Find Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix VI in LabVIEW

Issue Details

When I try to open my old LabVIEW VI, a dialog box begins searching for the subVI Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix.vi and asks me to find this subVI. When I click ignore and open my LabVIEW VI, there is a white box with a gray question mark where the Get Device Name with Device Prefix VI should be. 

Solution

Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix is part of the DAQmx examples, and a very useful subVI that has been built into a number of example programs. There are a several ways that you can use to navigate to the Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix VI. For a one time fix, use either of the first two methods. To avoid this problem in the future, the last method is more appropriate.

• If you know the location of the SubVI, quick solution is to right-click the missing subVI in your VI, then choosing Replace » Select a VI. It is located among the DAQmx utilities inside your LabVIEW's example folder, e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2018\examples\DAQmx\_Utility\Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix.vi.
• Note: The following method works only with older versions of LabVIEW and DAQmx. Newer versions contain another example instead, that uses a differently-named subVI (Hardware Input and Output » DAQmx » Synchronization » Analog Input - Synchronization.vi, which uses Get Full Terminal Name.vi). This method is a simple fix in case you only need to find this subVI once. After your VI has opened with the missing function, you can use the NI Example Finder to open one of LabVIEW's example VIs that has this subVI built in. LabVIEW will then recognize the subVI and replace the gray question mark in your original VI with the correct subVI. A good example program to open is Multi-Device Sync-AI and AO-Shared Timebase & Trig-DSA.This VI can be found by navigating to Help » Find Examples, then clicking Hardware Input and Output » DAQmx » Synchronization » Multi Device » Multi-Device Sync-AI and AO-Shared Timebase & Trig-DSA.vi. After this VI opens, you should now have the Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix VI on your original VI's block diagram.
• To avoid this problem in the future, you can introduce the location of the needed subVI into LabVIEW's VI search path. With this method implemented, LabVIEW will now automatically look in the proper location and find the subVI instead of asking where to search for the Get Terminal Name with Device Prefox subVI when your VI loads. Perform the following steps to do so:
  1. Open LabVIEW.
  2. Navigate to the Tools » Options menu. In the Options dialog box, select Paths from the left-hand column.
  3. On the right-handed side, select VI Search Path from the drop-down menu.

4. Uncheck Use default to be able to add paths.
5. Click Browse and navigate to e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2018\examples\DAQmx\_Utility.
6. Once this path is selected, insert this path into the list by clicking Insert After.

  

7. Now, when you open a VI that uses the Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix VI, LabVIEW will find it automatically. Depending on your version of LabVIEW, you might get a popup to confirm the new vi. Select the the Get Terminal name with Device prefix VI from the list ans click OK.

8. When your VI finishes loading, a warning pop up dialog box will appear letting you know that the Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix VI was found in a different location than expected:

Additional Information

In case you feel you will be using the Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix VI frequently as you build code, you can place it into a folder that will make this function available in the User Library Palette of the Functions Palette. To do this, copy the VI from the location mentioned above into your user.lib folder, typically located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2018\user.lib. After re-starting LabVIEW, you can right-click the Block Diagram to bring up the Functions Palette. Navigate to Functions Platte » All Functions » User Library and you will see Get Terminal Name with Device Prefix VI.