Pin View Pane
- Updated2025-10-09
- 4 minute(s) read
Use the Pin View pane during debugging to interactively view and modify the current state of the pin driver, active load, comparators, PPMU, and NI-DCPower instrument settings for a single pin at a time in the active instrument session.
The pane displays by default when you create or open a project. Click the collapse
or expand
arrows or hover over the Pin View Pane icon
when the pane is collapsed to toggle the display of the pane. You can also select
or
to display the Pin View pane.
Changes you make in the Pin View pane apply only to the currently connected digital pattern instruments. You must manually make changes in the levels and timing documents if you want the changes to take effect the next time you burst a pattern. The pane reflects the changes you make in levels and time sets when you reapply levels and timing values on the instrument.
Configuring the Pin View Pane
Use the Site drop-down menu to select a site for this operation. Select System to view the system pins in the Pin control. When you remove the checkmark from the Pattern Burst checkbox of a site in the Sites dialog box, rather than disabling it, you can still view the site in the System View and modify pins in the site in the Pin View or System View pane, but bursting the pattern has no effect on the site.
Use the Pin control to select the pin in the pin and channel map for
which you want to view or modify settings. Use the tooltip to display the instrument and
channel that correspond to the pin. Select System in the
Site drop-down menu to view the system pins in the
Pin control menu. Click the switch icon
,
when available, to connect or disconnect the pin.
Use the expander 
buttons to
expand or collapse each section in the pane. The pane dims the sections that are not active.
Refer to the Related reference section at the end of this topic for a link to
more information about each section.
A green icon
next to the Drive section indicates that the digital pattern instrument is in
digital mode for the current pin when connected. A green icon next to the PPMU or DCPower
section indicates that the PPMU or the NI-DCPower instrument is forcing a voltage or a
current.
You can drag a document by its tab away from the main workspace window and drop the document without highlighting a docking guide location to detach the document from the main workspace and create a new instance of the application window. All instances of the application window refer to the same project file and share the same state. Using this technique, you can display the Pin View pane in each instance of the application to debug multiple pins at the same time. Selecting in a window in this case closes all the other windows.
Related Information
- Pin View Pane Drive Section
Use this section of the Pin View pane to specify pin driver options. A green icon Green Icon next to the Drive section indicates that the digital pattern instrument is in digital mode for the current pin when connected.
- Pin View Pane Active Load Section
Use this section of the Pin View pane to specify active load options.
- Pin View Pane Compare Section
Use this section of the Pin View pane to specify comparator options.
- Pin View Pane PPMU Section
Use this section of the Pin View pane to specify pin parametric measurement unit (PPMU) options. A green icon Green Icon next to the PPMU section indicates that the PPMU is forcing a voltage or a current.
- Pin View Pane NI-DCPower Section
Use these sections of the Pin View pane to specify when you select a pin connected to an NI-DCPower instrument to specify voltage and current options. A green icon Green Icon next to the DCPower section indicates that the instrument is forcing a voltage or a current. The pane does not display the switch icon to connect or disconnect the pin when the digital pattern instrument does not support this type of functionality.
- Getting Started with Digital Pattern Editor
Digital Pattern Editor is an application for testing and de-bugging pattern-based digital devices. In the Start menu, navigate to NI Digital Pattern Editor in the National Instruments folder to launch the Digital Pattern Editor.
- Pin View Pane Frequency Section
Use this section of the Pin View pane to measure the frequency of a signal on a digital pin.