NXG Call DLL

[CanadaGuy]

Reading the Labview/NXG comparison:

http://www.ni.com/en-ca/shop/labview/compare-labview-nxg-and-labview.html

on the software tab, it says that it supports calling DLLs, but I can't find a Call Library or similar function. Does anyone know where it is?

[Jacobson-ni]

There is an example under the Learning Tab in Examples > Programming Basics > Connectivity > External Code (DLL) Execution and appears to be implemented as the Shared Library Interface project item instead of the CLFN.

I haven't done this myself so let me know if you run into problems.

[CanadaGuy]

So I found that example, and found the Support VI that it specifies, but as dumb as it sounds, I can't figure out how to replicate the calling block. I had created another VI where I used the Shared Library Interface, but again, I can't figure out how to actually call the result. I feel really dumb.

[Jacobson-ni · Accepted solution]

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@raceybe wrote:

So I found that example, and found the Support VI that it specifies, but as dumb as it sounds, I can't figure out how to replicate the calling block. I had created another VI where I used the Shared Library Interface, but again, I can't figure out how to actually call the result. I feel really dumb.

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So I just found the example program and assumed it would be helpful but when I tried to do this I was just about as lost as you were. I had to look internally and found someone who made a gif of the process.

It looks like this is tied to CAR 611080 and there is supposed to be a palette on the block diagram for project items.

[CanadaGuy]

Okay, good to know. Thanks.

[joerg.hampel]

Is there any way to set a relative path to the DLL in the .sli? Using the browse button, the result is always an absolute path. 

And is there a way to set the path from the block diagram of the calling VI?

[Chantastic!]

Hi Joerg, 

You can use the standard Window's conventions for relative paths in the file path.

In the example, I set the path to what I have in the image below. This would imply that the path is relative to the GVI, under the support folder. 

There currently isn't a way to set the path from the block diagram of the calling VI, unfortunately.

Regards,

Stephen 

[joerg.hampel]

Stephen, 

thanks for your help. I had already tried what you suggest, and for whatever reason it doesn't work for me. I cannot get LabVIEW to find the DLL if not referenced absolutely.

I've had my fair share of experience with libraries, both .dll and .so, but NXG seems to be getting the better of me so far 😞

[Case_in_Point]

I'm not sure how Stephen was getting that to work. When I try to give a relative path from the example External Code project, I also get a broken run arrow and errors about finding the DLL. I am pretty confident that the SLI feature does not support relative paths at this time, but of course we're always working on improving our products and NXG in particular has a lot of improvements coming up.

Regards,

Cason

NI Applications Engr.

[joerg.hampel]

Thank you, Cason. I also posted here - any possibility that you could share some details about the how's and when's in that other thread?