Chapter1 Introduction
ATE Series User Manual 1-4 ni.com
National Instruments ADE Software
LabVIEW featuresinteractive graphics, a state-of-the-art interface,
and a powerful graphical programming language. The LabVIEW Data
AcquisitionVI Library, a series of virtual instrumentsfor using LabVIEW
with NationalI nstrumentsD AQ hardware, is included with LabVIEW.
Measurement Studio, which includes LabWindows/CVI,tools for Visual
C++,and t oolsfor Visual Basic, is a development suite that allows you
to use ANSI C, VisualC++, and Visual Basic to design the test and
measurementsoftware. For C developers, Measurement Studio includes
LabWindows/CVI,a fully integrated ANSI C application development
environmentthat features interactive graphics and the LabWindows/CVI
Data Acquisition and Easy I/O libraries. For VisualBasic developers,
MeasurementS tudio features a set of ActiveXcontrols for using National
Instruments DAQhardware. These ActiveX controls provide a high-level
programming interface for building virtual instruments. For VisualC++
developers,Measurement Studio offers a set of Visual C++ classes and
toolsto integrate those classes into Visual C++ applications. The libraries,
ActiveXcontrols, and classes are available with Measurement Studio and
NI-DAQ.
UsingLabVIEW or Measurement Studio greatly reduces the development
time for your data acquisition and control application.
Register-Level Programming
The final option for programming any National Instruments DAQ
hardware is to write register-level software. Writing register-level
programming software canb ev ery time-consumingand inefficient and
is not recommended for most users.
Evenif you are an experienced register-level programmer, consider using
NI-DAQ,LabVIEW, or LabWindows/CVIto program the National
Instruments DAQhardware. Using the NI-DAQ, LabVIEW, or
LabWindows/CVIsoftware is as easy and as flexible as register-level
programming and cansave weeks of development time. For more
information,refer to the AT E Series Register-Level Programmer Manual.