May 2015
Thank you for using NI-SCOPE. This file contains important information about the NI-SCOPE driver, including installation instructions, new features, a partial list of bugs fixed for NI-SCOPE 15.0, and known issues.
Installed Software, Documentation, and Examples
Product Security and Critical Updates
Uninstalling/Modifying NI-SCOPE
Automating the Installation of NI Products
How to Use NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.x
NI Software Support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003
NI-SCOPE 15.0 adds support for LabVIEW 2015.
NI-SCOPE 14.1 includes the following new features:
NI-SCOPE 14.0 adds support for LabVIEW 2014.
NI-SCOPE 4.1.3 adds a bug fix for VIs in LabVIEW 2013.
NI-SCOPE 4.1.1 adds a critical bug fix for an issue affecting NI PXIe-5185/5186 digitizers.
NI-SCOPE 4.1 includes the following new features:
NI-SCOPE 4.0.5 adds support for LabVIEW 2013.
NI-SCOPE 4.0 adds support for the NI PXIe-5162, 5 GS/s high-speed digitizer.
NI-SCOPE 3.9.7 redesigns the NI-SCOPE Soft Front Panel.
NI-SCOPE 3.9.6 adds 1MOhm support for the NI PXIe-5185/5186, 12.5 GS/s high-speed digitizers (new model)
NI-SCOPE 3.9.4 adds support for LabVIEW 2012.
NI-SCOPE 3.8.9 adds support for NI-RFSA 2.5.2.
NI-SCOPE 3.8.8 adds a critical bug fix for the NI PXI-5900 digitizer.
NI-SCOPE 3.8.7 adds critical bug fixes for NI PXIe-5185/5186 digitizers.
NI-SCOPE 3.8.6 adds support for NI-RFSA 2.5.
NI-SCOPE 3.8.5 includes the following new features:
| LabVIEW VI | C/C++ Function |
|---|---|
| niTClk Setup For Sync Pulse Sender Synchronize | niTClk_SetupForSyncPulseSenderSynchronize |
| niTClk Synchronize to Sync Pulse Sender | niTClk_SynchronizeToSyncPulseSender |
| niTClk Finish Sync Pulse Sender Synchronize | niTClk_FinishSyncPulseSenderSynchronize |
| Labview Property | C/C++ Attribute |
|---|---|
| NI-TClk SyncPulseSender:External Pulse Source | NITCLK_ATTR_SYNC_PULSE_SENDER_SYNC_PULSE_SOURCE |
NI-SCOPE 3.8 includes the following new features:
Notes:
The following table shows which hardware products are supported under particular operating systems.
| Hardware Product | Supported Under Windows XP1 | Supported Under Windows 8.1 (32-bit)/8.0 (32-bit)/7 (32-bit)/Vista (32-bit)1 | Supported Under Windows 8.1 (64-bit)/8.0 (64-bit)/7 (64-bit)/Vista (64-bit) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NI PXI/PCI-5102 | Yes | Yes | No |
| NI PCMCIA/USB/AT-51021 | Yes | No | No |
| NI PXI/PXIe/PCI-5105 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI/PCI-5112 | Yes | Yes | No |
| NI PXI/PXIe/PCI-5114 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI/PXIe/PCI-5122 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI/PCI-5124 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI USB-5132/5133 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI/PCI-5142 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI/PCI-5152 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI/PCI-5153 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI/PCI-5154 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXIe-5160/5162 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXIe-5185/5186 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI-5620 | Yes | Yes | No |
| NI PXI-5621 | Yes | No | No |
| NI PXIe-5622 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PXI-5900 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NI PCI-59112 | Yes | No | No |
| NI PXI/PCI-5922 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1MXI Express and MXI-4 are supported on Windows 8.1/8.0/7/Vista/XP, but MXI-3 is supported only on Windows XP. 2NI PCMCIA/USB/AT-5102 and NI PCI-5911 are Legacy products. | |||
Device-specific information about these modules is included in the NI High-Speed Digitizers Help.
NI-SCOPE 15.0 and later support the following operating systems:
NI recommends that you have the most recent service pack for your operating system installed. Windows 2000 users must use NI-SCOPE 3.6 or earlier.
