Controlling Filmetrics Software with LabView using Microsoft .NET

[echarpen]

I don't know if anyone is familiar with Filmetrics products, which measure and analyze thin film materials, but what I am trying to do is control the Filmetrics software through LabView. I am also automating a motor through LabView to move the sample, so I thought it would be useful to be able to do everything on one program. I called Filmetrics, and they told me it would be simple to control the software using Microsoft .NET. The problem is, while I have used LabView for direct control of and reading instruments and DAQ boards and storing and displaying my data, I am new to the concept of communicating with a stand-alone program, like the one Filmetrics provides with their instrument. Just not sure where to begin., and even their simple solution seems like it is in a different language to me. I have attached the PDF the company sent me of how it should work. If anyone is familiar with or has Filmetrics, example code would be great. Otherwise, any other help would be great; just keep in mind I am new to this kind of control. Thank you for your help!

[smercurio_fc]

That document doesn't actually indicate that you'd be communicating with a stand-alone program. That's not what .NET is. .NET is a lot of things, but for simplicity, you can think of what you have as a library. This library would have classes and each of those classes would have properties and methods. The document you posted shows just one class, and that class has just a bunch of methods. LabVIEW has .NET functions for accessing .NET libaries. You would need to use a constructor to first instantiate the class and then pass the reference to the .NET invoke node to call the specific function you want to perform.

There are examples that ship with LabVIEW on how to use .NET, and there's also some articles on the NI site. Such as: Instantiating .NET Objects from LabVIEW, Calling .NET Assemblies From LabVIEW, Calling .NET Assemblies from LabVIEW (different version). There is also a chapter in the LabVIEW Help on using .NET in LabVIEW.

If you need further help, post back.

[Jason_P]

Some equipment makers offer ActiveX control interfaces to their hardware that aren't always well publicized.  I was coached on the topic in this thread:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Ocean-Optics-USB4000-Spectrometer/td-p/550550/page/6

Check out Sundar's code.  Filmetrics may have something similar...

JasonP - CLD

[echarpen]

Thank you for your help. I contacted Filmetrics and the newer version of the software does not support ActiveX. I guess I will just have to learn more about .NET and see what I can do with that.