NI-Switch Relay Add-On Feedback

[Kilometers]

The image is up. You can download it from ftp://ftp.ni.com/outgoing. The file name is "SwitchRelayTestCase1_0_0.lvappimg."

[professor_xh]

The image you shared with me deployed without error.  I currently only have remote access to the bench right now.  I will go to the bench physically and verify that I can control the relays and hear them click when actuated.

I do who still have some consternation as to why we could not get our original image to work.  When you were reproducing the issue with our image which was utilizing Switch 15.1.1, you removed and reinstalled Switch 15.1.1 on the host and real time target.  For the respective images on the real time target after  the installation, were you able to identify any difference when that was causing the error?

[Kilometers]

I'm glad to hear you're up and running. It sounds like it was a problem with the driver. I had expected that you downloading and installing a new version of the driver would fix this. It's possible there was something left in a registry key or somewhere else on your windows system that was not getting removed and replaced in the uninstall/reinstall process. I'll try and investigate here what that could be. 

As an added check, after you verify the system functions, could you try installing the driver from your host machine again and see if that stops it working again? You have the image to push again if it does stop functioning. 

[Fefo]

Hello, I'm trying to use the custom device and I'm getting an error similar to this one.

I'm using Veristand 16.0.0 on a PXI8109 controller, and I'm trying to communicate with a PXI-2570 - 40 spdt board.

Since there isn't a binary version of the custom device for that version of Veristand, I've downloaded the source project, created a PXI target and build specification, and successfully built the binaries. I've copied them in the Custom Devices folders, and launched the initialization in the System Definition File. Everything fine, no errors. I've also set the interface for the board: PXI4::11.

However, when deploying the Veristand project, I get the following error:

The VeriStand Gateway encountered an error while deploying the System Definition file.

Details:
Error 1003 occurred at Project Window.lvlib:Project Window.vi >> Project Window.lvlib:Command Loop.vi >> NI_VS Workspace ExecutionAPI.lvlib:NI VeriStand - Connect to System.vi

Possible reason(s):

LabVIEW:  The VI is not executable.  This error may occur because the VI is either broken or contains a subVI that LabVIEW cannot locate. Select File>>Open to open the VI and verify that you can run it.

More detailed log:

Spoiler

• Start Date: 09/12/16 12:37
• Loading System Definition file: E:\Temp\TestSwitchesCustomDevice\TestSwitches.nivssdf
• Initializing TCP subsystem...
• Starting TCP Loops...
• Connection established with target Controller.
• Preparing to synchronize with targets...
• Querying the active System Definition file from the targets...
• Stopping TCP loops.
Waiting for TCP loops to shut down...
• TCP loops shut down successfully.
• Unloading System Definition file...
• Connection with target Controller has been lost.
• Start Date: 09/12/16 12:37
• Loading System Definition file: E:\Temp\TestSwitchesCustomDevice\TestSwitches.nivssdf
• Preparing to deploy the System Definition to the targets...
• Compiling the System Definition file...
• Initializing TCP subsystem...
• Starting TCP Loops...
• Connection established with target Controller.
• Sending reset command to all targets...
• Preparing to deploy files to the targets...
• Starting download for target Controller...
• Opening WebDAV session to IP 172.30.90.245...
• Processing Action on Deploy VIs...
• Gathering target dependency files...
• Downloading TestSwitches_Controller.nivsdat [129 kB] (file 1 of 3)
• Downloading CalibrationData.nivscal [0 kB] (file 2 of 3)
• Downloading TestSwitches_Controller.nivsparam [0 kB] (file 3 of 3)
• Closing WebDAV session...
• Files successfully deployed to the targets.
• Starting deployment group 1...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The VeriStand Gateway encountered an error while deploying the System Definition file.

Details:
Error 1003 occurred at Project Window.lvlib:Project Window.vi >> Project Window.lvlib:Command Loop.vi >> NI_VS Workspace ExecutionAPI.lvlib:NI VeriStand - Connect to System.vi

Possible reason(s):

LabVIEW:  The VI is not executable.  This error may occur because the VI is either broken or contains a subVI that LabVIEW cannot locate. Select File>>Open to open the VI and verify that you can run it.
=========================
NI VeriStand:  Open VI Reference in NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:Open Custom Device Driver VI Reference.vi->NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:Launch Asynchronous Custom Device.vi->NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:VeriStand Engine State Machine.vi->NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:VeriStand Engine.vi->NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:VeriStand Engine Wrapper (RT).vi<APPEND>
c:\ni-rt\VeriStand\Custom Devices\NI-Switch Relay\NI-Switch Relay Engine.llb\NI-Switch RT Driver VI.vi

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
• Sending reset command to all targets...
• Stopping TCP loops.
Waiting for TCP loops to shut down...
• TCP loops shut down successfully.
• Unloading System Definition file...
• Connection with target Controller has been lost.

Things tried so far:

• Checked the build specification of the custom device
• Check that the resource names match between MAX and Veristand's SDF
• Tried the relay board with a DAQmx task (it works)
• Check the Custom Device NI-Switch Relay.xml file, removed the "Windows" target

Any advice? I can provide more information as needed.

[Kilometers]

Just to verify it's not a connection problem, if you remove the custom device from the system definition and try deploying with the same settings does it still error? Also, could you attach a MAX Technical Report of your RT system to your next post? 

[Kilometers]

@professor_xh 

I received word from Kalin that you had done some additional testing. Specifically "For a sanity check, I uninstalled 16.0 on the host and target and reinstalled it.  I was still able to successfully deploy.”

I would say the next step would be formatting the controller and reinstalling from your own machine entirely (without the image I provided). If you can still deploy after, than I would assume some change to the hardware took effect when I updated the driver here. If you try that and it doesn’t deploy, the next step would be to do a diff between the working and nonfunctional image to see what’s changed.

[professor_xh]

I haven't been able to try that latest request with sytem we were troubleshooting.  But I have had the issue pop on another bench with switch installation.  There are a couple of differences in the approach this around.  The host and target are running on Veristand 2015SP1.  For NI-Switch Upgrade we went straight to NI Switch 16.0. We received the same unknown error and this time the deployment hung and the chassis had to be restarted.  I've included a link to image for inspection.

[professor_xh]

After doing, so I reformatted the remote target and tried reinstallation. Still no luck.

[Kilometers]

At this point it sounds like something is messing up the NI-Switch driver installation at your site. The quickest way to figure out what's missing, and what installer it's linked to would be doing a diff between the working image I sent you and an image for the same system with your installation of the driver that doesn't work. 

[professor_xh]

What tool would I use for diff'ing?

I know RAD allows image comparison. Is there another tool I should use?