You can use InstrumentStudio to create and host application-specific plug-ins written in LabVIEW or C#. These plug-ins run together with the InstrumentStudio panels that are used to configure PXI instruments.

Note A teal ribbon that signals that a feature is only available with an InstrumentStudio Professional license.This feature is only available with an InstrumentStudio Professional license.

Plug-ins have a runtime configuration and an edit-time configuration. You can export a plug-in configuration to TestStand to use it in a measurement step. In this case, the runtime configuration is provided to the sequence as a variable. Both of these configurations persist when you save the project that contains the configurations.

You cannot create plug-ins from the File » New menu. For information on how to create InstrumentStudio plug-ins, see InstrumentStudio Plug-Ins on GitHub in the Related Information section.

When you host a plug-in in InstrumentStudio, you are limited to the following interactions:
  • Saving and loading
  • Resizing the window
  • Pulling out tabs
  • Exporting the session to TestStand
  • Stopping all outputs with LabVIEW plug-ins

For examples of InstrumentStudio plug-ins, see InstrumentStudio Plug-Ins on GitHub in the Related Information section.

Limitations of Plug-In Support

The following limitations apply when you host plug-ins in InstrumentStudio:

  • Hosting plug-ins that are created in C# requires Visual Studio 2019 or newer and .NET 6.0.
  • Plug-ins built in the 2022 Q3 or earlier versions of InstrumentStudio are not compatible. You must rebuild the plug-ins in a newer version of InstrumentStudio.
  • You cannot use Measurement Studio controls when you host plug-ins that are created in C#.