LabWindows/CVI for Windows Vista/XP/2000, Version 8.1.1

Readme File

This file contains installation information, programming considerations, and changes that are too recent to be included in the LabWindows/CVI Help. Refer to the LabWindows/CVI Release Notes for more information about new features.

Minimum System Requirements

To run LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1, you must have the following items:

• Personal computer using a Pentium 1GHz or higher microprocessor
• Windows Vista, XP, or 2000 Service Pack 3 or later
• 1024 × 768 resolution (or higher) video adapter
• Minimum of 128 MB of RAM, 256 MB recommended
• 200 MB free hard disk space
• Microsoft-compatible mouse

Installing LabWindows/CVI

National Instruments recommends that you install the complete LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 program to take full advantage of all LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 functionality. If you choose to install with options, select the options you want and follow the on-screen directions. If necessary, you can run the setup program again to install or remove additional files.

Before Installation

• Installing LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 replaces LabWindows/CVI 8.1. You do not need to uninstall LabWindows/CVI 8.1 prior to installing version 8.1.1.
• If you install the LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module and device drivers with LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1, you must install these products in the following order:
  1. LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1
  2. LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module (you do not need to reinstall if you already have LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module 8.1 installed)
  3. Device driver software from the NI Device Drivers CD set
  If you are installing the LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module, do not install the device driver software when you are prompted to do so during the LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 installation. You will be prompted to install the device driver software again during the LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module installation.
• You must explicitly select the Win32 SDK feature of the LabWindows/CVI installer to install the complete Windows SDK from the LabWindows/CVI Full Development System (FDS). Some Windows SDK header and import library files are included when you install the LabWindows/CVI Base Package. The Windows SDK help file is available only with the LabWindows/CVI FDS.
• The LabWindows/CVI installation includes the LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 Run-Time Engine. This version overwrites previous versions of the run-time engine. After you install LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1, executables and DLLs created with previous versions of LabWindows/CVI automatically use the new LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 Run-Time Engine.
• If you install LabWindows/CVI onto a network drive, you might encounter an error during installation that prevents files that the IVI Instrument Driver Wizard requires from being installed. This issue does not affect other functionality in LabWindows/CVI.
• If you have installed Microsoft Security Update 896358, you might not be able to view topics within the LabWindows/CVI Help if the file is on a network drive. To solve this issue, copy the .chm files that LabWindows/CVI installs to your local hard drive and launch them as normal.
• The IVI Installer Creator and IVI Specific Driver Test Suite items are selected by default in the installer feature tree only if the IVI Compliance Package is installed. If the IVI Compliance Package is not installed, you can select these items, but you must then install the IVI Compliance Package from the NI Device Drivers CD set to use these features.

Running the Installation

If you already have LabWindows/CVI 8.0 or earlier installed on your computer, be sure to install version 8.1.1 in a different directory or uninstall the other version before installing LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1.

Complete the following steps to install LabWindows/CVI 8.1:

1. Insert the LabWindows/CVI CD into the CD drive. If the CD does not run automatically, open Windows Explorer, right-click the CD drive icon, and select AutoPlay.
2. Select Install LabWindows/CVI on the National Instruments LabWindows/CVI screen.
3. LabWindows/CVI prompts you to enter your user information. Select one of the following options:
   
   • Install this product using the following serial number
   • Install this product for evaluation
   If you choose to enter a serial number, enter the serial number found on your Certificate of Ownership card. LabWindows/CVI automatically uses this serial number when you run the NI Activation Wizard.
4. Continue to follow the instructions on the screen.

Activating LabWindows/CVI

Complete the following steps to activate LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1.

