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Developing ActiView with LabView 2010 for mac

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 4:41 am
by Matthew
Hello,

I'm looking to further develop ActiView using my version of LabView 2010 for mac, but seem to be faced with some obstacles. Upon starting up any of the ActiView sourcecode programs, LabView was originally unable to find Labview_DLL.dll or the following files in the <vilib>:Utitlity:inputDevices.llb directory:

keyboardAcquire.vi
closeKeyboard.vi
Close Input Device.vi
Acquire Input Data.vi
Initialize Keyboard.vi

A National Instruments representative provided me with an inputDevices.llb library to install to the resources folder. This seemed to solve the problem, however ActiView was then unable to find the lvinput.framework file. The NI rep then informed me that the Windows-based lvinput.dll was never ported to the Mac-based framework system.

I'm wondering if it should be possible for me to develop ActiView using LabView 2010 for mac, and if so if there is any advice that might help me resolve these issues. Thanks very much for any assistance you can provide.

Matthew

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 1:33 pm
by Coen
The keyboard functions are indeed not supported in LabVIEW for Mac. In ActiView for Windows, these functions were only used for the keyboard short-keys (Arrows, PgUp and PgDn, Enter). You can just delete the blank (unfindable) VIs and associated wires, and everything else will work normally again. I have done this already, as well as a lot of other cosmetic changes that were necessary when porting from Windows to Mac (change font types and sizes, etc). The result was compiled and fully tested in LabVIEW 8.6.1 for Mac, and can be downloaded from http://www.biosemi.com/download/ActiMac.zip . The VI should load and work without problems in LabVIEW 2010 for Mac, but I have not yet actually tried this myself. Please post your results on this forum.

Best regards, Coen (BioSemi)

PS: the keyboard short-keys can again be added to ActiView for the Mac with new functions added recently to the Mac USB driver However, I have not yet implemented this extra feature.

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:38 am
by Matthew
Thanks for your response, Coen.

I have downloaded the ActiMac folder from the link provided. Upon opening "ActiView700-Mac-Rev15.vi" in LabVIEW 2010, a list of 15 errors show the following Library Function Nodes as "Library not found or failed to load":

READ_POINTER
OPEN_DRIVER_ASYNC
CLOSE_DRIVER_ASYNC
USB_WRITE
READ_MULTIPLE_SWEEPS

These Library Functions are all calling on the following directory: "Macintosh HD:Users:coenmettingvanrijn:Documents:LabVIEW Data:ActiView:BioSemi-Labview_DLL.framework:Versions:A"

To try and resolve these errors, I added the "BioSemi-Labview_DLL.framework" folder (from the mac usb driver package) and its contents to a similarly constructed directory, replacing the computer name listed above with my own. Upon redirecting these calls to "BioSemi-Labview_DLL.framework:Versions:A", I am informed that "The file selected is not a valid library." Saving ActiMac with the calls to this new directory and reopening presents the same errors.

I again appreciate any assistance as to how I might best move forward from here.

Thanks,
Matthew

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:24 pm
by Coen
That's strange since the redirection procedure described above is fully correct, it is actually exactly what I did myself when porting from Windows to Mac.

The USB driver was developed for Mac OS X 10.5. Are you working in another OS ? 32 or 64 bit ?

Best regards, Coen (BioSemi)

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:14 am
by Matthew
Hm, yes I am working in a different OS: OSX 10.6 (32-bit). Would this create a compatibility issue?

Thanks,
Matthew

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:41 pm
by Coen
It may be a 10.6 incompatibility issue, we have not actually tested under 10.6 yet.

Please check whether the 32 bit program Labview_DLL_Synctest in the driver package runs OK.

