Sockets in LabVIEW

I am communicating across USB, using a proprietary protocol, with some custom hardware I've built. I have a GUI that handles all the communications/interaction with that hardware and a (C#) DLL which exposes all the relevant USB functionality. I need to write a LabVIEW driver (VI) for communicating with the hardware. My thought is that I just use LabVIEW to open up my GUI and have a s开发者_运维问答ocket with which I expose all the relevant control to LabVIEW with. Is it possible to open a socket in LabVIEW and communicate with my GUI? Is this a bad approach or should I just try and make LabVIEW invoke the DLL and handle the hardware control instead of my GUI (polled communications, solicited/unsolicited commands, etc)?

IS there a reason you want to use your GUI only? In terms of time, I would say build a good front panel in LabVIEW and just communicate to the hardware directly using the DLL. Adding the GUI is just an added layer of complexity which might be difficult to maintain later on? Why not do everything in LabVIEW if you can?

Yes, LabVIEW supports sockets using both TCP/IP and UDP.

You should be able to create a program/service that continually runs acting as TCP/IP server. You can send commands and receive responses as strings. If you need to pack data, you can use the flatten to string command.

Essentially, your application should be structured as a loop running the TCP/IP server, and another loop that actually communicates with the instrument. This might change if you need to get data back from the devices to your TCP client. A producer consumer model, if you will :)

To get you started off, open up the NI Example Finder (Help -> Find Examples) and browse to Networking->TCP and UDP-> Simple Data Server.vi

It depends who is going to be using the LabVIEW driver and for what. If you're handing over this hardware to someone else who is going to want to create their own application(s) for it, they would probably prefer to talk directly to the DLL rather than go through your GUI. If it's more about automating your existing software from LabVIEW to do testing or repetitive tasks on the hardware, for example, then driving your GUI from LabVIEW might be less work.