1. Select the Automatically activate through a secure Internet connection option and click Next. Your computer must be connected to the Internet for this option to work. If you do not have Internet access on your computer, refer to the LabWindows/CVI Release Notes.
2. The serial number should be automatically entered for you. If not, enter the serial number found on your Certificate of Ownership card and click Next. If you already have a LabWindows/CVI 8.1 serial number, you can continue using it.
3. Fill in the necessary information and click Next.
4. Check the option if you would like to receive a confirmation email of your activation and click Next.
5. After a brief moment, you should receive a message indicating whether LabWindows/CVI has been activated or not. Enter or verify your serial number. Click Next.
6. Continue to follow the instructions on the screen.
7. When you successfully activate LabWindows/CVI, click Finish. LabWindows/CVI will then display a window indicating when this license will expire.

For more information about activation, refer to the LabWindows/CVI Release Notes.

After Installation

• Installing LabWindows/CVI in a New Directory—If you installed driver or toolkit software for a previous version of LabWindows/CVI and you install LabWindows/CVI 8.1 in a new directory, you must uninstall and reinstall the LabWindows/CVI portion of the driver or toolkit software.

Running LabWindows/CVI on Windows Vista

Windows Vista introduces User Account Control, which makes certain parts of the registry and directory locations read-only for non-administrative users. LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 makes the following locations writeable: the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\National Instruments\CVI\ registry area and the C:\Program Files\National Instruments\CVI81\ directory.

Known Issues

• Debugging Executables on Windows Vista—On Windows Vista, executables that contain setup, install or update as part of their name automatically require administrator privileges. If you run these executables as stand-alone from a user-level account, Windows will prompt you for an administrator password. However, LabWindows/CVI cannot debug these applications from a user-level account. When you try to run them, LabWindows/CVI displays a Could not run executable notification. NI recommends that you rename your executable so that it does not contain those words in its name.
• Performing DAQmx USB Buffered Operations on Windows Vista—On Windows Vista x64 Edition, running a program that uses NI-DAQmx 8.5 and terminating the program while it is performing DAQmx USB buffered operations can cause the machine to reboot or to display a Windows kernel bugcheck.
  
  The following may cause a process to terminate unexpectedly:
  
