Glossary. National Instruments none, 373392C-01, Measurement Studio

Glossary

A

ActiveX

ActiveX control analog I/O annotate

ANSI C

API array control assembly

ActiveX control container asynchronous

Set of Microsoft technologies for reusable software components. Formerly called OLE.

Reusable software component that adds functionality to any ActiveX control container through exposed properties, methods, and events. The

Measurement Studio data acquisition, user interface, and analysis controls are examples of ActiveX controls.

Development environment that fully supports ActiveX controls and integrates them into its own environment using COM. An ActiveX control container enables you to specify how ActiveX controls interact with the environment through environment properties. Visual Basic is an example of an ActiveX control container.

Reading or writing data in continuously variable physical quantities, such as voltage or current.

Adding text, arrows, or shapes to describe or highlight a point or region on a graph.

C programming language defined by the American National Standards

Institute.

Application Programming Interface. A specification of software functions and their input and return parameters.

An array of Measurement Studio user interface controls that behave as a single unit.

A collection of one or more files that are versioned and deployed as a unit.

An assembly is the primary building block of a .NET Framework application. All managed types and resources are contained within an assembly and are marked either as accessible only within the assembly or as accessible from code in other assemblies.

Function that begins an operation and returns control to the program prior to the completion or termination of the operation.

© National Instruments Corporation G-1

Measurement Studio User Manual

Glossary

B

button

C

channel chart client callback

CodeBuilder

A control used to input or display Boolean information or to initiate an action in a program.

1. Physical—a terminal or pin at which you can measure or generate an analog or digital signal. A single physical channel can include more than one terminal, as in the case of a differential analog input channel or a digital port of eight lines. The name used for a counter physical channel is an exception because that physical channel name is not the name of the terminal where the counter measures or generates the digital signal.

2. Virtual—a collection of property settings that can include a name, a physical channel, input terminal connections, the type of measurement or generation, and scaling information. You can define NI-DAQmx virtual channels outside a task (global) or inside a task (local). Configuring virtual channels is optional in Traditional NI-DAQ and earlier versions, but is integral to every measurement you take in NI-DAQmx. In Traditional

NI-DAQ, you configure virtual channels in MAX. In NI-DAQmx, you can configure virtual channels in either MAX or in a program, and you can configure channels as part of a task or separately.

3. Switch—a switch channel represents any connection point on a switch.

It may be made up of one or more signal wires (commonly one, two, or four), depending on the switch topology. A virtual channel cannot be created with a switch channel. Switch channels may be used only in the

NI-DAQmx Switch functions and VIs.

To append new data points to the end of an existing plot over time.

In Web Forms, page calls back to the server without fully posting back.

Callbacks are asynchronous and are accomplished with XML-HTTP.

Client callbacks do not include postback data, and they do not force the page to refresh. Client callbacks do require a browser that supports the

XML-HTTP protocol.

LabWindows/CVI feature that creates code based on a .uir

file to connect your GUI to the rest of your program. This code can be compiled and run as soon as it is created.


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Glossary coercion

COM complex graph context-sensitive help control counter/timer I/O cursor cursor label

Automatic conversion that Measurement Studio controls perform to change the numeric representation of a data element.

Component Object Model. Microsoft specification for architecting and developing reusable software components.

A control that displays a ComplexDouble data type; the ComplexDouble data type represents a complex number of type Double that is composed of a real part and an imaginary part.

Help for dialog boxes, the controls in dialog boxes, and keywords in source code that you can access with the key or a Help button, or by clicking the link that appears in the Dynamic Help window in Visual Studio.

1. ActiveX control. See

ActiveX control

.

2. Object for entering, displaying, or manipulating data on a user interface.

Reading or writing data based on high-precision timing through a counter or timer. By combining a counter with a highly accurate clock, you can create a wide variety of timing and counting applications, such as monitoring and analyzing digital waveforms and generating complex square waves.

Flashing rectangle that shows where you may enter text on the screen. If you have a mouse installed, there is a rectangular mouse cursor, or pointer.

Text object used to display X and Y coordinates that a cursor crosshair points to on a graph.

D

DAQ

DAQ Assistant

DAQ device

Data acquisition. Process of acquiring data, typically from A/D or digital input plug-in boards.

A graphical interface for configuring measurement tasks, channels, and scales.

A device that acquires or generates data and can contain multiple channels and conversion devices. DAQ devices include plug-in devices, PCMCIA cards, and DAQPad devices, which connect to a computer USB or 1394

(FireWire

®

) port. SCXI modules are considered DAQ devices.



Glossary

DataSocket device digital I/O digital waveform graph distribution

DLL

DMM downlevel browser driver

DSTP

Technology that simplifies live data exchange between applications and

HTTP, FTP, OPC, logos (Lookout objects) and file servers over the Internet.

It provides one common API to a number of different communication protocols.