NI-SCOPE 15.0 and later support the following real-time operating environments:
Note You should install ADEs, such as NI LabVIEW, NI LabWindows/CVI or Microsoft Visual Studio®, before installing NI-SCOPE. To add support for ADEs installed after installing NI-SCOPE, modify your NI-SCOPE installation or launch the NI-SCOPE installer again.
Note: Not all devices are supported by the LabVIEW Real-Time Module.
| LabVIEW Real-Time Module Supported Hardware |
|---|
NI 5105 |
NI 5114 |
NI 5122 |
NI 5124 |
NI 5142 |
NI 5152 |
NI 5153 |
NI 5154 |
NI 5160 |
NI 5162 |
NI 5185 |
NI 5186 |
NI 5622 |
NI 5900 |
NI 5922 |
| Note | $(IVIROOTDIR32) is configured as an environment variable on the target system. |
|---|---|
If you upgraded an installation of IVI, your files may be located in the following location:
|
Note $(IVIROOTDIR64) is configured as an environment variable on the target system.
| Item | Installed Location on Windows 8.1/8.0/7/Vista/XP |
|---|---|
| NI-SCOPE | <IVIROOTDIR32>\Drivers\niScope |
| NI-SCOPE Function Panel | <IVIROOTDIR32>\Drivers\niScope\niScope.fp |
| NI-SCOPE Examples | <NIDocDir>\niScope\Examples |
| NI-SCOPE Header files | <IVIROOTDIR32>\Include |
| NI-SCOPE Import Library files (32-bit) | <IVIROOTDIR32>\Lib |
| NI-SCOPE Import Library files (64-bit) | <IVIROOTDIR32>\Lib_x64 |
| NI-SCOPE DLL (32-bit) | <IVIROOTDIR32>\Bin |
| NI-SCOPE Firmware Updaters | Program Files\NI-DAQ\fpgafiles |
| Item | Installed Location on Windows 8.1 (64-bit)/8.0 (64-bit)/7 (64-bit)/Vista (64-bit) |
|---|---|
| NI-SCOPE Function Panel | <IVIROOTDIR64>\Drivers\niScope\niScope.fp |
| NI-SCOPE Header files | <IVIROOTDIR64>\Include |
| NI-SCOPE Import Library files (64-bit) | <IVIROOTDIR64>\Lib_x64 |
| NI-SCOPE DLL (64-bit) | <IVIROOTDIR64>\Bin |
| NI-SCOPE Firmware Updaters | Program Files (x86)\NI-DAQ\fpgafiles |
Select Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI-SCOPE»NI-SCOPE Soft Front Panel to launch the NI-SCOPE Soft Front Panel.
Documentation for NI-SCOPE is located at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI-SCOPE»Documentation. The documentation set is composed of the following documents.
| Document | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NI High-Speed Digitizers Help | HTML/Windows Help | Contains primary help content for NI high-speed digitizer products. The help is an HTML version of a traditional user manual that includes the following information:
|
| Getting Started Guide for your device | Printed and PDF | Contains software and hardware installation, MAX configuration, signal connection, and troubleshooting information for your device. |
| Specifications for your device | Printed and PDF | Lists technical specifications for your device. |
| Calibration Procedures for your device | Contains calibration instructions for your device. | |
| NI-SCOPE Readme | HTML (this document) | Contains information about supported hardware and operating systems, new features, fixed issues, and legal notices. |
| Introduction to NI-SCOPE | HTML | Contains information about driver documentation, examples, connecting to your instrument, configuring instrument settings, and known issues. |
| NI-SCOPE IVI Compliance Document | TXT | Contains information about IVI compliance. |
For the most recent revisions of documentation and for newly released documentation, visit ni.com/manuals.
To use the .NET API, you must install the .NET class libraries or the .NET Wrapper in addition to the NI device driver. For information on versions of the .NET Framework and the drivers each supports, as well as the download location of the installer files, refer to the National Instruments .NET Driver Support document at ni.com/info and enter Info Code NETAPIdriversupport.
Note To view PDFs, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. You can install the viewer from www.adobe.com/acrobat.
NI–SCOPE palette VIs are available from the Functions»Measurement I/O»NI–SCOPE palette.
NI–SCOPE functions are available in LabWindows/CVI from the Instrument menu. To load the NI–SCOPE function panel (.fp), select Instrument»Load, and navigate to IVI\Drivers\niSCOPE\niSCOPE.fp.