  
  • Selecting the End Process option in the Task Manager to kill the process.
  • Using a utility such as pskill to request process termination.
  • Shutting down the computer from the command line using shutdown -r -t 0 while the task is still running.
  • The process encountering an access violation, breakpoint, or other unhandled exception.
  • Attempting to log off, restart, or shutdown and clicking Cancel when the process prompts you to quit or cancel.
  • Choosing to stop the process from the LabWindows/CVI debugger while it is running or suspended.
• Using Functions Requiring the Low-Level Driver—The LabWindows/CVI low-level driver is not supported on Windows Vista x64 Edition. The following functions are affected: inp, inpd, inpw, MapPhysicalMemory, outp, outpd, outpw, ReadFromPhysicalMemory, ReadFromPhysicalMemoryEx, StartPCSound, StopPCSound, UnMapPhysicalMemory, WriteToPhysicalMemory, WriteToPhysicalMemoryEx.
• Using Compressed Icons—To use a Windows Vista compliant icon (featuring very large icons or PNG compression), you must replace the resource compiler shipped with LabWindows/CVI with the one included in the Windows SDK released with Windows Vista. Install the SDK and copy the rc.exe and rcdll.dll files from C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0\Bin to CVIxx\sdk\bin.
• Registering ActiveX Servers—When you build ActiveX servers in LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 and later on Windows Vista and XP, the ActiveX servers are registered in your user profile. This registration is not visible to other users on your system. On previous versions of Windows, ActiveX servers are registered for all users. When you register these servers outside the LabWindows/CVI environment, they are always registered for all users; this option requires administrator privileges on Vista.
• Registering LabWindows/CVI as an ActiveX Server—Installing LabWindows/CVI registers it for all users. Launching LabWindows/CVI registers LabWindows/CVI as an ActiveX server. LabWindows/CVI is registered in your user profile on all versions of Windows.
• Viewing Help—If you open the LabWindows/CVI Help outside of LabWindows/CVI, such as launching it through the Start menu, you might not see all driver or toolkit content. Select Help»Contents to open the LabWindows/CVI Help from within LabWindows/CVI to ensure that all driver and toolkit content is available.
• Setting the Compatibility Mode for Real-Time DLLs—When you create a DLL to run on a real-time target, you must use the Visual C/C++ compatibility mode. The Borland C/C++ compatibility mode is not supported for real-time DLLs.
• Using the LabWindows/CVI Conversion Wizard in Visual Studio 2005—Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 removed support for the single-threaded version of its C library. Therefore, you must configure your project's linker settings to ignore directives to use the single-threaded C library. In Visual Studio, select Project»Properties and expand the properties tree to the Configuration Properties»Linker»Input item. Add libc to the Ignore Specific Library option. Refer to the I Receive Linker Errors When Using LabWindows/CVI-Generated Static Libraries and Object Files in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 KnowlegeBase article for more information.
• Updating an Existing Distribution—The LabWindows/CVI distribution creation feature no longer provides the option to include .obj files for both compatible compilers. If you convert an existing distribution that has this option enabled, LabWindows/CVI includes the .obj files only for the current compatible compiler in the updated distribution.
• Using the NI Instrument I/O Assistant—The Instrument I/O Assistant 2.0, which is included in the NI Device Drivers CD set packaged with LabWindows/CVI, generates LabWindows/CVI code that is not backward compatible with code that previous versions of the Instrument I/O Assistant generated. If you run code generated with the Instrument I/O Assistant 2.0 with an existing application, the code in that application might not compile.
• Uninstalling LabWindows/CVI—If you have multiple versions of LabWindows/CVI installed and you uninstall one of the versions, the remaining installation will be missing its file associations, and its automation capabilities will not function properly. To fix this problem, perform a repair installation of the remaining LabWindows/CVI version.
• Making Backup .uir Files—If you have been using LabWindows/CVI 7.1 or earlier, make backup copies of your .uir files. Once you save .uir files in LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1, the .uir files are no longer compatible with versions 7.1 or earlier. You cannot load .uir files that you have saved in LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 in LabWindows/CVI 7.1 or earlier.
  
  You can save .uir files you create or load in LabWindows/CVI 8.1.1 in LabWindows/CVI 7.1 format. Select File»Save .uir As and specify LabWindows/CVI 7.1 User Interface (*.uir) for the Save as type option. If you save a user interface with features that were added in LabWindows/CVI 8.0 and later, those features are removed when you save the file in 7.1 format.
• Using Microsoft Excel as an ActiveX Control—If you develop an application that uses Excel as an ActiveX control on a LabWindows/CVI user interface panel, make sure that a separate instance of Excel is not running simultaneously. Otherwise, programmatic calls to the Excel control might not work as expected after the separate Excel application terminates.
• Navigating the Tools Library Topics in the LabWindows/CVI Help—If you click a link from a topic in the Tools Library section of the LabWindows/CVI Help or from the toolslib function panel help, you cannot use the Back button in the help viewer toolbar to return to the original topic.
• Analysis Function Behavior Changes—The updated Advanced Analysis Library functions are backward compatible with the previous versions. However, the following function behavior has changed from LabWindows/CVI 7.1 to LabWindows/CVI 8.x:
  • SVD and CxSVD—The following formula defines the SVD factorization of an n-by-m matrix A: A = USV^T.
    
    In LabWindows/CVI 7.1 and earlier, U is an orthogonal matrix of dimensions n-by-m. In LabWindows/CVI 8.x and later, U is an orthogonal matrix of dimensions n-by-min(n, m).
    
    In LabWindows/CVI 7.1 and earlier, V is an orthogonal matrix of dimensions m-by-m. In LabWindows/CVI 8.x and later, V is an orthogonal matrix of dimensions m-by-min(n, m).
    
    In LabWindows/CVI 7.1 and earlier, S is a diagonal matrix of dimensions m-by-m. In LabWindows/CVI 8.x and later, S is a diagonal matrix of dimensions min(n, m)-by-min(n, m).
    
