NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 14.5 Readme

March 2015


This file contains information about the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software, including system requirements, installation instructions, new features and changes, a partial list of bugs fixed, and how to access the help and examples.


Caution   The NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 14.5 software or later requires the NI 9881 module with the updated firmware. When you upgrade the software to the 14.5 version, check the software version of the media that shipped with the NI 9881 module. If the version is not 14.5 or later, or you are not sure of the version number, National Instruments recommends that you update the firmware. Otherwise, when you use NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 14.5 or later, firmware images corrupt or get mismatched. Ensure that you have appropriate hardware and software installed and complete one of the following tasks to upgrade the firmware.
  • If you are using cRIO-9111, cRIO-9112, cRIO-9113, cRIO-9114, cRIO-9116, cRIO-9118, cRIO-9081, or cRIO-9082, with LabVIEW 2012 or later, double-click ModuleFirmwareUpdate.exe in the National Instruments\NI-IndCom for CANopen\Utilities directory and follow the instructions in this utility to update the firmware.
  • If you are using other chassis with LabVIEW 2014 or later, double-click Firmware_Update_Instructions.html in the National Instruments\NI-IndCom for CANopen directory and follow the instructions to use a LabVIEW example project to update the firmware.

Overview

System Requirements

Installation Instructions

Product Security and Critical Updates

New Features

CANopen 14.5

CANopen 1.0.3

CANopen 1.0.2

CANopen 1.0.1

CANopen 1.0

Driver Version Naming Changes

Known Issue

Bug Fixes

Accessing the Help

Finding Examples

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

Legal Information


Overview

The NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software contains an extensive library of VIs and properties in LabVIEW. Use these VIs and properties to program CANopen master applications that comply with the CiA DS-301 standard. This software also provides built-in functionality for device configuration and online test panel in LabVIEW.


System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

You can install and run this version of the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software on the following operating systems:


  • Windows 8.1/8.0/7/Vista
  • Windows XP SP3 (32-bit)
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit)

Notes  The following list describes restrictions for using NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen on Windows:


  • The NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen installer does not support Windows 2000/NT/Me/98/95 or Windows XP x64.
  • If you upgrade your system from a previous version of Microsoft Windows to Microsoft Windows Vista, you must uninstall all National Instruments software prior to performing the upgrade. After the upgrade is complete, you can reinstall your National Instruments software.
  • Upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 with the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software installed might result in device configuration information damage and ostensible disconnection between devices. National Instruments recommends that you reinstall the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software after upgrading the operating system.

Supported Hardware and Software

Refer to Supported Hardware and Software for NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen, for a complete list of NI hardware and software supported by each NI CANopen interface.


Installation Instructions

Before installing the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software, log on as Administrator or as a user with Administrator privileges. The NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software setup program must have Administrator privileges, because the program modifies the configuration registry of your system. Complete the following steps to install the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software:


  1. Insert the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software media into your computer. The installer launches if your computer plays the media automatically. If the installer does not launch automatically, navigate to the media using Windows Explorer and launch the autorun.exe file from the media.
  2. The installation wizard guides you through the necessary steps to install the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software. You can go back and change values where appropriate by clicking the Back button. You can exit the setup where appropriate by clicking the Cancel button.
  3. When the installation is complete, click the Finish button.

Installing the Software on a Real-Time Target

Complete the following steps to install the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software on a real-time target in Measurement & Automation Explorer:


  1. Expand Remote Systems in the configuration tree and expand your real-time target.
  2. Select the Software category. Click the Add/Remove Software icon on the toolbar to launch the LabVIEW Real-Time Software Wizard.
  3. If the real-time target is a CompactRIO controller, select Custom software installation.
  4. Select NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen x from the feature list and click the Next button.
  5. Follow the remaining installation instructions until installation is complete.

Product Security and Critical Updates

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.


