Visual Studio or LabWindows/CVI?

[Steverino]

I have a bit of a dilemma.

I currently own Visual Studio 2010, IMAQ Vision Development Module 2013, and Measurement Studio (not sure of version). I currently do all of my programming in VB.net. Because IMAQ VDM is stuck in .Net framework 3.5 and there will be no further .net development by NI, I need to plan for the future. My applications need run on Win 8, 9, 43, or whatever my company decides to migrate to from Win 7.

My understanding is that the NI modules I currently own will work with LabWindows/CVI. Correct? I also believe I can use them with C++ using the VS IDE. Is this also correct?

Within my applications I do a lot of interfacing with Excel, writing text files, and interfacing to non-NI devices (cameras, DAQs, scanners, etc). I am able to do these things pretty easily using VB.net using vendor-provided SDK's.

Therefore, my question is this...given the investment I have in software already, do I gain anything by migrating to LabWindows/CVI? What do I lose?

I should point out that regardless of the path I choose I will need to bone up on my programming skills in the corresponding language.

Thanks for all your help!

[Johannes_T]

Hello Steverino!

Here are some advantages when using LabWindows/CVI over Visual Studio, which make the product more suitable for various industry-related applications:

1. You are correct, LabWindows/CVI integrates with the NI platform: NI hardware and software, like TestStand or LabVIEW (e.g. debugging source code from one software to another, seamlessly).
2. NI hardware and third-party hardware connectivity.
3. OpenMP support.
4. CVI integrates with intrument control.
5. CVI Run-Time benefits from User Protection.
6. Run-Time checking (e.g. for uninitialized variables).
7. Scientific User Interface Controls and GUI Editor.
8. Advanced debugging capabilities:
1. Remote debugging support from ADE.
2. Real-Time debugging support from ADE.
3. Memory leak detection using the LabWindows/CVI Resource Tracking Window.
4. Just-In-Time debugging.
9. Deployment: build custom installers and patches that you can ship as stand-alone easy-to-use installers.
10. LabWindows/CVI libraries: Advanced Analysis, Toolbox, Connectivity (Network Variables, Network Streams, DataSocket), etc.
11. Support for LabWindows/CVI Toolkits: SQL Toolkit, Vision, PID, RT.

Regards,

- Johannes.

[Steverino]

Thanks for the response. I have a few more questions w/r/t LabWindows:

Can I write to Excel (create workbooks, sheets, write and fetch data)?

Can I use 3rd party C SDKs for non-NI devices?

Suppose I found C code on the web that allows me to interface with my DuoTronic - can I use that in LabWindows?

Thanks!

[Johannes_T]

Hello again, Steverino!

1. Yes, CVI is able to generate Excel documents and offers basic control over it thorugh ActiveX. These resources explain how this can be achieved and what are the capabilities of the Excel generation tool, which BTW, you can extend yourself, since the sources are also available:
1. http://www.ni.com/white-paper/5835/en/
2. http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/370051V-01/toolslib/toolslibexcelreport_functiontree/
2. Yes, CVI offers an ANSI C compatible compiler. This means that you can use any C-compatible source code and compile it with CVI or include any C DLL/LIB and link against it. Just make sure the 3rd-party DLL can be found by the EXE. Otherwise, you can copy the DLL next to the LabWindows/CVI application EXE. However, you won't be able to debug code that wasn't compiled with CVI (e.g. compiled by Microsoft VC), because it has a different debug information format.
3. I don't know.

Regards!

- Johannes

[RobertoBozzolo]

To elaborate a little on Excel topic:

• As highlighted by Johannes, CVI interfaces via ActiveX with an existing Excel installation; the software must be installed on the local machine, you cannot interface with a remote Excel instance and you cannot rely on Starter editions that come pre-installed on some PCs as they lack o  the ActiveX framework
• Excel report instrument is built on top of a general use instrument: see Excel2000.fp instrument and the correlated sample application that shows you  the capabilities of the instrument