September 2018
This file contains important information about NI-FGEN, including installation instructions, new features, a partial list of bugs fixed, and known issues.
If you plan to use LabVIEW NXG, refer to LabVIEW NXG Support and Considerations.
Product Security and Critical Updates
LabVIEW NXG Support and Considerations
IVI Compliance Package Functionality
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1
NI-FGEN is an NI instrument driver that enables you to implement frequency sweeping and hopping, waveform linking and looping, and frequency shift keying (FSK) modulation for complex measurement solutions. NI-FGEN is an interchangeable virtual instrument (IVI)–compliant instrument driver, and it features a set of operations and properties that exercise the functionality of the waveform or signal generator and includes an interactive soft front panel and examples.
NI-FGEN 18.5 has the following requirements:
Refer to the LabVIEW Readme for additional system requirements and supported operating systems for LabVIEW.
NI-FGEN 18.5 supports the following operating systems:
1 NI software installs VC2015 Runtime and .NET 4.6.2. Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 require Microsoft updates to support these items. Refer to Microsoft KB2919442 and KB2919355 for more information about how to install these updates.
2 NI software is signed with a SHA-256 certificate. Windows 7 SP1, Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 require Microsoft updates to support SHA-256. Refer to Microsoft KB3033929 for more information about how to install this security update.
Note In 2016 NI-FGEN dropped support for Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and installations of Windows 7 without any service packs. NI-FGEN 18.5 will not install or run on an unsupported OS. You cannot deploy or distribute applications that use NI-FGEN 18.5 to an unsupported OS. Additionally, after installing NI-FGEN 18.5, you cannot use any installers built on this computer with any version of LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI™, NI TestStand™, or Measurement Studio on an unsupported OS.
For more information about the changes to our OS support for 2016, refer to Why Does my NI ADE Installer Fail on Windows XP/Vista and Windows Server 2003?.
Note Support for Windows 32-bit operating systems may require disabling physical address extension (PAE). To learn how this might affect your system and what actions you might need to take, visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code PAESupport.
NI-FGEN 18.5 supports the following application software versions, including service packs. If you are not using NI application software, refer to Microsoft Visual Studio Support.
| Application Software | Versions Supported by NI-FGEN |
|---|---|
| LabVIEW | 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 |
| LabVIEW Real-Time Module3 | 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 |
| LabVIEW NXG | 3.0 |
| LabWindows™/CVI™ | 2013 and later |
| LabWindows™/CVI™ Real-Time Module3 | 2013 and later |
3No support for PXI/PCI-5401/5411/5431 or PXIe-5413/5423/5433 waveform generators.
If you are using the NI-FGEN .NET Class Library, the .NET Framework 4.0 (minimum) is required. The NI-FGEN .NET Class Library can be used with the Visual C# or Visual Basic .NET programming languages in any Visual Studio version that can target the .NET Framework 4.0 or the .NET Framework 4.5.
To use the .NET API, you must select the .NET Framework 4.0 Languages Support or the .NET Framework 4.5 Languages Support packages in the NI-FGEN installer to install the the .NET class libraries in addition to the NI device driver. For information about versions of the .NET Framework and the drivers each supports, refer to the National Instruments .NET Driver Support document at ni.com/info and enter Info Code NETAPIdriversupport.
Note
NI automates LabVIEW NXG installation using NI Package Manager. Visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code NIPMDownload to download NI Package Manager. Refer to the NI Package Manager Manual for more information about installing, removing, and upgrading NI software using NI Package Manager.
Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from NI.
The PXIe-5442, PXIe-5450, and PXIe-5451 have upgradeable device firmware. It is highly encouraged and may be required that you upgrade the firmware on these devices; newer firmware contains new features and important bug fixes. To update the firmware, run the Firmware Updater application for your device (54xxFirmwareUpdater_X.Y.Z.exe, where 54xx is the name of the device and X.Y.Z is the firmware version) that is installed in the Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\ directory or the Program Files (x86)\IVI Foundation\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\ directory. This application upgrades your firmware to the latest available version that works with this driver. After the application runs, you are required to power down your computer and PXI Express chassis to complete the firmware update.
The following list details the hardware models supported in NI-FGEN 18.5.
| Hardware Product | Supported Under Windows 10 (32-bit)/8.1 (32-bit)/7 (32-bit)1 | Supported Under Windows 10 (64-bit)/8.1 (64-bit)/7 (64-bit)1 |
|---|---|---|
| NI-DAQmx-Based Waveform Generators | ||
| PXI/PCI-5401 | X2 |
X2 |
| PXI/PCI-5402 | √ |
√ |
| PXI-5404 | √3 |
√3 |
| PXI/PCI-5406 | √ |
√ |
| PXI/PCI-5411 | X2 |
X2 |
| PXI/PCI-5412 | √ |
√ |
| PXI/PCI-5421 | √ |
√ |
| PXI-5422 | √ |
√ |
| PXI/PCI-5431 | X2 |
X2 |
| PXIe–5413 | √ |
√ |
| PXIe–5423 | √ |
√ |
| PXIe–5433 | √ |
√ |
| PXI-5441 | √ |
√ |
| PXIe–5442 | √ |
√ |
| PXIe–5450 | √ |
√ |
| PXIe–5451 | √ |
√ |
| NI 5413, 5423, and 5433 Waveform Generators | ||
| PXIe–5413 | √ |
√ |
| PXIe–5423 | √ |
√ |
| PXIe–5433 | √ |
√ |
| 1 MXI Express and MXI-4 are supported on Windows 10/8.1/7. 2Simulating these devices is also not supported on Windows 8.1/7, using either NI-FGEN or the FGEN Soft Front Panel. Simulating a device that is not supported on your operating system results in indeterminate behavior. 3 Windows 8.1/7 support for the PXI-5404 does not include support for external calibration. Perform external calibration for the PXI-5404 on Windows XP operating systems. |
||
You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code exeiuw for an up-to-date list of known issues in NI-FGEN 18.5.
