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Chapter 4
NI-FBUS CM Software
NI-FBUS Hardware and Software User Manual
4-14
ni.com
NI-FBUS Dialog Utility
Note
If you have the NI-FBUS Configurator, you generally will not want to use the dialog
utility, since the NI-FBUS Configurator has much more functionality and is much easier
to use.
The NI-FBUS Dialog utility allows you to interact with your devices over
the Fieldbus by opening descriptors, making single NI-FBUS calls, and
viewing the results. You might want to use the NI-FBUS Dialog utility
to verify installation and device operation, or to learn the NI-FBUS
Communications Manager API.
When you open the NI-FBUS Dialog utility, a window opens containing a
single item called
Open Descriptors
. This is the root of a tree that shows
an icon for each of the NI-FBUS descriptors you open using the NI-FBUS
Dialog utility. The area below the icon remains empty until you make an
NI-FBUS call to open a descriptor. When you open a descriptor, the
NI-FBUS Dialog utility adds an icon representing that descriptor.
You can use the NI-FBUS Dialog utility to perform operations on the
descriptors you have opened. Select the operation you want to perform on
a descriptor by right-clicking the descriptor icon and choosing an item on
the menu that appears, or by selecting the icon with a single click and
choosing an item on the
Actions
menu. The choices that appear on the
menu depend on the type of descriptor you have selected.
NI-FBUS Dialog Examples
These examples describe the typical steps you follow when using
the NI-FBUS Dialog utility. Before you begin the examples,
open the NI-FBUS Dialog utility through
Start»All Programs»
National Instruments»NI-FBUS»Utilities»Dialog
.
Example 1. Get a Device List
1.
Open the NI-FBUS Dialog utility.
2.
Right-click the
Open Descriptors
icon and select
Open Session
.
3.
In the
Open Session
dialog box that appears, click the
Open Session
button. The NI-FBUS Dialog utility makes an
nifOpenSession
call
to the NIFB process. This call opens a session descriptor, which
represents your connection to the NIFB process.