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What software products do I need to create/edit a driver?

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Hi, I am a humble project manager so I know very little about LabView. What NI (or other) applications do I need to create/edit a third-party driver? The driver was created several years ago by someone at my company (who has since departed). We need to update the driver to account for some product changes. I will likely engage a specialist contractor to do the work, but I need to ensure we have the required tools to allow the specialist to do what we are asking of them.

Many thanks in advance.

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Hi Walt,

 


@Walt_Jabsco wrote:

What NI (or other) applications do I need to create/edit a third-party driver? The driver was created several years ago by someone at my company (who has since departed).


What kind of "driver" are you talking about?

Are these "LabVIEW hardware drivers", consisting mainly of VIs?

Is this some kind of DLL, created by a C(++) compiler/IDE?

Do you have the source code available?

Do you know which IDE was used to create that driver "several years ago"?

Best regards,
GerdW


using LV2016/2019/2021 on Win10/11+cRIO, TestStand2016/2019
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Hi GerdW,

Many thanks for replying. Answers to your questions below.

 

- What kind of "driver" are you talking about?

Certified LabVIEW Plug and Play (project-style) Instrument Driver

 

- Are these "LabVIEW hardware drivers", consisting mainly of VIs?

I believe so. The zip file I have contains many VI files.

 

- Is this some kind of DLL, created by a C(++) compiler/IDE?

No. The driver package consists of a zip which is available to download from NI.

 

- Do you have the source code available?

I am hoping that the zip file contains the source code. I'm guessing that when I get the required NI app(s), I will be able to open the lvproj and lvlib files and voila!? 

 

- Do you know which IDE was used to create that driver "several years ago"?

In short no, but I'm guessing some flavour of NI app.

 

Apologies for lack of precision in my answers. I've picked up someone else's doings and I'm trying (with your help) to get things moving again.

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If you can provide screenshots of contents of that zip file we might be able to identify the files.

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@Walt_Jabsco wrote:

 

- What kind of "driver" are you talking about?

Certified LabVIEW Plug and Play (project-style) Instrument Driver

 

- Are these "LabVIEW hardware drivers", consisting mainly of VIs?

I believe so. The zip file I have contains many VI files.

 

- Is this some kind of DLL, created by a C(++) compiler/IDE?

No. The driver package consists of a zip which is available to download from NI.

 


Are you willing to share with us which driver you are talking about and where it can be downloaded - as you say it is available from some place at the instruments driver network.

 

Regards, Jens

Kudos are welcome...
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Hi Walt,

 


@Walt_Jabsco wrote:

Certified LabVIEW Plug and Play (project-style) Instrument Driver

- Is this some kind of DLL, created by a C(++) compiler/IDE?

No. The driver package consists of a zip which is available to download from NI.


Well, it would be of great help when you would provide a link to that driver download!

This way we can easily check the LabVIEW version used for development…

Best regards,
GerdW


using LV2016/2019/2021 on Win10/11+cRIO, TestStand2016/2019
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Accepted by Walt_Jabsco

Hi Walt,

 


@Walt_Jabsco wrote:

I need to ensure we have the required tools to allow the specialist to do what we are asking of them.


The driver only contains VIs (within a lvproj/lvlib to organize them)…

 

You need a recent LabVIEW version, with installed VISA driver. Any edition will do, even the Base version.

(I didn't see any special toolkits at a quick glance.)

 

I recommend LV2020, it has options to downconvert the package back to LV2015-LV2018 as your company provides right now.

 

Best regards,
GerdW


using LV2016/2019/2021 on Win10/11+cRIO, TestStand2016/2019
Message 8 of 11
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Hi GerdW, Which LabVIEW software specifically? Which edition? Is the Driver Development Kit enough or would I need it in addition? When you say '...with installed VISA driver', is this it here?: https://www.ni.com/en-gb/support/downloads/drivers/download.ni-visa.html#346210 Sorry for being dump but I need to know exactly what to order.
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Oops, just seen the full text of your reply. Many thanks.
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