You can also access all the installed NI–SCOPE examples for LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI at Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI–SCOPE»Examples.
Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about National Instruments products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from National Instruments.
NI-SCOPE versions are now aligned with the versions of major NI application software products. This alignment gives you information about the year the driver was released and the most recent software version the driver was designed to work with. Driver versions now start with a two-digit year indicator: <ProductName><Year-BasedVersion>. For example, NI-SCOPE 14.0 is the version released with LabVIEW 2014. The last version released under the old numbering scheme is NI-SCOPE 4.1.3. The first version released under the new numbering scheme is NI-SCOPE 14.0.
This section provides information on installing NI-SCOPE and NI-DAQ and upgrading from previous versions of NI-SCOPE.
NI-SCOPE installs NI-DAQ if it is not already installed, or if an earlier version of NI-DAQ is installed. NI-DAQ support files will be installed if you have LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI in your system. However, the only component that NI-SCOPE needs from NI-DAQ is the device driver.
Upgrading from NI-SCOPE 1.0 and 1.1—NI-SCOPE does not install over NI-SCOPE 1.0 or 1.1. You must uninstall these versions of NI-SCOPE before installing a later version of NI-SCOPE.
Upgrading from NI-SCOPE 1.5 and later—NI-SCOPE automatically uninstalls any previous version that is greater or equal to 1.5. If you have modified any old examples, these will be overwritten by the new versions.
For Windows XP, complete the following steps:
For Windows 7/Vista, complete the following steps:
For Windows 8.1/8.0, complete the following steps:
As part of the NI–SCOPE installation, the following software is installed. To completely remove the NI-SCOPE installation from your system, you must also remove all of the following packages:
Caution Several of the software packages listed above are shared with other NI software packages. If you attempt to remove a piece of software that something else is dependent on, a message launches to warn you about the software dependencies. You can choose to either uninstall all of the software or to leave the shared software installed. If you choose to uninstall the shared software, some of your other NI software may no longer function correctly.
Note Do not attempt to uninstall by manually deleting files.
NI-SCOPE provides an intuitive, full-featured interface for programming your hardware. NI-SCOPE is IVI-Scope compliant. For more information, refer to niScopeIVIComplianceDocument.txt.
NI-SCOPE ships with several examples for LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, Measurement Studio, MSVC, Visual C++, and Microsoft Visual Basic that will help you develop your software. These examples illustrate how to perform the most common operations with your hardware. To find the examples, go to Start»Programs»National Instruments»NI-SCOPE»Examples.
The NI-SCOPE Soft Front Panel (SFP) is a software oscilloscope application for NI high-speed digitizers. It has the following features:
The NI-SCOPE SFP demonstrates some of the capabilities of NI high-speed digitizers and enables you to start using your new digitizer immediately without the need to know a programming language. The NI-SCOPE SFP is installed by default as a feature of the NI-SCOPE installation. To remove the NI-SCOPE SFP use the Add/Remove Programs option.
You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Refer to the NI-SCOPE 15.0 Known Issues List at ni.com and enter the Info Code ex4nta for an up-to-date list of known issues in NI-SCOPE 15.0.
The following list contains changes from earlier versions of NI-SCOPE to NI-SCOPE 15.0. If you have a Bug ID, you can search this list to validate that the issue has been fixed. This is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in the current version of NI-SCOPE.
