VBAI 2009 and its Activex

[Median9]

We are trying to acquire inspection results from VBAI 2009 via its activex loaded under LV2009 on Windows XP (local target). It does not work at all. We tried both GigE as well as USB webcam but with same results. However, when simulated images are used in a VBAI inspection, the ActiveX works perfectly fine and also, the same hardware / camera setup runs perfectly fine on a Windows 7 Machine running the ActiveX.

The error we are receiving constantly is:

ERROR 97 occurred at property node (arg1) in SimpleExampleCW.vi

Possible Reasons:

LabView: A null or previously deleted refnum was passed in as an Input.

Another issue: Although VBAI alone detects the hardware and runs the inspections perfectly ok, but it takes considerably long (about 2 minutes) loading the steps at startup.

Any suggestions / pointers shall be highly appreciated.

[Greg_S-Video]

Hello Median9

Can you verify with me that you are able to successfully snap and grab in Measurement and Automation Explorer?  How have you tested the ActiveX implementation?  The system works fine without using ActiveX, correct?  Does the long loading time occur with both the USB camera and the GigE camera?  Is the GigE camera plugged directly into the PC? Please clarify, this system runs both the inspection and ActiveX at the same time on a Windows 7 machine but not a Windows XP machine?  Is the Windows 7 machine using the same version of VBAI?

Please let me know as I am happy to assist you with this.

[Brad]

In VBAI 2010, we added a new LabVIEW API that makes this much easier and works better. ActiveX is no longer supported by Microsoft and has issues with some OSes. Would it be an option to try VBAI 2010? You can try it in evaluation version for free from here:

http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/2240/lang/en

With the LV API, you shouldn't see any longer load times than when loading an inspection from the VBAI envirnment. There will also be no problems getting results from acquisition steps although I have no idea why these steps would give you problems with ActiveX.

Hope this helps,

Brad

[Median9]

Hi Greg,

My Answers in Blue below:

1- Can you verify with me that you are able to successfully snap and grab in Measurement and Automation Explorer?

Yes.

2- How have you tested the ActiveX implementation?  The system works fine without using ActiveX, correct? 

We used the sample activex shipped with VBAI 2009. The sample Activex application works fine on all inspections loading images from the hard disk. But the moment we switch to any camera, it just stops working. All the cameras load perfectly well under MAX. Under VBAI everything runs fine. Its only the activex with the cameras under XP where we are facing difficulties.

3- Does the long loading time occur with both the USB camera and the GigE camera?

Yes.

4- Is the GigE camera plugged directly into the PC?

Yes.

5- Please clarify, this system runs both the inspection and ActiveX at the same time on a Windows 7 machine but not a Windows XP machine?

Yes.

6- Is the Windows 7 machine using the same version of VBAI?

Yes.

[Median9]

Hi Brad,

We tried the VBAI 2010 API, but with similar results:

Error -354717 occurred at VBAI Interface - Open Inspection.vi

Possible reason(s):

Vision Builder AI:  (Hex 0xFFFA9663) Timeout error. The Vision Builder AI engine did not respond in time.

When i open the same inspection using VBAI 2010, it takes about 2 minutes to load. But once loaded, it runs perfectly OK.

All this is hapening on XP machines. Windows 7 is giving no troubles so far.

[Brad]

This sounds like it is taking forever to initialize the camera. What camera are you using? There is an INI token for the LV API to increase the delay before timing out, but I think before we go down that route, we should figure out why it's taking so long to initialize the camera. How long does it take to initialize the camera after rebooting your machine, launching MAX, and clicking on it in MAX? I would expect a similar delay. If you could provide the camera file created (for XP, this would be located here: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\National Instruments\NI-IMAQdx\Data with a .icd extension) Hopefully we can figure out why this is taking so long and this will make everything else work a whole lot better. If it's a GigE camera, can you also include the XML file from the XML folder in the path listed above.

Thanks,

Brad

[Median9]

Brad !!

[Median9]

Brad !!

A correction to my last post: We installed Windows 7 on the target PC without any success.

We were initially using a GigE camera from IMI Korea, but when we started facing the problems running the ActiveX, we tried to switch to a USB Webcam without any luck. Both cameras run perfectly well on another, more powerful PC.

I checked the *.icd / XML files on both PCs and they are identical. The targets are P4 2.00 GHz Touch Panel PCs with 2 GB RAM. We successfully used the same PC with CVS 1456 and VBAI ActiveX which runs just fine. Probably the local initializations are taking too long for the ActiveX / API to perform well.

I think your point for increasing the delay before timeout could be a good point to start with. What do you think?

[Greg_S-Video]

Hello Median9

I hope you are well!  Brad is an excellent resource for addressing this concern, if he suggested incereasing the delay before timeout, whould you be able to perform this and let us know your results?

Thank you very much!

[Brad]

I think it is valuable to try and figure out why it takes so long, but if you'd rather increase the timeout, you can do it by editing the VBAI API Interface.ini located in the Vision Builder AI folder. I attached a modified version that sets the timeout to 150 seconds. You can try this if you want and see if it works for you.

Hope this helps,

Brad