Using ActiveX to access DirectDraw - where are the Type libraries?

[timca]

Hi all. I am trying to poll the monitor to find out when information is written to the screen for a psychophysics exeriment. I have seen the discussion at:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Implenting-WaitForVerticalBlank/m-p/432112?query.id=74374#M212084

but I am using Labview 9 with 64bit Windows 7, and don't know how to specify the DirectDraw libraries to an automation refnum on the front panel. The previous posts indicated you need to select DIRECTLib.I_dxj_DirectDraw, but I can't see it. I tried browsing and pointing to DDraw.dll in the system files, but the reference created when I wired it to the Automation Open subVI was not recognised by the invoke_node subVI.

Does anybody know where to look for the relevant files with Labview 9?

thanks for any help

tim

[smercurio_fc]

Not exactly sure, but a 10-second Google search indicated that you're probably wanting to look for dx3j.dll

[timca]

Thanks for replying - I also found a post that suggested that dll - here

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/direct-1-0-type-library/td-p/255781

I searched my PC for it and it was not there, so I downloaded it. It didn't seem to work, so I doubted the accuracy of the post (it was from 2005). Can you forward the url to the link you found? (I have obviously been searching google and NI forums for some time looking for this information). I was hoping to work out where to locate formal documentation from the companies that actually generated the relevant code (either NI or microsoft I assume). Even if I can ensure the I have the correct dll on my PC, I am still not sure whether the method I am using to set up my VI to access that information is correct (ie putting an ActiveX container on the front panel and browsing to the DirectDraw dll. If anybody has experience with this or anybody from NI knows where examples or documentation to explain this is, I would be very greatful.

best wishes

Tim.

[rolfk]

Please note the 64 bit Windows reference!!

I'm not sure about the state of Direct-anything in post Windows XP but I have some doubts that it is still the prefered/recommended way to access those interfaces. As such the DLLs to support these interfaces may not all have been ported to Windows 7 and especially 64 bit. Being an API that sits in fact very close to the hardware, it is both a major hassle to port such libraries as well as likely a requirement to have native libraries in the system to even have a remote chance for them to work.

To go down this path you will certainly have to dig into the state of DirectX on modern OS, and especially their 64 bit variants. The DLLs from 2005 you found on some site (I would really very much hesitate to put DLLs from such sites on my computer in any way) certainly won't be adaptable to your 64 Bit Windows system, and most likely won't work for anything Vista or newer either. DirectX was way to close to hardware to have much chance of staying operational when moving DLLs to other Windows versions than what they were designed for.