In LabVIEW, you can use three different types of instrument drivers: Plug and Play, Plug & Play (project-style), and Interchangeable Virtual Instrument (IVI). This topic contains information about the available driver types.

  • Plug and Play—A Plug and Play instrument driver is a set of functions used to control and communicate with a programmable instrument. Each function corresponds to a programmatic operation such as configuring, reading from, writing to, and triggering the instrument.
  • Plug and Play (project-style)—A Plug and Play (project-style) instrument driver leverages the organizational benefits of the LabVIEW project. National Instruments recommends using Plug and Play (project-style) instrument drivers for any new projects using LabVIEW 2010 or later.
  • IVI—IVI drivers offer increased performance and flexibility for more intricate test applications that require interchangeability, state caching, and/or instrument simulation. National Instruments recommends using IVI drivers if you need interchangeability and simulation in your test applications.