Adding Buses

Complete the following steps to add a bus:

1. Launch NI MAX with NI Switch Executive.
2. Expand Devices and Interfaces»NI Switch Executive Virtual Devices.
3. Select the NI Switch Executive virtual device to modify.
4. Click the Hardwires/Buses tab.
5. Click at the top of the Buses listbox to add a bus.
6. Type a name for the bus in the Name textbox or accept the predefined alias of the bus.
7. Select a switch to associate with the bus from the IVI Switches listbox.
8. Enable the Connect to Bus checkbox.
9. Select a channel from the Base Channel pull-down menu. The base channel is the first channel of the series of hardwires that are created.
10. Select the last channel in the series of created hardwires from the End Channel pull-down menu.

    Note  Some switch devices do not support creating multi-channel buses. If the switch device you selected from the IVI Switches listbox does not support multi-channel bus creation, you will only be able to select the same channel from the End Channel pull-down menu as the channel selected in the Base Channel pull-down menu.

11. Accept the predefined Hardwire Start Index value or type a new number in the Hardwire Start Index textbox. This value is the first number appended to the end of the generated hardwires. For example, if the start index is 2, BusName2, BusName3, BusName4, and so on are the default names created, where BusName is the name of the newly created bus.
12. Select another switch from the IVI Switches listbox to associate with the bus.
13. Enable the Connect to Bus checkbox.
14. Select a channel from the Base Channel pull-down menu.
15. Select the last channel in the series of created hardwires from the End Channel pull-down menu.
16. Accept the predefined Hardwire Start Index value or type a new number in the Hardwire Start Index textbox.
17. Type any comments you have in the Comment textbox.
18. Repeat steps 12 through 16 for any additional switches associated with the bus.
19. Click on the NI Switch Executive taskbar to save the changes.

Note  Buses are useful for simplifying sequential associations. If you have non-sequential channels, you can use individual hardwires to configure the NI Switch Executive virtual device.

Converting Buses to Hardwires

For additional granularity, a bus can be converted to individual hardwires.

Complete the following steps to convert a bus to individual hardwires.

Caution  After a bus has been converted to individual hardwires, the bus cannot be recreated from these hardwires.

1. Launch NI MAX with NI Switch Executive.
2. Expand Devices and Interfaces»NI Switch Executive Virtual Devices.
3. Select the NI Switch Executive virtual device to modify.
4. Click the Hardwires/Buses tab.
5. Right-click the bus you want to convert to individual hardwires from the Buses listbox and select Convert Bus to Hardwires.
6. Click Yes to complete converting the bus to individual hardwires.