Connecting LabVIEW with Scilab Enterprises Scilab Software
Overview
LabVIEW is an open platform that allows you to easily integrate 3rd-party (external) software such as Scilab™ from Scilab Enterprises. This document discusses the LabVIEW - Scilab Gateway Software, a tool that allows you to easily invoke scripts from Scilab from your LabVIEW graphical programming.
Contents
- What is Scilab?
- Connecting NI LabVIEW with Scilab
- Setup and Installation of the NI LabVIEW Scilab Gateway Software
What is Scilab?
Scilab is free software for numerical computation available from Scilab Enterprises. Freely downloadable from http://www.scilab.org, Scilab offers a text-based language with built-in functions and syntax that simplify numerical computation involving vectors and matrices.
Connecting NI LabVIEW with Scilab
With the software that provides a link between LabVIEW and Scilab, you can easily invoke your Scilab scripts from LabVIEW Virtual Instruments (VIs).
Figure 1: The Gateway software installs into LabVIEW as a script node, a text-editor region that you can drag-and-drop onto your LabVIEW block diagrams.
Figure 2: You can wire into and out of the Gateway script node by defining input / output variables on the edge of a node. You can do so by right-clicking the edge of the Gateway script node and making a selection from the pop-up menu (1). Next, type the name of the variable that you wish to associate with the new input (or output) (2). You can then wire into (or out of) (3) the new input (or output).
Setup and Installation of the NI LabVIEW Scilab Gateway Software
- Visit NI LabVIEW Scilab Gateway to download the gateway software. The download is a compressed zip file -- unzip the file that you download to a new folder.
- If you have not already done so, install Scilab - Scilab Enterprises.
- Note: NI Scilab Gateway supports using Scilab version 5.3.0. If you are using later versions of Scilab, there is not guaranteed compatibility.
- If you upgrade Scilab, make sure to remove the old version before installing the latest version.
- If you have not already done so, install NI LabVIEW.
The Zip file that you downloaded in step 1 contains separate installers for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Gateway. Run the installer EXE that matches the revision of Scilab and LabVIEW noting the following:- The 32-bit Gateway Software requires LabVIEW (8.0 or later) – Full, Professional, or Evaluation Editions.
- The 64-bit Gateway requires LabVIEW 2009 (64-bit) or later.
- If you have multiple installed versions of LabVIEW, the LabVIEW to Scilab Gateway software installer will prompt you to select the desired LabVIEW version.
- Restart LabVIEW to apply the changes and complete the installation.
The installer will copy a readme.pdf file with additional instructions for working with the Gateway.
Scilab is a trademark of Inria.