The following items are the IDs and titles of a subset of issues fixed in NI-FGEN. This is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in the current version of NI-FGEN. If you have a CAR ID, you can search this list to validate that the issue has been fixed.
The following items are changes in NI-FGEN 18.1.1 from NI-FGEN 18.1.
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 26171 | Fixed an issue in which PXIe-5413/5423/5433 analog output settings were not reset to a known state of outputting 0 V after device reset. |
The following items are changes in NI-FGEN 18.1 from NI-FGEN 18.0.
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 686813 | A clocking problem intermittently caused markers to be misaligned on PXIe-5413/5423/5433 waveform generators after reboot. |
| 678387 | Calling Clear User Waveform on channel 1 of a PXIe-5413/5423/5433 waveform generator caused LabVIEW or the NI-FGEN Soft Front Panel to crash. |
| 643170 | Calling NI-FGEN Get Hardware State on PXIe-5413/5423/5433 waveform generators returned an error (-1074135023). |
| 658865 | NI-FGEN returned an error (-1074135024) when using Arbitrary Waveform output mode if the Standard Function attribute for DC Offset was set to anything other than 0. |
| 434355 | Querying current temperature of an NI-DAQmx-based waveform generator using the System Configuration API resulted in memory leakage. |
| 645379 | The clocking status of PXIe-5413/5423/5433 waveform generators was not checked with NI-FGEN Commit, Initiate Generation, Is Done, or Abort calls. |
| 648798 | An empty string was returned for the invalid session handle error. |
| 660993 | The C prototype documentation for the niFgen_InitializeWithChannels function incorrectly listed parameters. |
Refer to the NI Signal Generators Help, accessible from Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI-FGEN»NI-FGEN Documentation, for information about NI-FGEN.
You can access all the installed NI-FGEN examples for LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, C, and .NET at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI-FGEN»NI-FGEN Examples and online at ni.com/examples. Examples also are available online that demonstrate integrating NI waveform generators with NI toolkit software including the Modulation Toolkit. Refer to ni.com/examples for these examples and for more information.
Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI to launch the NI Example Finder. LabVIEW examples for NI-FGEN are located in the LabVIEW XXXX\examples\instr\niFgen directory. You can modify an example VI to fit an application, or you can copy and paste from one or more examples into a VI that you create.
The NI Example Finder offers two ways to access all installed LabVIEW example VIs and their descriptions:
The following sections detail considerations for using LabVIEW NXG with NI-FGEN.
Software support for LabVIEW NXG differs in the following ways:
| Hardware Product | Supported Under Windows 10 (64-bit)/8.1 (64-bit)/7 (64-bit)1 | |
|---|---|---|
| NI-DAQmx-Based Waveform Generators | ||
| PXI/PCI-5402 | √ |
|
| PXI-5404 | √2 |
|
| PXI/PCI-5406 | √ |
|
| PXI/PCI-5412 | √ |
|
| PXI/PCI-5421 | √ |
|
| PXI-5422 | √ |
|
| PXI-5441 | √ |
|
| PXIe–5442 | √ |
|
| PXIe–5450 | √ |
|
| PXIe–5451 | √ |
|
| NI 5413, 5423, and 5433 Waveform Generators | ||
| PXIe–5413 | √ |
|
| PXIe–5423 | √ |
|
| PXIe–5433 | √ |
|
| 1 MXI Express and MXI-4 are supported on Windows 10/8.1/7. 2 Windows 8.1/7 support for the PXI-5404 does not include support for external calibration. Perform external calibration for the PXI-5404 on Windows XP operating systems. |
||
View context help in LabVIEW by pressing <Ctrl-H> and hovering over an object.
Search for items using the search bar in the upper right corner of the LabVIEW window. You can also view context help for the search results.
Additional documentation is available online at ni.com/manuals.
Launch LabVIEW and click the Learning tab.
LabVIEW lessons are located in the Lessons tab, and LabVIEW Examples are located in the Examples tab. Follow the instructions in the lessons and examples.
NI-FGEN no longer installs IVI Compliance Package. NI-FGEN supports IVI configuration and runtime, but no longer supports the following features:
If you want to use the above features, you must install IVI Compliance Package separately, either from ni.com/downloads or from the NI Device Drivers 2018 DVD.
You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.
If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.
For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:
Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.
When you install NI software on Microsoft Windows 8.1, you will notice a few additional tiles in the Apps view, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (NI MAX), and NI Launcher. For more information about NI support for Windows 8.1, visit ni.com/windows8.
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For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.
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