Using the NI Community
Browsing and Registration
Anyone is free to browse all the content in the NI Community without registering or logging in. However, if you want to ask a question, reply to a topic, or give kudos to another user, you must register. To register, click on the Register button at the top right of the page.
You will be prompted to create an NI User Account by providing your country, email address, and name. You will also be asked to choose an alias -- your username -- to be used in the NI Community. Your username is the name you will be recognized by as you engage in this space.
Please note that by creating an account, you agree to National Instruments' privacy policy. By using the NI Community, you agree to follow the User Guidelines as well as the full National Instruments Terms of Use.
Searching
Before starting a new topic, we recommend you do a search in the forums to see if your question has already been answered. You can quickly start a search from any page by using the search bar located below the main navigation at the top of a page.
Once you click search, you will be taken to the results page where you can use various filters to narrow down your results.
For more information on searching, please refer to the topic: Searching on the Forums
Posting
When you're ready to make a new post, take a look at the navigation on the left sidebar to find the most appropriate place to start your topic. We have categories for our most active software and hardware boards, as well as additional product boards. Find the category that best fits your topic subject and click on the + icon to expand the navigation.
After finding the board that matches your subject, click it to open. Then click on the START A TOPIC button near the top of the page.
When starting a new topic, as you type your subject title, search suggestions will appear for topics similar to yours. You may want to do a complete search first to see if your question has already been answered.
When writing your post, in order to get the best help and support from other users, always make sure to respectfully post as much detailed information as possible in the clearest, most concise way possible.
Useful information to provide in your post includes the following:
- Specific hardware being used (for example, PCI-6221 or USB-6008)
- All software and drivers being used, as well as versions
- Operating system
- Code in the form of a VI or Zip of your LabVIEW project
- Screenshots of important code snippets
- Error number and/or detailed error message description
- Troubleshooting steps already attempted
We ask that you please do not post your topic to multiple boards. If you accidentally create duplicate posts, you can use the "Report to Moderator" option found in the Options menu of your post to ask for your post to be removed or merged.
If you have made a post, but it seems to keep disappearing, it's possible your post was caught by the community spam system. Read more about this in the post Spam Management in the Community.
Expectations
The NI Community is a peer-to-peer support and collaboration community made up of volunteers. As such, you will typically see replies to your topic over the next few days after posting. Posting your topic in the right area will get your question in front of the right audience and providing sufficient details will help you get a solution more quickly.
Remember: The NI Community serves to facilitate collaboration on topics and potential solutions for issues. Contributors in the community will not write code for you or help with homework problems -- they will, however, gladly help you troubleshoot problems that you have already actively tried to solve.
While waiting for replies to your question, we encourage you to browse to find other topics you can contribute to. You may be able to help answer questions for one of your fellow users.
Recognition
You may ask yourself, “Why should I post responses to other people’s questions? What’s in it for me?” With our ranking system, the more you post, answer questions, and participate with quality content, you are earning the trust of other users, as well as recognition over time for being a trusted advisor that offers up useful tips, good suggestions, and valid solutions. Not only that, but collaboration with other community members may also help you gain new insight and other viewpoints on your own systems – thus serving as a benefit to you. To learn more about our ranking system, please see the topic: Recognition and Ranks.
There are two ways to give another user recognition. On each post, you will see a kudos button, or if you are the topic creator, you will also see the Accept as Solution button.
Kudos
You can kudo a post you found helpful or insightful. Everyone can see the number of kudos you have received – the more you have, the more people will turn to you for answers!
Accepted Solutions
When you start a new topic in the discussion forums, you have the ability to accept any of the replies as the solution to your question. Accepting a solution will mark your topic as solved, and highlight the reply in the topic so others can more easily view the solution.
When you reply to other topics, you also have the possibility of getting your post marked as the solution. Like kudos, accepted solutions are visible to all – so, the more you have, the more trusted you will be!
For more information on Accepted Solutions, please view the topic: Using Accepted Solutions.
