Chapter 1 Introduction to NI-IMAQ
©
National Instruments Corporation 1-3 NI-IMAQ User Manual
Creating an Application
This section outlines the process for developing NI-IMAQ applications
using C for Windows 95 and Windows NT. Detailed instructions on
creating project and source files are not included. For information on
creating and managing project files, consult the documentation included
with your particular development environment.
When programming, use the following guidelines:
• You must define the constant _NIWIN prior to including any
NI-IMAQ header files. You can define this constant in your source files
by using the #define
directive
; that is, #define _NIWIN. Or, you
can add the definition to your project file’s preprocessor definitions if
your environment supports this feature.
• All C source files that use NI-IMAQ functions must include the
NIIMAQ.H header file. Add this file to the top of your source files.
• You must add the IMAQ.LIB import library to your project. Some
environments allow you to add import libraries simply by inserting
them into your list of project files. Other environments allow you to
specify import libraries under the linker settings portion of the project
file.
• When compiling, you will need to indicate where the compiler can find
the NI-IMAQ header files and shared libraries. Most of the files you
need for development are located under the NI-IMAQ target
installation directory. If you choose the default directory during
installation, the target installation directory is C:\Program Files\
National Instruments\NI-IMAQ. The include files are located
under the include subdirectory. The import libraries are located
under the lib\<environment> subdirectory for the following
platforms:
Table 1-1. Import Libraries
Development Environment Directory
Microsoft Visual C++ lib\msc
Borland C++ lib\bc
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