Extending Compatibility Between LabVIEW and NI Drivers with Addon Support
Overview
Starting with LabVIEW 2022Q3 release, select NI drivers and toolkits will become version-independent from LabVIEW release. This will allow users to upgrade their LabVIEW version without having to also update their NI addons. This document outlines the change made and which NI drivers and toolkits are affected with this change.
Contents
- Introducing Extended LabVIEW and Driver Compatibility
- Driver and Toolkit Addon Support
- Drivers Maintaining Traditional Compatibility
Introducing Extended LabVIEW and Driver Compatibility
Prior to the release of LabVIEW 2022 Q3, new driver versions were required with every major release of LabVIEW. If a user wanted to upgrade their LabVIEW version while continuing to update their application, they were also required to upgrade their drivers.
Starting in 2022 Q3, NI released select drivers and toolkits that function with a minimum LabVIEW version (e.g. LabVIEW 2022Q3) and all future versions of LabVIEW. This allows newer versions of LabVIEW (e.g. LabVIEW 2023Qx), to be installed without upgrading to new versions of these drivers.
This new form of support for drivers and toolkits is referred to as a LabVIEW Addon. A LabVIEW Addon differs from previous support in two ways:
- The VIs are installed as source-only (meaning they are not compiled for a specific version of LabVIEW)
- The support is installed to a version-independent LabVIEW directory, the LVAddons directory.
Upgrade Process Prior to LabVIEW 2022 Q3 Release | Upgrade Process for Select Drivers from 2022 Q3 Release Onward |
|---|---|
Note: Not all drivers and toolkits will be available with this extended compatibility immediately with the LabVIEW 2022 Q3 release. See the following section for a list of drivers and the associated LabVIEW version which include Addon support.
Driver and Toolkit Addon Support
See the table below for compatibility information. The driver version shown in the table is the first driver version to include Addon support for the indicated LabVIEW version. LabVIEW compatibility information can also be found in individual driver and toolkit readmes.
There are no current plans to make LabVIEW Real Time, LabVIEW FPGA, and LabVIEW Data Supervisory Control Module independent of LabVIEW versions.
* The FPGA components of NI-Digital Pattern Driver 2022 Q4 did not receive Addon support. This support was added in NI-Digital Pattern Driver 2023 Q1. Using NI-Digital Pattern Driver 2022 Q4, customers with LabVIEW 2023+ will not be able to compile bitfiles for NI-Digital instruments. Customers using NI-Digital Pattern Driver 2022 Q4 without LabVIEW FPGA Module 2023+ installed will not be able to deploy bitfiles in LabVIEW 2023+.
Drivers Maintaining Traditional Compatibility
Not all NI drivers will be updated to include Addon support. These drivers will continue with the traditional driver compatibility requirements outlines above.
Examples of drivers that do not have planned support for Addons include:
- NI-Motion
- LabVIEW SoftMotion Module
- VirtualBench
- NI-WSN
- NI-PXImc
| Driver/Toolkit | LabVIEW 2022 Q3 Addon Support | LabVIEW 2023 Q1 Addon Support | LabVIEW 2024 Q1 Addon Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive Diagnostic Command Set Toolkit | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| ECU Measurement and Calibration Toolkit | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| FlexRIO | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| Industrial Controller Device Drivers | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| IVI Compliance Package | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| LabVIEW Electrical Power Toolkit | Not available | 2023 Q3 | 2023 Q3 |
| LabVIEW Instrument Design Libraries for High-Speed Serial Instruments | Not available | 2023 Q3 | 2023 Q3 |
| LabVIEW Instrument Design Libraries for IF Digitizers | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| LabVIEW Instrument Design Libraries for Reconfigurable Oscilloscopes | Not available | 2023 Q2 | 2023 Q2 |
| LabVIEW Modulation Toolkit | Not available | 2023 Q3 | 2023 Q3 |
| LabVIEW OPC UA Toolkit | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| LabVIEW Sound and Vibration Toolkit | 2023 Q3 | 2023 Q3 | 2023 Q3 |
| NI CompactRIO | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| NI R Series Multifunction RIO | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| NI-568x Driver Software | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| NI-5690 Driver Software | 2023 Q2 | 2023 Q2 | 2023 Q2 |
| NI-845x Driver Software | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| NI-DAQmx | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| NI-DCPower | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| NI-Digital Pattern Driver* | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| NI-DMM | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| NI-Embedded CAN for sbRIO | Not available | 2023 Q2 | 2023 Q2 |
| NI-FGEN | 21.8 | 21.8 | 21.8 |
| NI-HSDIO | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| NI-Industrial Communications for CANOpen | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| NI-Industrial Communications for Ethernet/IP | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| NI-RDMA | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| NI-RFSA | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| NI-RFSG | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| NI-SCOPE | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| NI-SLSC | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| NI-SWITCH | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| NI-Sync | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| NI-USRP | Not available | 2023 Q3 | 2023 Q3 |
| NI-VISA (excluding macOS) | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| NI-VISA for macOS | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| NI-VRTS | Not available | 2023 Q2 | 2023 Q2 |
| NI-XNET | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| PXI Platform Services | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| PXIe-7899 API and Design Files | Not available | 2023 Q2 | 2023 Q2 |
| RFmx | Not available | Not available | 2024 Q1 |
| RMX-400x Electronic Load Driver | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| RMX-410x Power Supply Driver | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| RMX-412x Power Supply Driver | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 | 2022 Q4 |
| Switch Executive | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| System Configuration | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q3 |
| Vision Acquisition Software | Not available | 2023 Q1 | 2023 Q1 |
| Vision Builder for Automated Inspection | Not available | 2023 Q3 | 2023 Q3 |
| Vision Development Module | Not available | Not available | 2024 Q1 |