Best regards, Coen (BioSemi)

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:45 am
by Matthew
Thanks for your continued assistance, Coen. I had a chance to try the Labview_DLL_SyncTest in the lab yesterday. I wasn't clear from within the INSTALL-MAC.txt instructions where to 'type "./Labview_DLL_SyncTest 0" to start the test program.' I tried this in the Mac Terminal interface nonetheless, and the message "No such file or directory" was returned. I regret that I have limited experience working in Terminal, however I did make several different attempts without success to run the program from there (e.g. providing the full directory "/Users/.../OSX-10.5-32/bin/Labview_DLL_SyncTest 0").

Is there some other way I should be going about running this test program?

Thanks,
Matthew

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 2:15 am
by pmac
Matthew,

1. Open a Terminal window.

2. Go to the directory that contains the Labview_DLL_SyncTest program by using something like this:

cd ~/Downloads/USB\ drivers\ Mac/OSX-10.5-32/bin

3. Fix a permissions problem by using this command:

chmod u+x Labview_DLL_SyncTest

4. Start the program using this command:

./Labview_DLL_SyncTest 10

The "10" tells it to run for 10 seconds, just to see if the libraries work on 10.6.

I hope this helps,
Paul

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 4:04 am
by Matthew
Thanks Paul, these instructions were very helpful.

In response to Coen, the program ran and output the following over the first 20 seconds:

****************************************
Parameters can be, in any order:
Time to run, in seconds:
default is 600 seconds (10 minutes)
0=unlimited

Ring buffer size, in 512 byte units,
must have a 'b' or 'B' prefix:
default is B65536 for 32 MBytes


Hit ctrl-c to quit
****************************************
sizeof long = 4
ring buffer size = 33554432
at second 0, buffer 0, #bytes 491520, seam 491520, rate/channel 0
number of channels = 610
V20100121 using: Linux/Mac libusb library, 64.55 msec stride, not sync'ing pointer calls
at second 2, buffer 10, #bytes 645120, seam 6459392, rate/channel 0
at second 2, buffer 20, #bytes 322560, seam 9684992, rate/channel 0
at second 3, buffer 30, #bytes 322560, seam 12910592, rate/channel 0
at second 4, buffer 40, #bytes 322560, seam 16136192, rate/channel 0
at second 4, buffer 50, #bytes 322560, seam 19361792, rate/channel 0
at second 5, buffer 60, #bytes 322560, seam 22587392, rate/channel 1745
at second 5, buffer 70, #bytes 322560, seam 25812992, rate/channel 1745
at second 6, buffer 80, #bytes 322560, seam 29038592, rate/channel 1745
at second 7, buffer 90, #bytes 322560, seam 32264192, rate/channel 1745
at second 7, buffer 100, #bytes 323072, seam 1938432, rate/channel 1745
at second 8, buffer 110, #bytes 323072, seam 5169152, rate/channel 1745
at second 9, buffer 120, #bytes 322560, seam 8394752, rate/channel 1745
at second 9, buffer 130, #bytes 322560, seam 11620352, rate/channel 1745
at second 10, buffer 140, #bytes 322560, seam 14845952, rate/channel 2036
at second 11, buffer 150, #bytes 322560, seam 18071552, rate/channel 2036
at second 11, buffer 160, #bytes 322560, seam 21297152, rate/channel 2036
at second 12, buffer 170, #bytes 322560, seam 24522752, rate/channel 2036
at second 13, buffer 180, #bytes 322560, seam 27748352, rate/channel 2036
at second 13, buffer 190, #bytes 322560, seam 30973952, rate/channel 2036
****************************************
Hit ctrl-c to quit
****************************************
at second 14, buffer 200, #bytes 323072, seam 646144, rate/channel 2036
at second 14, buffer 210, #bytes 323072, seam 3876864, rate/channel 2036
at second 15, buffer 220, #bytes 322560, seam 7104512, rate/channel 2062
at second 16, buffer 230, #bytes 322560, seam 10330112, rate/channel 2062
at second 16, buffer 240, #bytes 322560, seam 13555712, rate/channel 2062
at second 17, buffer 250, #bytes 322560, seam 16781312, rate/channel 2062
at second 18, buffer 260, #bytes 322560, seam 20006912, rate/channel 2062
at second 18, buffer 270, #bytes 322560, seam 23232512, rate/channel 2062
at second 19, buffer 280, #bytes 322560, seam 26458112, rate/channel 2062
at second 20, buffer 290, #bytes 322560, seam 29683712, rate/channel 2035

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 1:19 pm
by pmac
Hi Matthew,

This output is as expected which means that the OSX 10.5 libraries do work on 10.6.

