National Instruments FP-1001 - Manual (Page 35)

Chapter 4 Using the FieldPoint Software
© National Instruments Corporation 4-3 FieldPoint FP-1000/FP-1001 User Manual
Using the FieldPoint Server with LabVIEW
To use the FieldPoint server from LabVIEW, first configure and test
your FieldPoint device network from FieldPoint Explorer. After you are
satisfied with the configuration, save your
.iak configuration file. You
can then access named FieldPoint item values using the LabVIEW
FieldPoint Server Interface.
The LabVIEW FieldPoint Server Interface consists of seven VIs that
are used as an interface to the FieldPoint Server, as well as example VIs
that demonstrate the use of this interface.
• The FP Open.vi and the FP Close.vi are used to open and close a
communications session to the FieldPoint server, using the
configuration information stored in an IAK file.
• The FP Create Tag.vi is used to establish a communications session
with an I/O point defined in the IAK file.
• After establishing this session, use the FP Read.vi, FP Write.vi, or
FP Advise.vi to communicate with the device.
• The FP Get Configuration Info.vi is used to read the names of
communication resources, devices, and I/O items defined in the
IAK file.
During the FieldPoint Server installation, these VIs are installed and
made available in the LabVIEW function palette. For more information
on how to use these functions or the example VIs, refer to the file
Fplvreadme.wri that is installed with the FieldPoint Server, or refer
to the FieldPoint Server online help.
Using the FieldPoint Server with LabWindows/CVI
The LabWindows/CVI interface to the FieldPoint Server is an
instrument driver that has C functions similar to the VIs in the
LabVIEW FieldPoint Server interface. This instrument driver is
installed with the FieldPoint Server if LabWindows/CVI was already
installed on the computer.
After opening a session to the FieldPoint network using the
configuration information in an IAK file, you may either read or write
data using blocking calls or using callbacks. The function panels for
each of these C routines includes information on how to use the
functions.