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Using Measurement Studio 8.1.2 with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

Primary Software: Measurement Studio>>Enterprise Edition (Full Development System)
Primary Software Version: 8.1.2
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: N/A

Problem:
I have Measurement Studio 8.1.2 and I would like to use it with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 or one of the Microsoft Visual Studio Express Editions. Is this possible?

Solution:
Measurement Studio 8.1.2 .NET class libraries and user interface controls work with Visual Studio 2008 and the Visual Studio Express Editions. The Measurement Studio 8.1.2 C++ libraries do NOT work with Visual Studio 2008, nor will the Measurement Studio 8.1.2 C++ libraries work with the Visual Studio Express Editions.

Measurement Studio 8.1.2 is designed to work with Visual Studio 2005 and therefore Measurement Studio does not install shipping examples and does not integrate with Visual Studio 2008. This means that if you install Measurement Studio 8.1.2 with Visual Studio 2008, the Measurement Studio .NET controls are not in the toolbox and you do not have a Measurement Studio menu item in the Visual Studio 2008 toolbar. However, you can add the Measurement Studio .NET controls manually. Refer to the Using Measurement Studio 8.1.2 and Prior in Visual Studio 2008 tutorial for more information.

The following sections discuss additional topics to consider when using Measurement Studio 8.1.2 with Visual Studio 2008.

Installation

If you have Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008 on your system, Measurement Studio 8.1.2 installs all the .NET libraries automatically. If you only have Visual Studio 2008 installed, then you must unselect features that require specific versions of Visual Studio to be on the system which include the Visual Studio Integration feature and all of the C++ support features. See the attached snapshot, MStudioInstallerWithVSFeaturesUnselected.png.

Using Measurement Studio 8.1.2 User Interface Controls and Analysis Libraries in Visual Studio 2008

The Measurement Studio 8.1.2 Analysis libraries and user interface controls are licensed assemblies which require a license string to be added to the .licx file associated with the project. When you drop a control or a component onto a form, Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio Express will automatically add a .licx file to the project and add the appropriate license string. However, Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio Express do NOT add or update the .licx file if you add a reference to an assembly, which is what is required for using the Measurement Studio Analysis libraries. Because of this behavior, you need to add the license string manually to the .licx file associated with the project. For more information about manually adding the license information to use the Measurement Studio .NET class libraries, refer to the Measurement Studio help topic Licensing Measurement Studio .NET Class Libraries without Integrated Tools in the NI Measurement Studio Help.

Measurement Studio Help files

The Measurement Studio 8.1.2 help files are designed to integrate into the Visual Studio 2005 help system. If you have Visual Studio 2005 installed on your system, you can view the Measurement Studio help by opening up the MSDN Help Viewer for Visual Studio. If you do not have Visual Studio 2005, you can use a free tool, the H2 Help Viewer, to view the help files. The help files have a .hxs extension and are installed in the <MeasurementStudioVS2005>\Help directory. You can open the individual .hxs files in the folder, or you can view all of the help content by opening the Measurement Studio namespace. Open the Measurement Studio namespace by selecting File » Open Namespace in the H2 Viewer.

NoteVersions prior to Measurement Studio 8.1.2 have not been tested with Visual Studio 2008. However, all prior versions are expected to work as well. The Visual Studio .NET 2003 (i.e. .NET Framework 1.1 dependent) .NET libraries were also not tested with Visual Studio 2008. However, because these .NET libraries were tested with Visual Studio 2005, they are expected to work in Visual Studio 2008.

Related Links:
Developer Zone Tutorial: Using Measurement Studio 8.1.2 and Prior in Visual Studio 2008
KnowledgeBase 444DTFTG: Measurement Studio Support for Visual Studio Express Editions

H2 Help Viewer

Attachments:

Report Date: 01/16/2008
Last Updated: 02/19/2008
Document ID: 4HF6M96S

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