1. Measurement & Automation Explorer
All of the National Instruments hardware devices are configured in the Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). You launch MAX from the icon on the desktop. Once launched, you will see several groups that you can work with to configure your hardware devices for use in LabVIEW:
Data Neighborhood – This group lists Virtual Channels you’ve set up, or right-click on the “Data Neighborhood” title to create a new channel. A virtual channel simplifies programming by providing a named alias for the channel, including scaling information for the data returned from the channel. Virtual Channels work only with National Instruments data acquisition cards. LabVIEW 7 provides a simple method for creating these channels from within LabVIEW, so you may not use this group very often.
Devices and Interfaces – This lists the hardware in your computer. You’ll see a few sub-categories:
Traditional NI-DAQ Devices: This category includes NI data acquisition devices being called from the older, traditional NI-DAQ driver. This group is still included for people using older data acquisition cards not supported under the NI DAQmx device driver.
NI DAQmx Devices: This is where you will configure most of the hardware from National Instruments. Your card should show up here, and by highlighting a card’s name you can access test panels, calibration information, or other properties.
GPIB Devices: If you are using a National Instruments GPIB card, the card will appear here. From this group you can find, identify, and communicate with instruments connected to the GPIB card.
PXI System: Hardware in this group is PXI, a higher-end test system.
Ports: Your serial and parallel ports will appear in this group.
You may also see other categories depending on the software and hardware installed on your computer.
Historical Data – Data collected into the Citadel Database using the LabVIEW Data & Supervisory Control Toolkit will appear here.
Scales – Custom scales set up for use in the Virtual Channels appear here.
Software – This lists all of the software, including version information, installed on your computer.
Remote Systems – If you are controlling a system that is connected over an ethernet link, you will access it here. This is used primarily for real-time control systems that do not provide a windows-based interface of their own.