Save channel configs for DAQ assistant?

[Vr6Fidelity]

I'm using LV8.

My VI is MX based and uses the DAQ Assistant. I have SEVERAL VI's that im using on this one computer.

How do i make linidvidual configuration files for each VI so i dont have to wade through 100 different input tasks?

I would like to have the channels called P1, P2 etc. but i have several machines with tasks named this way.

I want to have a configuartion for each VI so that nobody accidently picks the wrong tasks/scales.

How do i do this?

[Jarrod_S.]

LabVIEW 8 introduced the LabVIEW Project, which is used to organize both LabVIEW and non-LabVIEW files. It also organizes hardware targets and devices. You can, for instance, have project-specific DAQmx tasks, channels and scales that will only be valid for VIs in that project.

It sounds like this sort of organization might help you. Add your various VIs to separate projects, and then create the DAQmx tasks or global channels within those projects that are relevant for your VI. To create a task or global channel in your project, just right click on My Computer and select New >> NI-DAQmx Task/Channel from the shortcut menu. Note that you will have to have the project open when running your VIs for these channels to be valid.

You can also import or export tasks, scales, and channels from your project if you don't want to create them from scratch repeatedly. Check here for more info. Hope this helps!

[Jarrod_S.]

After further inspection, the link I added doesn't really address your issue too much, but you might find further information in the LabVIEW Help.

[Vr6Fidelity]

? I have no idea what you are talking about.

I did go to max, and export the scales. I figured out by searching the site.

[Jarrod_S.]

Exporting the scales or channels to file won't help you directly access them from your VI. A VI can access a DAQmx task from one of two places: MAX or a LabVIEW Project. Scales and channels in MAX are global to everything on your computer. Scales and channels inside a LabVIEW project are only valid for VIs in that particular project. Now that you've exported your scales from MAX, you can import them into a LabVIEW project, or you can recreate all these DAQmx items from scratch. Once you add the DAQmx scales and channels to the project, you can add your VI to the project. Then the VI in the project will be able to access those project scales and channels, but any VIs which don't belong to the project will not be able to use those scales or channels. Try going through the following quick steps:

1. Create a new Project in LabVIEW (File >> New Project).
2. Create a new DAQmx Global Channel for that project (Right click the My Computer item in the project and select New >> NI-DAQmx Channel).
3. Go through the DAQmx Assistant like you would in MAX to set up this new channel. After creating it, you will see it appear in your project.
4. Create a new VI within the LabVIEW Project (Right click the My Computer item in the project and select New >> VI. You could also add an existing VI to the project by selecting Add File and browsing to your VI).
5. Drop a DAQ Assistant in this new VI. Select the type of channel you created. When browsing to the channel, you can now select the global channel under Project Channels as pictured below, because this VI belongs to the LabVIEW Project which owns this channel.

Message Edited by Jarrod S. on 01-02-2007 12:40 PM

[Vr6Fidelity]

The DAQ assistant must be the most user-unfriendly piece of software i have ever seen. Ya know what, since i dont want to re-invent the wheel, ill just type them all over again.

Seriously id like to get my hands on the guy who made the daq assistant. Im particuarly enfuriated by the "signal input range" box, which as im sure you know is actually the "signal SCALING limits" And god forbid the DAQ assistant actually fill in the correct values for min and max instead of telling me there is an error and then i type in the number it tells me to.

How about you show me ALL the errors insted of one, than hit ok, then another, then ok etc....

I also don't like how you cant see the channel and the scale being used at a glance. The show details button is useless you could have just added ONE column to the detailed list and called it a day.

Your software is overpriced, riddled with bugs, and has terrible support. Even beyond that, it looks like nobody even looks at the finished product before it is sent to consumers. I would say the connection diagram tab was a usefull addition, but NO USB devices are supported making it worthless to me. Basically If i had known then what i know now, i would have NEVER upgraded to LV8. A complete waste of time and money.

So, in recap, im just trying to "set active configuration" like you USED to be able to easily do in traditional DAQ, which was fine. Now apparently instead of pushing a button, im going to need to create a project, tasks, scales, etc. Like 1 step forward and 50 back.

[Jarrod_S.]

I'm sorry you're so frustrated. I'm really just trying to help here. And if I'm part of the "terrible support" you mentioned, I hope you know that I am helping you as a favor and am happy to do so. This is not part of my job, as I do not work in support (though I know many excellent engineers who do 😉 ).

With regards to the DAQ Assistant, there isn't any one person who created it, and they are very careful from what I've heard about design considerations. That being said, we are always happy to get feedback from customers in the field who use our product and have suggestions for helping us make a better product. You can file a product suggestion, which do in fact get read by project managers, by going to ni.com and clicking on Contact NI. I would highly encourage you to do so.

With regards to your original issue, I am trying to point out that there is indeed a perfectly valid solution to this problem. You are trying to dictate in your VIs an active DAQmx configuration to use so that your end users don't pick the wrong scale or channel. An active DAQmx configuration can be specified using projects, which in my opinion is a very big upgrade from LabVIEW 7.x where you did not have this ability at all. This is really not as difficult as it might seem. You will have to do some work converting your existing setup to this format, but it should not be that bad.

You don't have to create your existing scales from scratch in order to add them to your project. You can export them from MAX (as you've done), and then import them into your project. After that, if you have DAQmx name controls for tasks, channels or scales, you can right click them and select IO Name filtering from the shortcut menu. Here you'll have the ability to select what options your user will see (only MAX channels, only Project channels, or both). By selecting Project Channels, your users will not be able to select MAX channels.

Rather than focus on doing all this extra work for one little reward, I would recommend taking full advantage of the LabVIEW Project for organizing VIs, DAQmx channels, non-LabVIEW files such as configuration files, as well as hardware targets like Real-Time systems, PDAs, and so on. Also note that the project is used for other purposes such as building executables if you have the Application Builder, or building source distributions or zip files for your applications. It's true that it's different than anything we had in the past for LabVIEW, but it offers a lot of functionality and new capabilities that simply did not exist before.

Please let me know if I can help.

[Vr6Fidelity]

I have no problem with you jarrod, and i appreciate you trying to help. I guess I just needed to vent.

When im not under the gun time wise ill try a project based approach.

I do not have a support contract so NI just tells me to spit in the wind.