RedLAB 1208HS-4AO in LabVIEW 2021 can't create Physical Channel

[WouterR]

Hello everyone, 

I'm a new user to LabVIEW and am trying to do my first project using the RedLAB 1208HS-4AO DAQ. Since no official ULx extensions driver installer for the latest LabVIEW version 2021 has been released by the manufacturer Meilhaus yet (only up to version 2020), I received a driver from their support to install manually. The DAQ hardware is recognised and working in the test program InstaCal from Meilhaus. After some initial problems the ULx functions -seem- to be working, see further below for information. 

The problem I have now occurs when I try to follow the most simple tutorial to connect the DAQ for testing purposes. As I understand it, I must use the Create Channel function to create a communication interface between a port from the DAQ and LabVIEW to enable reading from and/or controlling the port on the DAQ. However, I can't assign a physical channel. The commands are greyed out. See images 01 and 02. 
Does anyone know what is wrong here? Any help is greatly appreciated! 

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For additional information: Below is what I did to get the ULx functions working in LabVIEW 2021:

Initially, according to the RedLAB instructions I copied their ULx drivers into C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2021. When adding any UL Extension function the the block diagram I received a Dependency Path warning, see image 03. The expected path contains the C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.5 folder instead of the LabVIEW 2021 folder. To resolve this I created the missing path and copied the ULx drivers into this folder as well. This got rid of the warning, but I'm not sure if this is a correct solution without 'side effects'. So (part of) the problem may still be related to the ULx functions. 

[kartiknattar]

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2021 is for LabVIEW 64 bit 

C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2021 is for LabVIEW 32bit

make sure that the dll and labview that you are using are both 32bit or both 64bit

[WouterR]

Thank you for your reply!

I did not think of that being a potential cause for the issues. I'm using the 64 bit version of LabVIEW 2021, bus since the ULx libraries point to the x86 directory they may not be suitable for the 64 bit version. I will contact Meilhaus again to have them confirm or not that this could be the cause. If the bit version is the issue I need a new driver or must reinstall the software with the 32 bit version...
I'll get back in touch when I know more.

[WouterR]

Hello again,

I asked Meilhaus support about the potential x32/x64 issue, but according to the person I spoke to, that should not be the problem. He passed the issue on to the driver programmers.
In the meantime he suggested that I could try LabVIEW 2020 instead, because the hardware is guaranteed to work with both x32 and x64 drivers for this LabVIEW version. So I completely uninstalled LabVIEW 2021 and the Redlab drivers and then installed LabVIEW 2020 x64 and also the Redlab drivers again. Although the warnings regarding the wrong path are gone, the issue of the greyed out command still exists...

[SL13]

Hello,

we have the same problem and we use Labview 2012 32bits on Windows X.

Do you have more informations from Meilhaus ?

[kartiknattar]

I have installed the ulx drivers in my system and it is wroking properly with labview 2020 32bit and even able to create channels.

Have you installed daqmini and directx also while installing ulx drivers for labview?

 

[SL13]

Hello, thank for your response

yes we have also installed DAQami and directx with the drivers.

We have tried to install on two different computer (with the same configuration) and the probleme is the same.

DAQami and TracerDAQ is working fine but not labview (we are not able to create chanels)

[WouterR]

Hello everyone, 

I had not installed the (optional) DirectX driver, so I reinstalled everything again including the DirectX driver. As expected, this did not make a difference... 
I haven't received new information from Meilhaus regarding this issue yet. I'm still in contact with a representative regarding other topics, so I'll ask again next time. 

[WouterR]

Hello everyone, 

I wanted to let you know that we decided to use a different software solution to control the DAQ. I don't have the time to continue investigating this issue when it's no longer required to get my job done. So although we didn't find a solution I will not be posting updates anymore. I hope someone will find the cause and a solution and post it here to help other people experiencing the same issue. 
Thank you all for your interest and help & best regards!