Debug a VXI problem

Large VXI systems can be very complex, so your first task in debugging a VXI problem is to narrow the problem to as few variables as possible. For example, if you have a multichassis system, you may want to try to reproduce the problem with a single chassis. You may even need to pull instruments out of the system until you can narrow the problem to one or two instruments.

VISAIC and VIC are two very useful tools for isolating a problem. Reproducing a VXI problem using these utilities usually eliminates your application as the source of the problem. Using these interactive utilities, you can check basic communication with any instrument with the most basic interface to the driver.

Note  The VIC utility is not part of the basic NI-VXI installation. However, if you want to use VIC, run the NI-VXI installer and select a "custom" installation instead of "typical." In the Select Features dialog box, enable the NI-VXI API Development option and continue as prompted. After you reboot, VIC is ready for use.

If you cannot reproduce the problem with VISAIC or VIC, use NI Spy. NI Spy is a powerful utility that can track every NI-VISA, NI-VXI, or NI-488.2 call you make. It highlights calls that return errors or warnings and displays all parameters sent to the driver so you can check their validity. NI Spy can help you locate bugs quickly in large applications.

See also Debug a VXI program.