint network using the FieldPoint Read/Write VIs from my Windows 7 machine?

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If you were just going to use the FP-2000 as a network module (NOT deploying a real-time application to run on the FP-2000 itself), you should be able to communicate with it using just the FieldPoint Read/Write VIs from your Windows 7 machine with LabVIEW 2009 and the NI-FieldPoint 6.0.5 driver. In this situation, you actually do not need the Real-Time Module since you are not deploying the application to the real-time target.

Regarding the FP-2000 not being supported beyond LabVIEW 8.5.1, this is because the memory on the controller is not large enough to hold the software that is installed on the controller with LabVIEW 8.6.x Real-Time Module and the LabVIEW 2009 Real-Time Module. For more information on this please check out this KnowledgeBase article.

I hope this is helpful! Let me know if you have any further questions.

Thank you for choosing National Instruments.

Aaron Pena

National Instruments

Applications Engineer

[natewkidd]

Aaron,

Thank you very much. You have eliminated my confusion. Other posts did not distinguish the LabVIEW development software from the Real-Time module (which left me with some doubts). I am very clear now on how we should proceed.

Best Regards,

nate

[Peñata]

Hi natewkidd,

There is one more thing I should point out that is pretty important. NI-FieldPoint 6.0.5 is NOT officially supported on Windows 7 according to the driver's download page.. With that being said, we have seen some people run it on Windows 7 machines successfully, but I just wanted to make sure that you were aware that this is not officially supported at this time. For more information on hardware and software compatibility with Windows 7, please check out the Developer Zone article that I linked in my first post. Thanks and I apologize if this introduced any further confusion.

Thank you for choosing National Instruments.

Aaron Pena

National Instruments

Applications Engineer

[rwbrook@integratedps.com]

Aaron,

I have upgraded to Windows 7 and LabVIEW 13.  I have a very small program that runs a datalogger to a FieldPoint front end.  I loaded the latest drivers for FieldPoint before seeing the warning on this blog.  It loaded fine, but I can't find a new subFieldPoint to paste into the vi because LabVIEW is finding errors with the old one.

Ron

[RavensFan]

This is a rather old message thread, and talks about LabVIEW 8.5 rather than LabVIEW 13.

I'd recommend starting a new message thread.  Also add some more details, such as exactly what error message you are getting.  It would also help if you attached your VI.

[伟]

Can we use the win7，labview 2012, but use real time 8.5.1 communication with Classical field point cfp2010. It means , do you think RT 8.5.1 can work with labview 2012 together ?

[RavensFan]

I don't think so.  I think the version of LV real-time on the controller must match the version of LV you are developing with.