
Chapter 4
NI-FBUS CM Software
NI-FBUS Hardware and Software User Manual
4-2
ni.com
interface over which to send certain Fieldbus messages. The NI-FBUS
Communications Manager lets you write applications that are as
independent as possible of the actual configuration of your Fieldbus
interfaces.
The NI-FBUS Communications Manager API is useful for developing
host applications. Typical examples are function block tuning software
packages and applications for monitoring a function block, diagnosing
a network, and developing interfaces to Human-Machine Interface (HMI)
packages.
Installing the OPC NI-FBUS Server
The NI-FBUS installer automatically installs the OPC NI-FBUS server.
However, it also can be installed manually. To do this, open a DOS
command prompt and run the following commands from the target
directory:
regsvr32 opccomn_ps.dll
regsvr32 opcproxy.dll
nifb_opcda.exe /regserver
NI-FBUS Functions Overview
The NI-FBUS functions are classified into four categories:
•
Administrative functions
•
Core functions
•
Alert and trend functions
•
Device description functions
All NI-FBUS functions are described in detail in the
NI-FBUS
Communications Manager Function Reference Manual
.
Administrative Functions
You can use the administrative functions to get the list of physical devices
in a link, get a list of virtual field devices in a physical device, and get a list
of blocks (resource, function, transducer) from a virtual field device. The
administrative functions include
nifGetDeviceList
,
nifGetVfdList
,
and
nifGetBlockList
. Typically, you must call these before you call a
core, alert, or any other administrative function.