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What Is the Relationship Between .iak Files, the Project and MAX?

Primary Software: Driver Software>>NI-FieldPoint
Primary Software Version: 5.0; 4.0.1
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: N/A

Problem:
I've created a project with a FieldPoint target and noted that there are two .iak files. The first .iak file is generated in MAX when I initially set up the controller and the second is created when I add the target to my project. Which one is downloaded to my controller when I run my code?

Solution:
When a FieldPoint target is added to MAX, an .iak file is created. For the purposes of this example call this .iak file MAX.iak. When MAX.iak is saved it is downloaded to the target and all of the settings of that .iak file become active.

Now if you create a new project and add the FieldPoint target to it by adding a new target or importing a configuration file, a new .iak file is created that shares the same name as the project. Let's call this project LabVIEW.lvproj which means the .iak file will be named LabVIEW.iak. When a VI is run from the project or deployed to the target, the LabVIEW.iak file will overwrite whatever .iak file was loaded previously.  As a result, the LabVIEW.iak settings are active on the FieldPoint controller.

If you then open MAX and again save the MAX.iak, it is then re-downloaded to the target making the MAX.iak settings active.

If a VI is opened outside of the context of a project, the most recently uploaded .iak file remains active.

Additionally, custom scales behave differently in various situations. If you create a custom scale in MAX and then save it, the scale is uploaded to the target. LabVIEW only reads this scaling information from the target when LabVIEW is restarted. If you then create a VI OUTSIDE of a project, the scales will be effective. However, changing the scales in MAX will be ineffective until LabVIEW is restarted. Scales defined in the project will become effective when the .iak file from the project becomes effective.



Related Links:
KnowledgeBase 2MOC6RM9: Applying FieldPoint IAK Settings to a FieldPoint Real-Time Controller

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Report Date: 06/22/2007
Last Updated: 03/24/2008
Document ID: 4ALELKMY

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