How can I programatically configure the 802.11b/g card in my computer?

[aartjan]

I want to get more control over the physical network controllers in my computer. I understand that when you install a piece of hardware, there is a device driver that is accessed by the operating system. But WindowsXP is capable of accessing all installed hardware on a computer and configure them. I want to make a program that can quicly change the configuration of a wireless network card. There is probably one dll that takes care of it all. Does anyone have an idea on how to tackle this problem? Any suggestions are welcome.

[Matt_F]

Hello aartjan,

Your card is most likely configurable with a DLL provided by the manufacturer. A quick search of their website should probably return what you need for configuration. Once you have obtained the DLL you can use the Call Library Function Nodes to configure the card in LabVIEW.

Using External Code in LabVIEW

[aartjan]

Thanks Matt,
I do agree, but it's not the way I want to go.
Installed hardware is directly configurable through Windows XP. For some reason I haven't found any documentation (yet) on how to programatically change the configuration, though. There must be a dll for this or at least a way to script it with windows scripting.

Aart-Jan

[Matt_F]

Hello Aart-Jan,

I have done some searching of MSDN and Google and have not had any luck finding any documentation of how to accomplish this. It may be possible that Microsoft does not export this capability.

You may want to contact the card manufacturer as they may have documentation of how to accomplish this through Microsoft's API, if it exists.

Regards,

Matt F

[aartjan]

Well, I think I made a tiny step forward. Using System information (run>winmsd) I found that windows uses two dll's for "network" known as "winsock."
Only the dll "wsock32.dll" returns functions when selected with a "call library function node." I am assuming this library should do the job.
Next thing I will have to figure out how to configure the library function node.

[Matt_F]

Hello Aart-Jan,

I did some more searching of MSDN and found the following information that may be of help in configuring your 802.11 devices

802.11 Wireless LAN Objects

Good luck with the development,

Matt F

[aartjan]

Thanks matt, this indeed may be the answer. I know now that I have to use windows scripting (which you can actually do with Labview) using WMI and ADSI (active directory scripting interface). I have a book on the topic and will have to start reading.
AJ