Chapter 3
Developing Your Application
PCI-Based MXI-2 Interface for Windows
3-2
ni.com
provide a high level of performance; however, there may be some
slight changes in behavior for certain applications.
The software features several system development utilities including MAX,
Resman, NI Spy, VISA Interactive Control (VISAIC), and VXI Interactive
Control (VIC, optional). You also can access help and a variety of examples
to learn how to use NI-VXI for certain tasks.
Each component assists you with one of four development steps:
configuration, device interaction, programming, and debugging.
You can access the utilities, help files, and release notes through the
Windows Start menu by opening the
National Instruments»VXI
or
National Instruments»VISA
program groups.
Configuration
The configuration utilities in the software kit are Resman and MAX.
Resman performs VXI Resource Manager functions as described in the
VXIbus specification. Resman configures all devices on the VXI backplane
for operation and allocates memory for devices that request it. Resman does
not require you to specify any settings; it automatically performs the VXI
resource management whenever you run it.
Note
Power cycling resets all devices, so you must run Resman to reconfigure your
system every time you cycle the power on the chassis.
MAX presents a graphical display of the entire test and measurement
system to help you configure various components. When you launch MAX,
you see all of the devices (including VXI) on the screen. You can view the
properties (such as logical address, address space, and so on) of each device
by clicking the device in the configuration tree. To see additional
configuration options for a given device, right-click the device in the
configuration tree. When you access the properties of most National
Instruments devices by right-clicking, you can configure the hardware
settings by selecting
Hardware Configuration
.
MAX and Resman are designed to work together. You can run Resman
through MAX by either clicking the
Run VXI Resource Manager
button
in the toolbar or right-clicking a specific VXI system on which to run
Resman (refer to Figure 3-1). You also can select
Tools»NI-VXI»VXI
Resource Manager
to run Resman on all VXI systems. From the VXI
Options dialog box in the
Tools»NI-VXI
menu, you also can use MAX to
