How to integrate Ag34980-modules into ni switchexec?

[OnlyOne]

Hello,

i installed Switchexec 2015, IVI Shared Components 2.3, IVI 34980-driver om a Windows 7 system.

The 34980 will have some modules like 34932, 34937, ....

Everything will be used under TestStand later.

How do i start now?

Currently i startetd NI MAX and see that there is an entry "NI Switch Executive Virtual Devices"

In there is a "SwitchExecutiveExample" with two "SampleMatrix1 and 2".

These two "SampleMatrix 1 and 2" can be found unter IVI drivers -> Logical Names and point o Drivers Sessions -> Simulated8x8Matrix.

The example-routes are visible in TestStand so everything is correct installed.

How do i now setup my 34980-modules in here?

I tried to watch the firststart-videos on the ni-website but they dont play.

Is there something like a first-steps-pdf?

Thanks for help

[Frank-L]

OnlyOne,

Have you created a Driver Session and Logical Name using the following document? (Using Third-Party Switches) 

After you have created a Driver Session and Logical Name, I would look at the NI Switch Executive Getting Started Guide, specifically the "Configuring an NI Switch Executive Virtual Device"  section to get started.

Best of luck!

[OnlyOne]

Ok, now i have a driversession and a logicalname that refers to the driversession.

In the Driver Session i had to enter a "Driver Setup"-string. My switchunit has 8 slots so i defined here the 8 module-types.

In the section "NI Switch Executive Virtual Devices" i clicked right + Create New -> then in the window appears my new LogicalName.

I selected it and put it on the right side with the arrow. Then Continue -> No error -> OK and close window.

Now i can see a list of all channels of the defined modules and i can create new Routes from channel1 to channel 2.

Currently i have this questions:

1. What happens when i am finished with creating switching groups and then there is a change in the Driversession?

How can i execute a "reload Driver Session" (for example if an empty slot is now filled or i two slots are changed?

2. I think the thing with the Routes is clear but what happens with a 4x32 matrix? Can i only switch predefined routes? I think it is impossible to manually setup all possible routes for a matrix.

Thanks for help

[Frank-L]

1. What happens when i am finished with creating switching groups and then there is a change in the Driversession?

How can i execute a "reload Driver Session" (for example if an empty slot is now filled or i two slots are changed?

The driver session will NOT automatically update if you make changes to the hardware. You would have to manually make those changes yourself in the driver session. In the event that you do modify the Driver Session, you will likely get an error as the virtual device expects a certain configuration, and when it loads the modified Driver Session it sees a new configuration.

I would recommend that you understand your final hardware configuration prior to creating an IVI driver session and Switch Executive Virtual Device. If you intend to use multiple different configurations of the same hardware at different times, I would recommend creating 1 driver session and 1 Virtual device for configuration 1 and another driver session and Virtual Device for configuration 2. 

2. I think the thing with the Routes is clear but what happens with a 4x32 matrix? Can i only switch predefined routes? I think it is impossible to manually setup all possible routes for a matrix.

So Switch Executive knows what channels can connect to other channels. (aka it knows row 0 can connect to column 0 through 31). You do not NEED to manually create a route for each of these channels. During runtime, you can simply call the "niSE Find Route" C function or VI with "Device\r0" and "Device\c0" as the channels you are looking to connect.

If you are using TestStand:

I believe that you can simply type in the "Routes to Connect" section "Device\r0->Device\c0" 

[OnlyOne]

1. Ok, that means it Auto-Reloads if i change in NI-Max the Driver-Setup-string where the modules are defined.

2. In TestStand in "Routes to Connect" there i only see my predefined Routes.

[Frank-L]

1. Ok, that means it Auto-Reloads if i change in NI-Max the Driver-Setup-string where the modules are defined.

It does not update the virtual device configuration. Lets say you created a driver setup that said it was 4x32 matrix. When you create a virtual device, it uses 4x32 from the driver setup string.

If you update the driver setup to be 2x64, the virtual device will not update to be 2x64. It will simply coecre the session based on the original information (and may cause an error).

For example with a NI 2532 switch:

• Coercion: I configured my device to have the 8x64 topology. I then added it to my virtual device, and made connections. When I reconfigure my device to be 4x128 and reopen the original virtual device. When I hit run, it ignores the now configured topology of 4x128 and instead initialzes the device as a 8x64 as it was originally setup.
• Error: I configured my device to have the 8x64 topology. I then added it to my virtual device, and made connections. When I reconfigure my device to use a 2575 (a seperate switch with different numbers of connections / topologies etc) and reopen the original virtual device, it still thinks it is talking a 2532, even though the current driver session is pointing to a 2575. When I hit run, it will give me an error.

2. In TestStand in "Routes to Connect" there i only see my predefined Routes.

Sorry for the miscommunication. It does NOT auto-populate the list with all available routes. I believe that you can hand-type in the specific route. Switch executive knows what channels can connect to what, so that when you hit run, switch executive will validate that the specific route that you have typed is good and if so it will connect them.

