Thank you for using National Instruments Switch Executive for Windows Vista/XP/2000. This file contains important information about NI Switch Executive and is organized into the following sections:
New Features in Version 3.0
Release Notes
System Requirements
Installed File Names and Locations
Software
Documentation
Examples
Uninstalling/Modifying NI Switch Executive
Fixed Issues
Known Issues
Changes by Release
New Features in Version 3.0
Support for schematic configuration
Support for Microsoft Excel spreadsheet import and export
Support for sharing of route legs
Performance improvements
Find route is 36% faster for multi-device routes
Sorting and endpoint selection are faster in MAX
Release Notes
Please take note of the following before installing the NI Switch Executive 3.0:
NI Switch Executive 3.0 properly upgrades any existing configurations created with previous versions, however configurations created with 3.0 do not work with previous versions of the software. If you are installing on top of a previous version and you want to be able to use your existing configurations in that previous version, you should first export your configurations to file to save them. After the 3.0 installation is complete, you cannot revert your configurations to a previous version.
Licensing: At installation, NI Switch Executive defaults to use an evaluation license of the software. Activate the software at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI License Manager to enable a fully functional license. Refer to the NI Switch Executive Help for more information about activating your software.
System Requirements
If you are using NI Switch Executive 3.0 with NI switch modules you must install NI-SWITCH 2.4 or later.
NI Switch Executive 3.0 or later supports Windows Vista/XP/2000. It is recommended that you have the most recent service pack for your operating system installed.
Development - Minimum System
Processor—Pentium III/Celeron 600 MHz or equivalent
RAM—128 MB
A screen resolution of 800×600
Windows XP/2000 or later, with all available critical updates and service packs
Development - Recommended System
Processor—Pentium 4 or equivalent
RAM—256 MB
A screen resolution of 1024×768
Windows Vista/XP/2000 or later, with all available critical updates and service packs
Deployment - Minimum System
Processor—Pentium 200 MHz or equivalent
RAM—64 MB
A screen resolution of 800×600 or no screen
Windows XP/2000 or later, with all available critical updates and service packs
Deployment - Recommended System
Processor—Pentium III/Celeron 600 MHz or equivalent
RAM—256 MB
A screen resolution of 1024×768 or no screen
Windows Vista/XP/2000 or later, with all available critical updates and service packs
Installed File Names and LocationsSoftware
Files
Installation Location on Windows XP/2000 and 32-Bit Version of Windows Vista
Installation Location on 64-Bit Version of Windows Vista
NI Switch Executive
Program Files\National Instruments\Switch Executive
Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Switch Executive
Documentation
Program Files\National Instruments\Switch Executive\Documentation
Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Switch Executive\Documentation
LabVIEW examples
\Examples\SwitchExecutive
\Examples\SwitchExecutive
CVI examples
\Samples\SwitchExecutive
\Samples\SwitchExecutive
TestStand examples
\Examples\Switching
\Examples\Switching
C/C++ examples
\Examples\C
\Examples\C
Visual Basic examples
\Examples\VisualBasic
\Examples\VisualBasic
Excel examples
\Examples\Excel
\Examples\Excel
NI Spy 2.5.1
Program Files\National Instruments\NI Spy
Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI Spy
LabVIEW Run-Time Engine 8.2.1
Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\8.2
Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Shared\LabVIEW Run-Time\8.2
IVI Compliance Package 3.2
Program Files\National Instruments\IVI
Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\IVI
NI-VISA 4.2
WINDOWS\system32
WINDOWS\sysWOW64
Measurement & Automation Explorer 4.4.1
Program Files\National Instruments\MAX
Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\MAX
NOTE: NI Switch Executive requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later.
Documentation
Documentation is available at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»Switch Executive»Documentation. The documentation set is composed of the following documents:
NI Switch Executive Readme
NI Switch Executive Getting Started Guide
Printed and PDF format. Includes hardware and software installation and covers the basics of using NI Switch Executive.
NI Switch Executive Help
HTML help format. Includes reference material and examples for using NI Switch Executive virtual devices in LabVIEW, CVI, TestStand, C, and Visual Basic.
Examples
Refer to Start»All Programs»National Instrument»Switch Executive»Examples for the examples for the supported ADEs.
Refer to the Installed File Names and Locations section for the installed locations of the example sets.
Uninstalling/Modifying NI Switch Executive
For Windows 2000/XP, complete the following steps:
Launch the Control Panel by selecting Start»Control Panel.
Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
Select National Instruments Software.
Click Change/Remove.
Select NI Switch Executive 3.0 from the dialog box that appears.
Click Remove to uninstall the product; click Modify to change the components that are installed.
For Windows Vista, complete the following steps:
Launch the Control Panel by selecting Start»Control Panel.
Double-click Programs and Features.
Select National Instruments Software.
Click the Uninstall/Change button.
Select NI Switch Executive 3.0 from the dialog box that appears.
Click Remove to uninstall the product; click Modify to change the components that are installed.
NOTE: NI Switch Executive 3.0 uses a later version of the LabVIEW Runtime Engine than NI Switch Executive 1.0. However, 3.0 does not uninstall the LabVIEW 6.0.2 Runtime Engine installed by 1.0. You can uninstall the LabVIEW 6.0.2 Runtime Engine after upgrading to 3.0 if other applications do not require that version of the runtime engine.
Fixed Issues
The following issue was fixed in NI Switch Executive 3.0:
CAR ID
Summary
109275
In some cases involving exclusions and hardwires, NI Switch Executive was not detecting exclusion conflicts. This fix might cause a previously validated configuration to not validate until the exclusion conflict is resolved.
Known Issues
The following are known issues for NI Switch Executive 3.0:
Reverting to NI Switch Executive 1.0 after installing NI Switch Executive 3.0
This downgrade is not recommended. The 3.0 release resolves several issues in 1.0 that can prevent your application from working with other NI products. Dependencies on subcomponents, such as the IVI Compliance Package (ICP), fail if you downgrade to 1.0.
If the downgrade to 1.0 is unavoidable, you must uninstall NI Switch Executive 3.0 and the ICP in this order. Refer to Uninstalling NI Switch Executive, then complete the following steps to remove ICP.
Select National Instruments Software and click Change.
Select IVI Compliance Package and click Uninstall.
Visit www.ivifoundation.org to download the IVI Foundation IVI Shared Component Cleanup Utility.
Run the IVI Foundation IVI Shared Component Cleanup Utility.
NOTE: After uninstalling ICP, IVI Shared Components remain on the system. To remove the remaining components, you must run the IVI Foundation IVI Shared Component Cleanup Utility mentioned in the steps above. These components are not uninstalled by the Windows uninstallation utility.
NOTE: If ICP was installed as a requirement for a distribution other than NI Switch Executive 3.0, you cannot uninstall the ICP without uninstalling the dependent product.
Once NI Switch Executive 3.0 and ICP have been removed, you can run the NI Switch Executive 1.0 installer. Be aware that 1.0 may not work properly with other NI products.
"DLL Not Found" - Microsoft Visual Basic
When using Microsoft Visual Basic, you may get a "DLL Not Found" error when trying to run your program in the IDE. This problem only occurs in the Visual Basic IDE and only occurs when another process (such as Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX), for instance) has loaded nise.dll. Workaround 1: Close any other processes that are using nise.dll. This is most commonly MAX. Workaround 2: You should not see this problem if running a compiled Visual Basic executable.
NI Switch Executive & NI SCXI-1127
If you are using the NI SCXI-1127 in multiplexer mode configured under Traditional NI-DAQ Devices in MAX, there are a few anomalies exposed by NI Switch Executive.
NOTE: These anomalies do not exist with the NI SCXI-1127 configured under NI-DAQmx Devices in MAX. If the NI SCXI-1127 is using a multiplexer topology, NI recommends configuring it under NI-DAQmx Devices in MAX.
First, the NI SCXI-1127 supports different wire modes (1, 2, or 4-wires). Through NI Switch Executive, however, you may only use it with 2-wire channels. Second, the list of channels retrieved from the instrument driver includes all of the channel names as though it was configured as a 1-wire switch. Because of this, half of the channels may appear valid in NI Switch Executive but actually are not. Consult the NI Switches Help file for a list of valid 2-wire channels.
Changing IVI Configurations After Creating an NI Switch Executive Virtual Device
The IVI configuration of an IVI switch is read at the time that the switch is added to the NI Switch Executive virtual device. If changes are made to the IVI configuration, such as creating virtual channels, changing default setup to make some channels come up as source or configuration channels, or to change the topology, those changes are not automatically reflected in NI Switch Executive. For NI Switch Executive to recognize the change, you must remove the IVI switch from the NI Switch Executive virtual device and then re-add it. The preferred manner for modifying source and configuration channel attributes is by using the Channels panel of NI Switch Executive in Measurement & Automation Explorer. Using the Channels panel instead of altering the IVI configuration helps you avoid removing and adding an IVI switch to reflect your changes.
