Where are the Measurement Studio Assistants?

[John V]

Hello,

   I'm trying to follow the help guides steps to create an instrumentation class:

Creating an instrumentation task class with Add New Item

1. Open the project in which you want to create an instrumentation task class.
2. Select Project»Add New Item to launch the Add New Item dialog box.
3. In the Categories pane, select Measurement Studio»Assistants.
4. In the Templates pane, select Ni488.2 Task or VisaNS Task.

My categories pane does not have the Measurement Studio->Assitants option.  I did not install the C++ part of the installation because I will only be using C#.NET.   I do have a Measurement Studio Menu Item on my toolbar menu.  Any ideas?  Thanks!

[drohacek]

In addition to installing Measurement Studio, you must install NI-VISA or NI-488.2 to enable the associated Assistants. You can install NI-VISA or NI-488.2 either from their respective CDs or from the National Instruments Driver CD. The National Instruments Driver CD ships with Measurement Studio, but is not included in the evaluation version.

Have you installed NI-VISA or NI-488.2?

[John V]

Thank you for your quick reply.   After reading your message, I did download NI-VISA v3.2 and installed it.   I went ahead and added the VisaNS library via the Add/Remove Class Libraries.  I can now access the NI Measurements & Automation Explorer, but still cannot access the Studio Assistants.  I am using an evaluation copy of Measurement Studio v7.0   I'd have to think that there is a way to access these functions, since they are such a strong selling point of Measurement Studio.  Otherwise, it would be extremely silly and disappointing to "dangle the carrot" in front of would-be buyers.  I am trying to write a proof of concept for a client and without being able to test these features, it's dead in the water.  Is there something else I need to do?  Thanks again!

[drohacek]

I gave you some incomplete and inaccurate information in my previous post; sorry for the confusion. To use the IIOA, you need:

1. Measurement Studio
2. The NI-VISA driver and .NET language support
3. Measurement Studio IIOA integration support
4. The IIOA itself

You installed item (1) with the Measurement Studio evaluation version installer. You installed item (2) with the NI-VISA distribution. You have not installed items (3) or (4). Item (3) is in NI-VISA 3.3 (and not 3.2 and earlier), the NI Device Driver CD distribution, and the standalone IIOA installer. Item (4) is available only via the NI Device Driver CD distribution and the standalone IIOA installer.

The easiest way to make this work would be for you to install (3) and (4) from the latest NI Device Driver CD distribution. If you don't have that, then you can download and install the standalone IIOA installer.

I tested the IIOA installer with NI-VISA 3.3 and the Measurement Studio Evaluation version on a clean machine. I verified that the IIOA Add New Item wizards are available, so I am certain that this combination will work. Based on the contents of the IIOA standalone installer, I believe that it will work with NI-VISA 3.2 as well, but I'm not certain. If you install the IIOA and it still doesn't work, upgrading to NI-VISA 3.3 will work.

Your point about not making the Assistants available by default with our evaluation software is well taken and appreciated. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to limit the effort we put into our evaluation packaging in order to move on to developing new features for new versions. This is why we don't have an evaluation version for 7.1, for example. However, we certainly can do a better job of communicating to potential customers that additional software must be downloaded in order to use all Measurement Studio features. I'll work the appropriate people to get the evaluation web page updated with this information.