New Features

CANopen 14.5

  • Added support for LabVIEW 2014 SP1 (32-bit)
  • Added support for cRIO-9030, cRIO-9031, cRIO-9033, cRIO-9035, cRIO-9036, cRIO-9039, cRIO-9063, cRIO-9064, cRIO-9065, cRIO-9066, and cRIO-9067

CANopen 1.0.3

  • Added support for LabVIEW 2013 (32-bit)
  • Added support for cRIO-9068

CANopen 1.0.2

  • Added support for LabVIEW 2012 (32-bit)

CANopen 1.0.1

  • Added support for LabVIEW 2011 (32-bit)
  • Added support for cRIO-9081 and cRIO-9082
  • The CANopen VIs palette includes the following changed polymorphic VI instance:
    • CANopen Interface Create—Includes an optional termination? input that enables or disables the onboard termination. The termination is a 120 Ω resistor.

CANopen 1.0

  • First release to support NI CANopen hardware that includes PCI-8531, PXI-8531, and NI 9881
  • Released a common high-level API across PCI, PXI, and CompactRIO targets running either a Windows or LabVIEW Real-Time OS

Driver Version Naming Changes

NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 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-Industrial Communications for CANopen 14.5 is the version released with LabVIEW 2014 SP1. The last version released under the old numbering scheme is NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 1.0.3. The first version released under the new numbering scheme is NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 14.5.


Known Issue

The NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 14.5 software has the following known issue:


The CANopen TPDO RTR Request Send VI is not optimized for real-time performance. Do not use this VI in the Timed Loop. If you add this VI to the Timed Loop, this VI induces jitter and the program is not deterministic. National Instruments does not recommend you to use this VI in the time-critical applications.


Bug Fixes

The following table contains the ID and title of the issue fixed in the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 14.5. This table is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in this version of NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen.


IDFixed Issue
511845Add error codes to report issues when using CANopen 14.5 on the NI 9881 module with outdated files

The following table contains the ID and title of the issue fixed in the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 1.0.2. This table is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in this version of NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen.


IDFixed Issue
335637LabVIEW crashes when some EDS files are being parsed
351959The SDO confirmation frame should be ignored if its index/subindex is wrong

The following table contains the ID and title of the issue fixed in the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 1.0.1. This table is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in this version of NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen.


IDFixed Issue
310647Allow users to choose whether to enable onboard termination

Accessing the Help

Refer to the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen Help, accessible by selecting Help»NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen from the pull-down menu in LabVIEW, for information about using the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software.


Finding Examples

Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW to launch the NI Example Finder.

LabVIEW examples for the NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen software are in the labview\examples\NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen folder. You can modify an example VI to fit an application, or you can copy and paste from one or more examples into a VI that you create.


Automating the Installation of NI Products

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:


How to Use NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.x

When you install National Instruments software on Microsoft Windows 8.x, you will notice a few additional tiles in the Apps view, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (NI MAX), and NI Launcher.


Using 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 in the Apps view. 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 or from within NI Launcher.


Pinning Frequently Used Applications

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 ApplicationIcon LocationPin to Action
Windows 8.x DesktopDesktop TaskbarRight-click application and select Pin to Taskbar
Windows 8.x Desktop Start screenRight-click application and select Pin to Start
Windows 8.x Start screenDesktop TaskbarRight-click application and select Pin to taskbar from the menu bar on the bottom of the screen

Finding All Programs

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 from the Apps view. To get to the Apps view, right-click anywhere on the Start screen and select All apps (Windows 8.0) or click the down arrow on the bottom left of the screen (Windows 8.1).


For more information about NI support for Windows 8.x, visit ni.com/windows8.


NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen Drops Support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 in 2016

NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen will drop support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 as of July 1, 2016. Versions of NI-Industrial Communications for CANopen 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
LabVIEWlifecycle
LabWindows™/CVI™cvi_lifecycle
Measurement Studiomstudiolifecycle
TestStandtslcp
DIAdemddlcp
SignalExpressselcp
VeriStandnivslifecycle

Legal Information

Copyright


© 2011–2015 National Instruments. All rights reserved.


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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:


  • Notices are located in the <National Instruments>\_Legal Information and <National Instruments> directories.
  • EULAs are located in the <National Instruments>\Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
  • Review <National Instruments>\_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.

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.


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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.


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