Include NI-VISA .NET API in Visual Studio 2017 project

[Tevildo]

This is a follow-up to the question asked here.  How do I go about including a reference to the NI-VISA .NET API in my Visual Studio 2017 C# project?  My earlier projects have used VisaNS.dll, but I gather from the documentation that this has been deprecated in favour of the .NET API.

It would be helpful if someone could go through in detail the steps involved in downloading the new API (if necessary) and adding a reference to it in a C# project.  All the documentation I can find on this site still refers to VisaNS.dll.

[Kelly_Chan]

Hi,

You need to reference assembly "Ivi.Visa" to use the new "IVI-compliant NI-VISA .NET API". See here for more info and the differences between NI VISA .NET  and VisaNS API.

Regards,

Kelly

[Tevildo]

Kelly, thanks.  There appears to be a link missing from your message.

[Kelly_Chan]

My apologies, below is the link:

https://www.ni.com/en/support/documentation/supplemental/15/national-instruments-visa--net-library.h...

[Tevildo]

Kelly, thanks.

That page links to this page, which states (in Part 3) that the NI-VISA .NET API is "included in the driver installer".  I assume that this is the standard installer for NI-VISA.  Where do I find the Ivi.Visa library, after installing NI-VISA?  If I select ".NET 4.5 Development Support" in the NI-VISA installer, that just installs the old VisaNS.dll.

[cymrieg]

IVI.Visa dll is installed here: C:\Program Files (x86)\IVI Foundation\VISA\Microsoft.NET\Framework32\v2.0.50727\VISA.NET Shared Components 5.8.0

It should also show up in Visual Studio references see attachment.

[Tevildo]

cymrieg, thanks.

Perhaps I should have asked this question earlier - what's the first version of NI-VISA to include the .NET API?  It may just be that I don't have a new enough version.

[cymrieg]

according to this 15.0: https://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/374899j.html

[Tevildo]

cymreig, thanks.  I have 15.5 installed on my system, so that isn't the problem.  I'll try uninstalling VISA altogether and re-installing it.

[Tevildo · Accepted solution]

Just a quick note to let everyone know that reinstalling NI-VISA fixed the problem.  The required element is .NET 4.0 - 4.5.1 Development Support (IVI).  For some reason, this didn't come up in the "Modify" menu from Control Panel.