Get Attributes in IMAQdx vs. IMAQ for IEEE 1394 - KnowledgeBase - Support

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Get Attributes in IMAQdx vs. IMAQ for IEEE 1394

Primary Software: Driver Software>>NI-IMAQ for IEEE-1394
Primary Software Version: 2.0.2
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: N/A

Problem:
I recently migrated from IMAQ for IEEE 1394 to IMAQdx, and am now trying to get certain attributes like brightness, shutter speed, and gain for my camera. I formerly used IMAQ1394GetAttribute for C or the Attr property with the IMAQ1394 property node that accepted an enumerated input. Now in IMAQdx I do not see these options. Where can I find them?

Solution:

Using the IMAQdx driver, these attributes are now dynamically obtained using a string input. The reason for this change is that with the IMAQ 1394 driver, all cameras were DCAM compliant and had a specific set of attributes. With the IMAQdx driver, there are many more supported cameras with varying attributes. Therefore, instead of enumerating a set list of features, it was necessary for users to be allowed to choose the available properties for their particular cameras. Refer to the particular section that matches the programming environment that you are using to find out how attributes can be obtained with IMAQdx.

For LabVIEW:

The attributes for the camera can be obtained in LabVIEW by calling the IMAQdx property node found in the NI-IMAQdx palette in LabVIEW. Refer to Figure 1 for a comparison on how the two different drivers are used to change the level of brightness for a particular camera as an example.

If you are getting error: -1074360305 attribute not supported by the camera or you are unsure of what attribute string to pass to the Active Attribute property, use the IMAQdx Enumerate Attributes.vi to extract information on the exact string of an attribute, whether or not that attribute is readable or writable, and what datatype it can accept for an input. The IMAQdx Enumerate Attributes.vi populates all of the available properties for the camera, and can be indexed accordingly. The properties that show up are specific to the camera that is part of the session that the property node is receiving a reference to.

For more information regarding the use of these functions and other IMAQdx functions for LabVIEW, please refer to the NI-IMAQdx VI Reference Help found in LabVIEW under Help » NI-IMAQdx VI Reference Help. Also refer to pages 3-1 to 3-4 and 4-9 to 4-10 in the NI-IMAQdx User Manual found under Start » Programs » National Instruments » Vision » Documentation » NI-IMAQdx User Manual.

For Text-based languages:

Use the IMAQdxGetAttribute function call to get a particular attribute value or setting. If you are unsure of the exact name or value of an attribute, you can call IMAQdxEnumerateAttributes and IMAQdxEnumerateAttributeValues to get this data.

If you do not know in advance the number of attribute values that are available, you can get this information by completing these steps:

Call the IMAQdxGetAttribute function with the list parameter set to NULL. The necessary size is then stored in size.
Allocate list with the given size.
Call this function again using the previously allocated array

For more information regarding the use of these functions and other IMAQdx functions for text-based languages, please refer to the NI-IMAQdx Function Reference Help found under Start » Programs » National Instruments » Vision » Documentation » NI-IMAQdx Function Reference. Also refer to pages 3-1 to 3-4 in the NI-IMAQdx User Manual found under Start » Programs » National Instruments » Vision » Documentation » NI-IMAQdx User Manual.

- set brightness.JPG

Report Date: 01/19/2007
Last Updated: 02/19/2007
Document ID: 45IH3QY3

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