Making changes to NI Switch Executive Virtual Devices via the configuration API
NI Switch Executive 3.0 provides support for programmatic editing of NISE virtual devices. However, if another process (such as MAX) has opened the same NISE virtual device configuration, the changes you make with the configuration API may not propagate to the other applications accessing the same virtual device. To avoid any data inconsistency issues, do not access the virtual device while it is being modified in another process.
NI Switch Executive uses channel exclusions to prevent connections between certain channels. If you associate excluded channels with the same hardwire or if you create an exclusion between two already hardwired channels, NI Switch Executive will not report an exclusion conflict. If your system is indeed wired in this manner, you have created an innate exclusion conflict electrically that NI Switch Executive can not resolve. To prevent innate exclusion conflicts, never wire excluded channels together.
When you run setup.exe to install the software from the CD, you are prompted to choose whether you want to always trust software from National Instruments. If you do not select this option, your installation may be interrupted by one or more Microsoft Windows security dialog boxes. However, if you run setup from the command line, you will not receive this prompt, and the installer will automatically install NI's Software Publisher Certificate to the your Windows Trusted Publisher Store. If you do not want to make this change to your Windows Trusted Publisher Store, do not choose this installation method.
NI recommends that you disable Windows power management modes, such as sleep, standby, and hibernate, when using this product. These modes terminate any NI Switch Executive operation in progress. Notice that in Windows Vista or on a laptop computer, the default power management settings are likely to enable sleep mode.
Changes by Release3.0 from 2.1.1
Support for schematic configuration
Support for Microsoft Excel spreadsheet import and export
Support for sharing of route legs
Performance improvements
Find route is 36% faster for multi-device routes
Sorting and endpoint selection are faster in MAX
2.1.1 from 2.1
Support for Windows Vista. For more information about Microsoft Windows Vista and NI products, refer to ni.com/vista.
Support for LabVIEW 8.2.1
2.1 from 2.0.1
Support for a programmable interface to manage the NI Switch Executive virtual device. Use the configuration API to programmatically create/edit the switches, channels, hardwires, buses, exclusions, routes, and route groups associated with a virtual device.
Support for the Route Specification Type.
Support for the NI Switch Executive Test Panel. Use the Test Panel to test the individual routes and route groups associated with a virtual device.
2.0.1 from 2.0
When specifying multiple routes in a single call to niSE Connect, NISE 2.0 used the same reserved for routing channel to complete every route which resulted in a connection error. For example, if you tried to connect column 1 to column 2, and column 3 to column 4 with the following route specification string "dev1/c1->dev1/c2 & dev1/c3->dev1/c4", the NISE 2.0 routing engine attempted to use the same reserved for routing row to complete both routes. As a result, NISE would return an error when trying to connect the second route. This behavior has been modified to search for an alternative reserved for routing channel when finding paths for concurrent connection requests.
When upgrading from NISE 1.x to 2.0 or importing a 1.x configuration into NISE 2.0, some routes became invalid. This occurred if the IVI instrument driver for a switch device from your configuration defined some of its channels as IVI Configuration channels. In these cases, NISE 2.0 attempted to convert these IVI configuration channels to NISE reserved for routing channels without rerouting previously configured stored routes. If the stored routes were using an IVI configuration channel as a part of the path, NISE 2.0 reported errors when attempting to connect these routes. NISE 2.0.1 will preserve the IVI configuration channels when upgrading or importing 1.x configurations without breaking existing routes.
If you have already imported your 1.x configuration into NISE 2.0, and your stored routes use IVI configuration channels, you can manually reroute all of the affected routes or upgrade to 2.0.1 and re-import the 1.x configuration.
When using a deployment license, executables using NISE configurations unexpectedly timed-out after 10 minutes--behavior of an evaluation license. In NISE 2.0.1, activated deployment licenses now take precedence over any evaluation licenses present on the system.
Fixed an issue where NI Switch Executive can close without warning when using the Volume Licensing Manager (VLM) and the VLM server is unavailable for 12 or more consecutive minutes.
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Patents
For patents covering the National Instruments products, refer to the appropriate location: Help» Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your CD, or ni.com/patents.