©
National Instruments Corporation
3-1
3
Developing Your Application
This chapter discusses the software utilities you can use to start developing
applications that use the NI-VXI/NI-VISA driver.
After installing the driver software, you can begin to develop your VXI or
VISA application software. Be sure to check the release notes for the latest
application development notes and changes.
Your software includes several utilities to assist you in your system
development. These include MAX, Resman, NI Spy, VISAIC, and VIC.
You can also access several examples to learn how to use NI-VISA or
NI-VXI for certain tasks. Each component assists you with one of four
steps of development: configuration, device interaction, programming,
and debugging.
After installation, you can access these utilities through the Windows
Start
menu. Open the
National Instruments
or
VXIpnp
program group, then
open either the
VXI
or
VXIpnp
subgroup to access the utilities you want
to use.
Configuration
The configuration utilities in your kit are MAX and Resman. Resman
performs VXI Resource Manager functions as described in the VXIbus
specification. Its most important functions include configuring all devices
on the VXI backplane for operation and allocating memory for devices that
request it.
Note
Power cycling resets all devices, so you need to run Resman to reconfigure them
every time chassis power is cycled.
MAX presents a graphical display of your entire test and measurement
system to help you configure various components. When you launch MAX,
you see all your VXI, GPIB, GPIB-VXI, PXI, TCP/IP, and serial devices
on the screen. You can view the properties (such as logical address, address
space used, primary address, and so on) of each device by right-clicking on
the device in the tree. When you view the properties of most National