    In LabWindows/CVI 7.1 and earlier, CxSVD has the following requirement: If numberOfRows (n) < numberOfColumns (m), you must allocate m*m*sizeof(ComplexNum) bytes of memory to the input matrix and the U orthogonal matrix. LabWindows/CVI 8.x no longer has this requirement.
  • Lu and CxLU—In LabWindows/CVI 7.1 and earlier, if the input matrix is singular, the functions stop the decomposition and return SingularMatrixErr. In LabWindows/CVI 8.x and later, if the input matrix is singular, the functions complete the decomposition and return SingularMatrixWarn. In this case, there are one or more zero elements along the diagonal of U.
  • CxTrace—CxTrace accepts only a square matrix. In LabWindows/CVI 7.1 and earlier, the function requires both the number of rows and the number of columns as input parameters. In LabWindows/CVI 8.x and later, matrixSize specifies both the number of rows and the number of columns. The numberOfColumns parameter in LabWindows/CVI 7.1 and earlier is a reserved parameter in LabWindows/CVI 8.x. This parameter is not referenced in the function.
  • ConditionNumber and CxConditionNumber—In LabWindows/CVI 7.1 and earlier, these functions return NaN for singular input matrices. In LabWindows/CVI 8.x and later, these functions return Inf for singular input matrices.
  • GenLSFit—In LabWindows/CVI 8.x and later, GenLSFit calculates the mean squared error as the weighted mean square error, which differs from the prior implementation of the function.

Bug Fixes

• Distribution loaded from disk has no files in it if it was saved without a file group
• Running a function panel can hang LabWindows/CVI in some rare situations
• Some memory is lost when repeatedly loading and unloading some DLLs built with LabWindows/CVI
• Memory is lost when using SetCtrlBitmap to replace a bitmap plotted in a graph
• Values entered in a graph axis ignore the gain, the offset, and the engineering units
• The UI to Code Converter does not support images in menus
• Cannot use Microsoft System assembly when running with Borland compatibility mode
• ExcelRpt_ChartWizard and ExcelRpt_SetChartAttribute are not working as expected
• UIR Localization Utility crashes when loading panels with digital graphs
• GetMonitorAttribute fails if called on a system that is accessed via remote desktop and desktop is minimized
• ATTR_COLOR_DEPTH monitor attribute is not working as expected
• If a distribution is created before the project is built, the DLL dependencies are not set correctly
• Canvas does not scale its image properly when the panel is resized
• Some memory is lost when repeatedly loading and discarding panels containing splitter controls
• Relocating the distribution application directory does not relocate subdirectories
• Some memory is lost when running the 3dgraph.prj example program
• The timeout value is not retained when running the serial.prj example program
• Custom control menu in the User Interface Editor disappears when the system color palette changes
• Moving memory blocks using pointers to arbitrary locations within an array crashes in debug mode
• Deselection behavior of required LabWindows/CVI Run-Time Engine sub-items in the Edit Distribution dialog box is inconsistent
• GetTableCellFromPoint does not work correctly when a table is scrolled
• LabWindows/CVI crashes in some rare cases when removing the colon character
• IVI Attribute Editor displays an error when adding a class attribute and the IVI class drivers are not installed
• The IVI Installer Creator and the IVI Driver Test Suite are not being uninstalled when LabWindows/CVI is uninstalled
• Some Advanced Analysis library functions, such as MatrixMul can crash when run on an Intel Core or Core2 processor
• Linux content appears in Windows version of the LabWindows/CVI Help
• InetFTPGetDirList can crash when listing a directory that contains a large number of files
• Changes made in the Edit Menu Bar dialog box to the background color of the image bar of a submenu are not retained
• The Edit Control dialog box incorrectly reports Default value is out of range when you change the Minimum or Maximum value, and the control is in Coerce mode
• DDC_GetDataValues returns an error when reading time data in double format

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