Problem integrating with Visual c#.NET

[ray 120]

Handbook for NI DAQ 7 gives instuctions for use with Visual Studio (am using version 2003) as

Open new project (I open a c#.net project)
Select Project | Add New Item (ok)
In categories pane Select Measurement Studio Assistant.
Here is the problem - there is no Measurement Studio Assistant in the Categories pane only Local Projects.

There is no Browse function to find this, so I must be missing some step in the installing of the NI software. Can anyone point me in the right direction.

[bilalD]

Hello

The DAQ Assistant is code generation and configuration tool that is provided as a part of Measurement Studio. Measurement Studio provides .NET class libraries for analysis, User interface controls and also provides integration tools for Visual Studio .NET 2003. The DAQ Assistant allows you to generate C# or VB.NET code with a few clicks of the mouse and allows you to quickly set up a measurement.

I'm assuming the hand book you are referring to is the NI-DAQmx Help file. If you do not have Measurement Studio, you can check out some of the .NET DAQmx examples that are installed with the NI-DAQ driver ( provided you installed support for .NET 1.1 when you installed the DAQmx driver). You can find the examples
under ..\Program Files\MeasurementStudio2003\DotNET\Examples\DAQmx. You do not need Measurement Studio to run these examples. These will demonstrate how to use the DAQmx .NET class libraries in C# and VB.NET.

Hope this helps

Bilal Durrani
NI

[ray 120]

Thanks for that Bilal. I had missed that the .NET stuff doesn't get installed by default. Easy to do I suppose.

I have found the examples, and the Help files. For the NI-DAQ there are some PDF files from which you can print a manual that is very helpful and sets out the steps and functions to call for various configurations. But I cannot see anything similar for the NI-DAQmx and .NET. It is hard work referring to the individual items in the Help files. So where can I get a pdf version of a manual for the NI_DAQmx

Ray

[ray 120]

Hi Bilal

To elaborate further on documentation, the .NET examples use functions such as AIChannels.CreateVoltageChannel(.....), and structures such as Task.

I cannot find any reference information to these functions anywhere in any of the Help files. Is this because they are in Measurement Studio Help files which I do not have or need. If this is the case can I download them from anywhere, because I am really stuck now. The examples will not show all the functions that are available in the DAQmx assemblies so I need a function reference to proceed.

The functions in the NI-DAQ mx C Reference Help files are not available in the Common or DAQmx assemblies.

[bilalD]

Hello Ray

We dont really have a pdf for the DAQmx and .NET help. All the help is integrated with Visual Studio. This includes concept topics, and API documentation. In Visual Studio .NET, go to Help >> Contents >> Measurement Studio Help >> NI Measurement Studio .NET class library. Under therem you will find the reference for the DAQmx libraries and how to use the DAQmx .NET libraries.

Since this help is fully integrated into Visual Studio, you can use Dynamic Help or F1 to bring up the function help as well

Let me know if you are still running into problems.

Bilal

[ray 120]

Hi Bilal

Thanks for the reply. I don't have Measurement Studio Help listed under Contents, only Visual Studio.NET and MSDN Library. This must have got missed out when I did the NI install, so will have to look into this further.

Ray

[ray 120]

Hi Bilal

Cannot install the Measurement Studio help because I do not have Measurement Studio installed. So how do I overcome this

ray

[bilalD]

Which version of NI-DAQ have you installed?

Even though you do not have Measurement Studio, you should get the DAQmx Help topics installed with DAQmx 7.3 (the current version).

If you have 7.3, you probably have the help files. To create a shortcut to the help files, do the following

To launch the help, you need to create a shortcut to call Microsoft�s dexplore.exe. Right-click in a folder and select New»Shortcut. When prompted to type the location of the file, paste the following path: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Help\dexplore.exe" /helpcol ms-help://NI.MeasurementStudio.

Hope this helps

Bilal

[ray 120]

Hi Bilal

The installation CD says version 7.3 501177E-01. It should be the latest version, we bought it less than 4 weeks ago.

Have tried your suggestion re dexplore.exe. This only brings up the MSDN Library. Looked in the filter pane and there are a number of entries (guess these must be all the programs that have installed Help files), but no National Instruments, or any of the DAQmx functions.

I am not really surprised because, as I mentioned earlier I was prevented from loading the Measurement Studio Help files when doing the installation because I did not have Measurement studio installed.

So where do I go from here.

Ray

[ray 120]

Hi Bilal

Have found a simple way to view all the functions in the Assembly, just open the Assembly xml file in a word processor. This gives all the functions plus the descriptors that are in the original code. These are reasonably informative and have allowed me to
proceed, and get something working.

I have looked through some of the example code posted here, but have found no code written directly in C# as I am trying to do. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong place.

If not I might perhaps be able to post some examples in the future to help others who are having the same problems regarding the lack of documentation.

Where should I post these

Thanks for your efforts to help

Ray