Using the NI-VISA Driver Wizard and NI-VISA to Register-Level Program a PXI/PCI Device under Windows
You can use NI-VISA to program PCI and PXI devices installed in a PC or PXI chassis. By writing an application for a PCI or PXI device with NI-VISA, you gain full access to the device configuration, including I/O and memory-mapped registers. NI-VISA programming is available under selected Windows OSs and the LabVIEW Real-Time Module.
This tutorial explains how to use NI-VISA and the NI-VISA Driver Wizard to develop a low-level driver for a PXI/PCI device. It describes the NI-VISA features you can use to register-level program PXI/PCI devices. To demonstrate how to use the VISA API for this purpose, the tutorial includes examples using a National Instruments E Series PXI data acquisition module, the NI PXI-6070E. This module is included as a tool to demonstrate NI-VISA features; therefore, there is no additional register-level information about this module. The only recommended methods for programming a PXI-6070E are to use the NI-DAQmx driver or the NI Measurement Hardware DDK (driver development kit).
In addition to register-level communication, this tutorial introduces the NI-VISA event-handling model for handling interrupts from a PXI/PCI device. It also explains how to use LabWindows/CVI to install the Windows setup files you create for your device and describes the NI-VISA API PXI functionality.
This tutorial includes the following topics:
Configuring NI-VISA to Recognize a PXI/PCI Device
Using NI-VISA to Communicate with a PXI/PCI Device