An instrument or controller you can access as a single entity that controls or monitors real-world I/O points. A device is often connected to a host computer through some type of communication network. See also

DAQ device and

measurement device .

Reading or writing digital representations of data in discrete units (the binary digits 1 and 0). Digital information is either on or off.

A control that displays DigitalWaveform data on a Windows Forms or

Web Forms user interface; the DigitalWaveform data type represents a set of digital states that are grouped by samples or signals.

Ability to install programs you develop with Measurement Studio to others working on different computers.

Dynamic Link Library. A library of functions that link to a program and load at run time rather than being compiled into the program. Loading libraries only when they are needed saves memory in software applications.

Digital Multimeter. A common measurement instrument that measures resistance, current, and voltage in a wide variety of applications.

Previous generation Web browser with limited client interaction. See also

uplevel browser .

Software that controls a specific hardware device, such as a data acquisition board or GPIB interface board. See also

instrument driver

.

DataSocket Transfer Protocol. Protocol based on TCP/IP to exchange data directly between two applications using DataSocket clients. Data is passed through a DataSocket Server between the applications.


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E

Ethernet event

FTP

G

gauge

GPIB executable

F

form front panel graph

H

HTTP

Glossary

Standard connection type for networks, where computers are connected by coaxial or twisted-pair cable.

Object-generated response to some action or change in state, such as a mouse click or a completed acquisition. The event calls an event procedure that processes the event.

Program file with a .exe

extension that you can run independently of the development environment in which it was created.

Window or area on the screen on which you place controls and indicators to create the user interface for your program.

Interactive user interface of a virtual instrument. Modeled after the front panel of physical instruments, it is composed of switches, slides, meters, graphs, charts, gauges, LEDs, and other controls and indicators.

File Transfer Protocol. Protocol based on TCP/IP to exchange files between computers.

A control used to input or display numerical data.

General Purpose Interface Bus. The standard bus used for controlling electronic instruments with a computer. Also called IEEE 488 bus because it is defined by ANSI/IEEE Standards 488-1978, 488.1-1987, and

488.2-1987.

A 2D or 3D display of one or more plots.

HyperText Transfer Protocol. Protocol based on TCP/IP, which is used to download Web pages from an HTTP server to a Web browser.



I

Glossary

IEEE 488

IMAQ Vision indicator installer instrument driver

Instrument I/O

Assistant interface

IVI

Shortened notation for ANSI/IEEE Standards 488-1978, 488.1-1987, and

488.2-1987. See also

GPIB

.

National Instruments image acquisition and analysis software that you can use to acquire images from National Instruments image acquisition

(IMAQ) boards, display them in your program, perform interactive viewer operations, and analyze the images to extract information.

A control in read-only mode.

Software program that copies program, system, and other necessary files to computers.

Library of functions to control and use one specific physical instrument.

Also a set of functions that adds specific functionality to an application.

Assists in writing code to communicate with devices such as serial,

Ethernet, or GPIB instruments. The Instrument I/O Assistant provides a user interface within the Visual Studio environment. You use the

Instrument I/O Assistant to interactively write commands to a device, read data that the device returns, and specify how to parse the response.

Connection between one or more of the following: hardware, software, and the user. For example, hardware interfaces connect two other pieces of hardware.

Interchangeable Virtual Instruments. A technology involving standard programming interfaces for classes of instruments, such as oscilloscopes,

DMMs, and function generators, that results in hardware-independent instrument drivers. The IVI standard programming interfaces have been defined by the IVI Foundation, an industry consortium. Refer to www.ivifoundation.org

for more information.

K

knob A control used to input or display numerical data.


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Glossary

L

LabVIEW

LabWindows/CVI

LED legend

Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench. Graphical development environment used for developing test and measurement applications.

ANSI C development environment for building test and measurement applications.

Light-Emitting Diode. An indicator that emits a light when current passes through it. For example, an LED shows if your computer or printer is turned on.

A control that displays symbols and descriptions for a specific set of elements of another object, such as the plots or cursors of a graph.

M

matrix

MB

Measurement &

Automation Explorer

(MAX) measurement device

Measurement Studio meter method

MFC

A rectangular array of numbers or mathematical elements that represent the coefficients in a system of linear equations.

Megabytes of memory.

National Instruments tool for configuring your National Instruments hardware and driver software; executing system diagnostics; adding new devices, interfaces, and virtual channels; and viewing devices and instruments connected to your system.

DAQ devices such as the E Series multifunction I/O (MIO) devices, SCXI signal conditioning modules, and switch modules.

National Instruments software that includes tools to build measurement applications in Visual Basic .NET, Visual C#, and Visual C++.


Function that performs a specific action on or with an object. The operation of the method often depends on the values of the object properties.

Microsoft Foundation Class. A framework for programming in Microsoft

Windows, MFC provides code for managing windows, menus, and dialog boxes; performing basic input/output; storing collections of data objects; and more.