The problem is therefore with the "BioSemi-Labview_DLL.framework" structure -
either Labview can't find it or its format has changed.

Please try the following.

When you start ActiView700-Mac-Rev15.vi and you have to redirect the Function Calls,
redirect to the "BioSemi-Labview_DLL.framework" structure in the downloaded Mac USB
driver's package, i.e. in the "~/Downloads/USB\ drivers\ Mac/OSX-10.5-32/bin" directory
or where ever you put it (don't go any lower in the directory tree - Labview understands
framework structures).

I suspect that Labview may be getting confused if you actually do have ":"'s in your
redirected path or filename - Labview itself seems to use ":"' as a system independent
subdirectory and filename seperator.

Paul

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:45 pm
by Matthew
Thanks Paul.

It seems that no matter how 'BioSemi-Labview_DLL.framework' is being referenced (e.g. referring to the structure itself; referring to its containing folder; using '/', '\', or ':' as separators between subdirectories), a message immediately comes back saying "The file selected is not a valid library." After saving changes and re-opening ActiView700-Mac-Rev15.vi, the "Library not found or failed to load" error continues to be listed for each of the Function Calls.

It appears that it should be a straightforward fix (i.e. inputting the appropriate directory), but I don't seem to be having any luck.

Thanks,
Matthew

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 1:37 am
by pmac
Matthew,

I send the step-by-step procedure that I use on OSX 10.5 in a private
e-mail.

Please tell me where your procedure differs.

Paul

Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 12:27 am
by pmac
To update this story ... the problem has been resolved.

It was not an OSX10.5 --> OSX10.6 problem nor was it a Labview 8.6 --> 2010 problem.

There was a flaw in the procedure used to create the Mac driver download zip file. The fault was apparently tolerated by Labview 10.6 but not by 2010.

A corrected zip file is now available on the BioSemi download page..

Re: Developing ActiView with LabView 2010 for mac

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 9:47 pm
by Lloyd
Hey PMAC - I am trying to get ActiView running on an iMAC with OS X 10.11 El Capitan and the software and runtime engine seem fine, but the USB device is not found. When I run sync test, it stops immediately as says it cannot find the Labview DLL and/or USB device:

"Last login: Thu Oct 27 14:51:53 on console
You have new mail.
/Users/EGI/Downloads/USB_drivers_Mac/OSX-10.5-64/bin/Labview_DLL_SyncTest ; exit;
gaius:~ EGI$ /Users/EGI/Downloads/USB_drivers_Mac/OSX-10.5-64/bin/Labview_DLL_SyncTest ; exit;
dyld: Library not loaded: liblabview_dll.0.0.1.dylib
Referenced from: /Users/EGI/Downloads/USB_drivers_Mac/OSX-10.5-64/bin/Labview_DLL_SyncTest
Reason: image not found
Trace/BPT trap: 5
logout
Saving session...
...copying shared history...
...saving history...truncating history files...
...completed.
Deleting expired sessions...19 completed.

[Process completed]"

Ignore the user EGI - the customer is UPGRADING from EGI systems to Biosemi, so the user name just needs to be upgraded at some point, too. In ActiView, I get Error 5000 very reliably and on two identical computers. The Biosemi systems are intact - I tested on my Win 7 PC, so the problem seems to be related to the way the source is compiled for 10.6 and some difference with what is needed for 10.11. I desperately need to get this working, and would very much appreciate any help.