Using Sentinel Dongles

[M.Warlow]

Does anyone have any example VI's of using this?

I have been sent a development kit for the Sentinel USB key. It uses driver version 7.3.0 and we are on LabVIEW 8.2.

I have no examples of LabVIEW code unfortunately included. I was wondering whether others may share this code that they have written. I have contacted them but it seems that i have been put in a queue and they will look at it when they get time.

Much appreciated if anyone can provide working examples

Regards

Mike

[TheWay]

Hi Mike,

There should have been an SDK that came with the development kit drivers. Most probably it includes the DLLs and header files you need to program your USB dongle.  In LabVIEW, you can create VIs based on these DLLs. Go to Tools >> Import >> Shared Library, to bring up the Import Shared Library Wizard.  That should help you get started.  From there on, you should be able to read the dev kit documentation to find out what you need to wire to the inputs and outputs of your VIs.

If you don't have or don't want to use the DLLs, you can also talk directly to the USB dongle using VISA commands. This is a little more complicated, refer to this link for more information on talking directly to USB devices through VISA:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4478

Let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Way S.

NI UK Applications Engineer

Message Edited by TheWay on 08-09-2007 06:34 AM

[M.Warlow]

Many thanks for your prompt reply.

In the end i got the Sentinel guys to email me an example they had in visual basic. I got that working, with my keys etc then did it in LabVIEW using that as a guide. It worked a treat, with no problems whatsoever. And im quite impressed with the results. I do think the documentation is slightly lacking but once you have a working example in a language you understand it isnt to hard to convert it to LabVIEW

I read on another forum that people also had problems getting the shell version of it to work (just encrypts the whole file) - ive tested this on a couple of small LabVIEW test programmes without any problems whatsoever though

Many thanks for your help

Regards

Mike

[J.C._Flores]

Hey Mike,

Any chance you could forward me (or upload to this thread) your LabVIEW code to interface with these Sentinel keys?  I'm using the SHK flavor and I can't figure out how to use the COM objects to open a ref to the USB key.  Thanks!

-J.C..

[J.C._Flores]

I've since figured out how to interface with the SafeNet Sentinel SHK keys using Sentinel's COM objects.  In fact, I managed to also get my hands on some "un-released" LabVIEW drivers using .dll calls from SafeNet directly.  Please feel free to contact me if anyone has any questions on this.

[SeanJ]

Hi JC,

Can you post a copy of the unreleased LabVIEW drivers.  I'm getting nowhere fast at the moment!

Basically it does not seem to recognise the secret key....

Sean

[J.C._Flores]

Hello Sean,

As requested, here are the "unreleased" LabVIEW drivers from Sentinel.  These drivers interface to a .dll.

Note that I didn't end-up using these drivers and instead went the route of using Sentinel's COM (ActiveX) object instead.  I've likewise attached an extract of the COM libraries and documentation from this project.  Unfortunately, I can't remember where I got the COM libraries from.  Possibly from SafeNet's website.

I was successful using the COM interface.  It took some work, but I eventually got my LabVIEW application talking to the Sentinel Key.

Good luck!

-J.C..

[battler.]

Out of interest what is the cost of protecting your software with the Sentinel dongle?  What do they charge per deployment?

[HoussamAz]

Hello every body, Hi Juan, I tested the VIs you posted, with the sentinel dongle connected, but each time I get Status 203 or 205. And I can't read the serial number of my dongle. Can you advise please ? Regards,

[J.C._Flores]

Hello there. I looked into these error codes you were seeing and it looks like you might be using the incorrect Developer ID or somehow the License you're referencing is invalid. See screenshot of the LabVIEW interface document pdf which is included in the .zip file you downloaded.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

-J.C..