Call a LabVIEW VI from another program.

[expediter]

I am calling a LabVIEW VI from another process. How do I require the VI to load, run and exit while my process waits.

[Dennis_Knutson]

The NI Resource Library at http://zone.ni.com/devzone/devzone.nsf/webcategories/9C6DF90777E5A78206256874000FA14E?opendocument has examples for calling LabVIEW from C++, Visual Basic, and Delphi using ActiveX. With LabVIEW 6 and the Application Builder, you can also create a .dll that can be called from another program.

[harene.pitter@tripointglobal.com]

Is there a way to do the reverse, have Labview call a program. I have a Labview program that conducts a test using a Spectrum Analyzer. At the completion of the test I would like to have the option of printing the data/graph on the screen (markers, span, and such) included not just the signal. I developed a vi that sends the data to a waveform graph in essence duplicating the graph but I'm not able to inculde all the other infromation associated with the graph. Agilent has software than can do this and I would like to call the software to complete this task.

[Dennis_Knutson]

LabVIEW can call another program using System Exec on the communications palette. However, I don't understand why you can't duplicate the Agilent program in LabVIEW. It's talking to the same instrument - sending commands and retreiving data. It's probably just a matter of you determining the correct commands from the manual. Are you using a driver from NI or is the instrument programming created by you? If you're interested in doing it all in LabVIEW, you could try posting another question asking for help with the instrument.

[harene.pitter@tripointglobal.com]

I use some drivers for the analyzer and commands in other places. There are no vi's for printing images the analyzer. I have the Programmers guide and I know the commands to have it do so, but my other dilemna is that the printer/s is located on a network. So finding an address is difficult.