National Instruments NI PCIe-8361 User Manual

© National Instruments Corporation

This chapter discusses the software utilities you can use to start developing 
applications that use NI-VXI.

After installing the NI-VXI software, you can begin developing your 
VXI/VME application. Be sure to check the release notes for the latest 
application development notes and changes.

Before you develop your application, it is important to understand the 
difference between NI-VXI, NI-VISA, and similar terms.

•

NI-VXI is the software package that ships with National Instruments 
VXI and VME controllers. NI-VXI includes Measurement & 
Automation Explorer (MAX), NI-VISA, NI Spy, Resource Manager 
(Resman), VXI device drivers, and other utilities for configuring and 
controlling your VXI or VME system.

•

NI-VISA is the native API for communicating with VXI/VME devices. 
NI-VISA is the National Instruments implementation of the VISA I/O 
standard, which is a common interface to many types of instruments 
(such as VXI, GPIB, PXI, Serial, TCP/IP, and so on). NI-VXI is 
optimized for use through NI-VISA, and NI recommends using 
NI-VISA to develop all new VXI/VME applications.

•

The NI-VXI API is an optional development environment that is 
not part of the default NI-VXI installation. The NI-VXI API was 
developed before NI-VISA; although NI-VXI still supports the 
NI-VXI API, NI recommends using NI-VISA for all new VXI/VME 
applications. If you must develop an application using the older 
NI-VXI API, run the NI-VXI installer and enable NI-VXI API 
Development. Be sure to review the 

 section.

•

The NI-VXI compatibility layer allows older programs that use the 
NI-VXI API to communicate with VXI devices through VISA. Using 
this compatibility layer, older programs can run in NI-VXI 3.0 or later 
without being rewritten to use the VISA interface. This layer installs 
with NI-VXI by default. It should be completely transparent and