| ID | Fixed Issue |
|---|---|
| 486791 | Fixed an issue where setting the Vertical Coupling attribute to Ground on a NI PXIe-5185/5186 would return undefined behavior for some ranges. |
| 439447 | Fixed an issue where NI-SCOPE VIs installed into LabVIEW 2013 were not mass compiled. |
| 425102 | Fixed an issue in the NI-SCOPE driver software that affects the NI PXIe-5185/5186 that may cause data corruption when performing a multi-record acquisition. For more information about this issue, visit ni.com/kb and enter 6DQG890S. |
| 257093 | Fixed an issue where setting the Vertical Coupling attribute to Ground on a PXI-5922 would return the following error: "Internal Software Error occurred in Scopes software. Please contact National Instruments Support." |
| 381159 | Fixed an issue where calling niScope_Abort on a NI PXIe-5162 digitizer while an acquisition is in progress would cause the aborted record to be lost. |
| 380799 | Fixed an issue where using the PXIe-5162 with Distributed TClk would result in up to but less than 6.4ns of TClk skew between sync pulse senders, with the skew varying each time the sync pulse senders are synchronized. |
| 405834 | Fixed an issue where the PXI-5900 would not initialize, producing IVI error 1074135028. |
| 368402 | Fixed an issue where enabling 3, 5, 6, or 7 channels on the NI 5105 would cause a subsequent Fetch to return fewer samples than requested. |
| 257481 | Fixed an issue where the Preferred Packet Size and Maximum Bandwidth properties had no effect for the NI PXIe-5185 and NI PXIe-5186. |
| 328318 | Fixed an issue that caused NI-SCOPE 3.7 to not support Visual Basic 6. |
| 341670 | Fixed an issue where the NI-SCOPE Soft Front Panel does not launch under certain conditions. |
| 336845 | Fixed an issue where TClk synchronization is not consistent between multiple sessions when using NI PXIe-5185 or NI PXIe-5186. |
| 327321 | Fixed an issue where NI PXI-5105 returns incorrect data at low sample rates (<20 kS/s) if the channel list size is not a power of 2. |
| 315548 | Fixed an issue that caused the first channel in the channel list to return incorrect data when using the niScope EX Fetch Forever VI with multiple channels. You can find this example VI at Start»Programs»National Instruments»NI-SCOPE»Examples. |
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. However, starting with the August 2012 releases (products using NI Installers version 3.1 or later), you may need to perform additional steps before or during a silent installation of NI software.
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:
When you install National Instruments software on Microsoft Windows 8.x, you will notice a few additional tiles on the Start screen, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX), and the new NI Launcher.
NI Launcher helps you find and launch installed NI products. It provides you with a method of finding NI products similar to the Start menu in previous versions of Microsoft Windows. To use NI Launcher, click the NI Launcher tile on the Start screen. NI Launcher launches the desktop and opens a menu containing a list of NI products. Click any NI product to launch it.
| Note NI MAX does not appear as a desktop shortcut when installed on Microsoft Windows 8.x. You can launch NI MAX either from the Apps view screen or from within NI Launcher. |
For convenience, you can pin your most-used NI applications, such as MAX, to either the Start screen or the Taskbar on the desktop, as necessary.
| Current Application | Icon Location | Pin to Action |
| Windows 8.x Desktop | Desktop Taskbar | Right-click application and select Pin to Taskbar |
| Windows 8.x Desktop | Start screen | Right-click application and select Pin to Start |
| Windows 8.x Start screen | Desktop Taskbar | Right-click application and select Pin to taskbar from the menu bar on the bottom of the screen |
If you want to find a particular application or related files, such as documentation files, from the Start screen, you can access all installed files by right-clicking anywhere on the Start screen and selecting All apps. A list of all installed software and related files appears, in alphabetical order by creator or type.
For more information about NI support for Windows 8.x, visit ni.com/windows8.
National Instruments NI-SCOPE will drop support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 as of July 1, 2016. Versions of NI-SCOPE that ship after July 1, 2016 will not install or run on Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. For detailed information about NI application software product life cycles, visit ni.com/info and enter one of the following Info Codes.
| Product | Info Code |
| NI LabVIEW | lifecycle |
| NI LabWindows™/CVI™ | cvi_lifecycle |
| NI Measurement Studio | mstudiolifecycle |
| NI TestStand | tslcp |
| NI DIAdem | ddlcp |
| NI SignalExpress | selcp |
| NI VeriStand | nivslifecycle |
Copyright
© 1999–2015 National Instruments. All rights reserved.
Under the copyright laws, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.
National Instruments respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. NI software is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Where NI software may be used to reproduce software or other materials belonging to others, you may use NI software only to reproduce materials that you may reproduce in accordance with the terms of any applicable license or other legal restriction.
End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices
You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:
U.S. Government Restricted Rights
If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.
IVI Foundation Copyright Notice
Content from the IVI specifications reproduced with permission from the IVI Foundation.
The IVI Foundation and its member companies make no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The IVI Foundation and its member companies shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
Trademarks
Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on National Instruments trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
The mark LabWindows is used under a license from Microsoft Corporation. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.
Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
Patents
For patents covering the National Instruments products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the National Instruments Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.
375360A-01