Glossary

N

NI-488.2

NI-DAQ

NI-DAQmx

NI-IMAQ numeric edit

O

OCX

OLE

OPC oscilloscope

Driver-level software to control and communicate with National

Instruments GPIB hardware.

Driver-level software to control and communicate with DAQ hardware.

NI-DAQ is an extensive library of VIs and functions you can call from an application development environment (ADE) to program all the features of an NI measurement device, such as configuring, acquiring and generating data from, and sending data to the device.

The latest NI-DAQ driver with new VIs, functions, and development tools for controlling measurement devices. The advantages of NI-DAQmx over earlier versions of NI-DAQ include the DAQ Assistant for configuring channels and measurement tasks for your device for use in LabVIEW,

LabWindows/CVI, and Measurement Studio; increased performance such as faster single-point analog I/O; and a simpler API for creating DAQ applications using fewer functions and VIs than earlier versions of

NI-DAQ.

Driver-level software to control and communicate with National

Instruments image acquisition hardware.

A control used to display and edit numeric values.

OLE Control eXtension. Another name for ActiveX controls, reflected by the .ocx

file extension of ActiveX control files.

Object Linking and Embedding. See also

ActiveX .

OLE for Process Control. An industry standard based on ActiveX and

COM technologies that enables you to create a single client application that can communicate with disparate devices. Refer to www.opcfoundation.org


Measurement instrument widely used in high-speed testing applications, such as telecommunication physical layer testing, video testing, and high-speed digital design verification.


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Glossary

P

PCI

PID plot point postback property property editor property pages

PXI

Peripheral Component Interconnect. High-performance expansion bus architecture commonly found in PCs.

Proportional-Integral-Derivative. A three-term control mechanism combining proportional, integral, and derivative control. You might use a

PID algorithm to control processes such as heating and cooling systems, fluid level monitoring, flow control, and pressure control.

1. Trace (data line) on a graph representing the data in one row or column of an array.

2. To display a new set of data while deleting any previous data on the graph.

Structure that contains two 16-bit integers that represent horizontal and vertical coordinates.

The process in which a Web page sends data back to the same page on the server.

Attribute that defines the appearance or state of an object. The property can be a specific value or another object with its own properties and methods.

For example, a value property is the color (property) of a plot (object), while an object property is a specific Y axis (property) on a graph (object).

The Y axis itself is another object with properties, such as minimum and maximum values.

A control used to configure properties for Windows Forms controls at run time.

Window or dialog box that displays current configuration information and allows users to modify the configuration.

PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation. Rugged, open platform for modular instrumentation with specialized mechanical, electrical, and software features. Refer to www.pxisa.org




Glossary

R

range Region between the limits within which a quantity is measured, received, or transmitted. The range is expressed by stating the lower and upper range values.

T

tank task

S

scalar scale scatter graph scope serial slide slider smart tag switch synchronous

Number that a point on a scale can represent. The number is a single value as opposed to an array.

Part of graph, chart, and some numeric controls and indicators that contains a series of marks or points at known intervals to denote units of measure.

A control that displays two-dimensional data on a Windows Forms or Web

Forms user interface; displays a graph of X and Y data pairs.

See

oscilloscope

.

Standard serial bus on a computer used to communicate with instruments.

Also known as RS-232.


Moveable part of a slide control.

A glyph attached to a Measurement Studio control or component that exposes commonly performed tasks

.

A control used to receive and control Boolean input in an application user interface.

Property or operation that begins and returns control to the program only when the operation is complete.



NI-DAQmx—a set of channels and the channel configurations, timing, and triggering, and other details that define a measurement or generation you want to perform.

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Glossary

TCP/IP

TestStand

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A standard format for transferring data in packets from one computer to another. The two parts of

TCP/IP are TCP, which deals with the construction of data pockets, and IP, which routes them from computer to computer.

Ready-to-run test executive from National Instruments for organizing, controlling, and executing your automated prototype, validation, or manufacturing test systems.


thermometer

U

UI uplevel browser

W

waveform graph

User Interface.

Recent generation Web browser that supports rich client interaction and functionality. See also

downlevel browser .

V

vector 1D array.

virtual instrument (VI) Program in Measurement Studio that models the appearance and function of a physical instrument.

VISA Driver-software architecture developed by National Instruments to unify instrumentation software for serial, GPIB, and VXI instruments or controllers. It has been accepted as a standard for VXI by the

VXI plug&play Systems Alliance.

VXI VME eXtension for Instrumentation. Instrumentation architecture and bus based on the VME standard. Used in high-end test applications.

A control that displays two-dimensional data on a Windows Forms or Web

Forms user interface; displays data that is uniformly spaced in one dimension.



Glossary. National Instruments none, 373392C-01, Measurement Studio

Glossary

A

B

C

D

E

G

F

H

I

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

T

S

U

W

V

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