Organizing Test Program Files with LabVIEW-Built Shared Libraries

You can use the LabVIEW Application Builder to build a shared library, or DLL. TestStand can execute exported VIs in LabVIEW DLLs built using different versions of LabVIEW. Use the C/C++ DLL Adapter to configure a step to call one of the exported functions in the DLL.

To create a DLL in LabVIEW, you must first create a LabVIEW project that refers to the VIs you want to export and then create a build specification. You must configure the type of each parameter for all exported VIs.

Refer to LabVIEW documentation for information about debugging LabVIEW DLLs.

Note
  • To ensure that Microsoft Windows messages are handled during the execution of a LabVIEW DLL you build for use with TestStand, NI recommends that you disable the Delay operating system messages in shared library option on the Advanced Page of the Shared Library Properties dialog box in the LabVIEW Professional Development System.
  • LabVIEW does not support exporting every LabVIEW data type. You might have difficulty passing data to certain LabVIEW types from TestStand. You must also manually add parameter information when configuring the LabVIEW-generated DLL in TestStand.
  • When you deploy a test system, you must install the version of the LabVIEW RTE that corresponds to the version of LabVIEW used to create the DLL on any computer that uses the DLL. You can include the appropriate RTE installer in an installer you build with the TestStand Deployment Utility.
  • TestStand supports—but NI does not recommend—distributing DLLs with the same name that steps in a sequence file call.