Chapter 2
Installation and Configuration
NI-FBUS Hardware and Software User Manual
2-18
ni.com
Restart the NI-FBUS Interface Configuration utility to make sure the
interface has been removed.
To reinstall the interface, refer to the installation and configuration
instructions earlier in this chapter.
Note
If one USB-8486 is unplugged and you want to use other interfaces in the system,
delete this USB-8486 from the Interface Configuration Utility before running the NIFB
process.
Importing Device Descriptions
The device description files contain information about the types of blocks
and parameters supported by your Fieldbus device, along with online help
describing the uses of given parameters. If your Fieldbus device uses
manufacturer-specific device description files, you must import the device
description files shipped with the device or available from the device
manufacturer. To do so, complete the following steps.
1.
Insert the device description disk or CD, if supplied by your Fieldbus
device manufacturer, into the disk drive or CD-ROM drive of the host
computer.
2.
Select
Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI-FBUS»
Utilities»Interface Configuration Utility
to run the Interface
Configuration utility.
3.
Click the
Import DD/CFF
button. The Import DD/CFF dialog
box opens.
4.
Click the
Browse
button, browse to the
.cff
capability file path or
.ffo
device description file path, and click
Open
. Typically, the
device description for your Fieldbus device is supplied on a disk from
the manufacturer; or you can download the DD/CFF files from the
Fieldbus Foundation website. For each device, there is one capability
file and two device description files. The capability file ends in
.cff
.
The DD file ends in
.ffo
or
.ff5
. The DD symbol file ends in
.sym
or
.sy5
. Select the
.cff
file, and the corresponding
.ffo
and
.sym
files (or
.ff5
and
.sy5
files) will be imported automatically. Or select
the
.ffo
or
.ff5
file, and the corresponding
.sym
or
.sy5
file will
be imported automatically. The DD file name will be in the form
Digit Digit Digit Digit.ffo
(for example,
0101.ffo
).
Note
The
.cff
file is the capability file, which is mainly used for offline configuration.
With the capability file and DD files, you can create virtual devices and make configuration
under offline mode without any physical device. The CFF file name will be in the form
Digit Digit Digit Digit Digit Digit.cff
(for example,
020101.cff
).