selecting the appropriate product

[avihay]

I'm not familiar with any of NI products. I'm planning to develop an automation framework application which will perform automatic testing in the area of electrical validation. the framework should also store all data in a database and produce reports. the idea is to provide a set of tools for the Test Eng. to easily creates a test case ,execute it automatically, store the data in a database for sharing and produce the reports. which tools should I use for these purposes. I'm well experienced in C/C++ and also familiar with C# .NET. I would like to start the evaluation ASAP.

thanks
Avihay

[Nate D'Anna]

Hey Avihay,

We have 30 day evaluation versions of both Measurement Studio for .NET and for C++. We also have evaluation software for CVI which is a complete ANSI C IDE designed specifically for test, measurement, and automation applications. Measurement Studio is an add-on tool for Visual Studio .NET, bringing acquisition, analyses, and presentation functionality to VS. Can you elaborate more on your application and your hardware requirements and I could propose a better solution.

Measurement Studio for .NET Eval - http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niup.ni?ap=GB_EVALMSTUDIO〈=US&tmp1=&tmp2=

Measurement Studio for C++ Eval - https://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niup.ni?ap=GB_EVALMSSTUDIO6〈=US&tmp1=&tmp2=

CVI Eval - https://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niup.ni?ap=
GB_EVALCVI〈=US&tmp1=&tmp2=

[avihay]

thanks for the answer,
the hardware is an Ethernet card and the testing are electrical validation. there will be use of an additional test equipments. my question is whether the Measurement Studio provides the same functionality that the LabView provides. are there any major aspects that I should concern when selecting between the tools. Is it true that if I'm familiar with C++ or C# and it seems more nature to me to develop using these language to use them rather then the LabView and its graphical language?

[Nate D'Anna]

If you are familar and comfortable using .NET, VB, or C++, Measurement Studio is a fantastic choice b/c you can leverage your existing expertise. Also, if you have existing code that you'd like to integrate into this new project, then Measuremet Studio also makes sense. If you are more comfortable with C, then CVI is definitely the way to go. LabVIEW is also a fantastic choice. LabVIEW provides all the functionality that Measurement Studio provides, plus additional hardware support like FieldPoint, PDA, FPGA, and real-time. LabVIEW also provides additional analysis support which you may or may not need. LabVIEW is also a graphical language which makes it easy to program. But, if you are already developing in C#, I would definitely recom
mend looking at Measurement Studio. Note: LabVIEW does have the ability to call .NET assemblies. Have you had a chance to spec out your hardware requirements as this might help you decide on your SW. All of our E-Series, DIO, counter and other DAQmx based products use an API that is identical in CVI, Measurement Studio, and LabVIEW. I think we should chat more about this decision. Feel free to call National Instruments at (888) 280-7645. If you have any further questions, please post here and I will reply.

Thanks,
Nate