National Instruments NI-VXI

Chapter 3 Software Overview

SetDevInfoShort (la, field, shortvalue)

SetDevInfoShort changes information about the specified device in

the NI-VXI RM table. The field parameter specifies the attribute of the

information to change. SetDevInfoShort is a function layered on top

of SetDevInfo for languages (such as BASIC) that cannot typecast

the fieldvalues of SetDevInfo. SetDevInfoShort changes only the

fields of SetDevInfo that are 16-bit integers. Possible fields include

the Commander’s logical address, mainframe number, slot,

manufacturer ID number, model code, device class, VXI address space

allocated, VXI interrupt lines/handlers allocated, protocols supported,

and so on. You should use this function only in very special situations,

because it updates information in the NI-VXI interface and can affect

execution. At the startup of your application, InitVXIlibrary

completely initializes the RM table to how the RM configured the VXI

system. No initial changes are necessary for VXI devices.

SetDevInfoStr (la, field, stringvalue)

SetDevInfoStr changes information about the specified device in the

NI-VXI RM table. The field parameter specifies the attribute of the

information to change. SetDevInfoStr is a function layered on top of

SetDevInfo for languages (such as BASIC) that cannot typecast the

fieldvalues of SetDevInfo. SetDevInfoStr returns only the fields

of SetDevInfo that are character strings. Possible fields include the

device name, manufacturer name, and model name. You should use

this function only in very special situations, because it updates

information in the NI-VXI interface and can affect execution. At the

startup of your application, InitVXIlibrary completely initializes

the RM table to how the RM configured the VXI system. No initial

changes are necessary for VXI devices.

Commander Word Serial Protocol Functions

Word Serial communication is the minimal mode of communication

between VXI message-based devices within the VXI

Commander/Servant hierarchy. The Commander Word Serial functions

let the local CPU (the CPU on which the NI-VXI interface resides)

perform VXI message-based Commander Word Serial communication

with its Servants. The four basic types of Commander Word Serial

transfers are as follows:

• Command sending

• Query sending