[OnlyOne]

1. OK, Lets say icreated a driver setup that said it was 4x32 matrix. Then i create all my routes that i need. One day i find out that i need another 4x32 matrix and add this to the Driver Setup String.

Do i have now to create a new VirtualDevice and delete the existing) OR can i manually update the existing VirtualDevice to keep the existing routes?

2. I added a FormC-Switchcard where one switch appears in my VirtualDevice1 in Switchexecutive as 7001COM, 7001NC and 7001NO.

Now i could create two Routes in Switchexecutive "Close7001: 7001COM->7001NO" and "Open7001: 7001COM->7001NC". This two Routes are visible in teststand.

But how would i write this without using predefined routes? Something like "VirtualDevice1.LogicalName1.7001COM,VirtualDevice1.LogicalName1.7001NO"? What is the correct Syntax?

Thanks

[Frank-L · Accepted solution]

OnlyOne,

1. OK, Lets say icreated a driver setup that said it was 4x32 matrix. Then i create all my routes that i need. One day i find out that i need another 4x32 matrix and add this to the Driver Setup String.

Do i have now to create a new VirtualDevice and delete the existing) OR can i manually update the existing VirtualDevice to keep the existing routes?

I do not believe that the UI has a way to do this. I believe that you would need to export (to text or excel) and modify the specific topology / other changes that you made. You would also additionally need to add the channels that you added.

Perhaps the simplest solution is to do the following:

1. Export old Virtual Device
2. Create a new Virtual Device with the new settings.
3. Export new Virtual Device
4. Copy old routes / exclusions / etc from old Virtual Device to New Virtual Device.
5. Import new Virtual Device with Modifications

2. I added a FormC-Switchcard where one switch appears in my VirtualDevice1 in Switchexecutive as 7001COM, 7001NC and 7001NO.

Now i could create two Routes in Switchexecutive "Close7001: 7001COM->7001NO" and "Open7001: 7001COM->7001NC". This two Routes are visible in teststand.

But how would i write this without using predefined routes? Something like "VirtualDevice1.LogicalName1.7001COM,VirtualDevice1.LogicalName1.7001NO"? What is the correct Syntax?

You would use the Properties Tab of a step with the Switching Property selected. You would then have the "Route(s) to Connect:" field filled with the following expression "[2532/r0->2532/c0]" (including quotes). Where 2532 is my logical name of my device. This syntax connects channel "r0" and "c0" together on my 2532 device

[OnlyOne]

Hi Frank,

thank you for the help so far.

Now i have two more problems/questions:

Currently iam trying to make a Keysight 34921A to switch (2x 20channel MUX).

[img]http://up.picr.de/23788477bt.jpg[/img]

All channel numbers appear in NI-switchexec.

1. I am trying to close Relais 001 and 911 for the card that that is plugged into slot 1.

For this i send the string: "MyLogicalName/1001->1911". or "MyLogicalName/1041->1931".

Error-Popup: "Could not perform th switching operation: The route specification contains invalid characters or could not be understood. Endpoint channels canot be marked as reserved for routing."

When i do the same in Switchexec then it is also not working. I mark 1001 on the left side and 1911 on the right side an click on Create. The a popup appears "Cannot complete the route".

What is the problem here? As you can see on the picture there is a connection between this two relays.

What is the trick?

1. What is the syntax to close a single switch?

Thanks

best regards

TM

[Frank-L]

OnlyOne,

thank you for the help so far.

Glad to help!

For this i send the string: "MyLogicalName/1001->1911". or "MyLogicalName/1041->1931".

Error-Popup: "Could not perform th switching operation: The route specification contains invalid characters or could not be understood. Endpoint channels canot be marked as reserved for routing."

This likely means that one of the channels in the string is marked as "Reserved for Routing"

Likely this means that your current setup will not allow you to connect those specific endpoints. (The current setup may have automatically set one of those channels as "Reserved For Routing" [via pop-up dialog] when you were creating routes in max as a way to ease connection creation). Basically "Reserved For Routing" means that the specific channel you are using is considered a path to use for routing, rather than an actual connection endpoint.  When you look at your image there is a chance that you connected two channels and it found a route through 911. [Say you wanted to connect COM1 to 041, it would need to use relays 911 and 931 as a bridge between com1 and 041, it would display a pop-up and ask to use those channels as Reserved for Routing].

To prevent this issue, you can change those channels to end points by navigating to the "Channels / Exclusions" tab and unchecking "Reserved For Routing" for the specific channel in question. You would then need to update any routes that previously used channel 911 as a bridge between endpoints. [For the COM1 to 041 example above, a solution is to create a route group that houses several routes such as "com1->911", "911->ABus1", "ABus1->931" and "931->041" although I am not really aware of the actual names of these channels.]

Best of Luck!