LabVIEW 2020 Model Interface Toolkit Readme

May 2020

This file contains important information about the LabVIEW Model Interface Toolkit, including installation instructions, system requirements, and known issues.

Overview

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

Application Software Support

Installation Instructions

Upgrade and Compatibility Issues

Known Issues

Bug Fixes

Accessing the Software and Help

Finding Examples

Automating the Installation of NI Products

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1


Overview

Use the LabVIEW Model Interface Toolkit to connect simulation models from a variety of simulation environments and programming languages to real-world I/O.

System Requirements

The LabVIEW 2020 Model Interface Toolkit requires the LabVIEW 2020 Full or Professional Development System (32-bit) and any system requirements for LabVIEW 2020. Refer to the LabVIEW Readme for additional system requirements and supported operating systems for LabVIEW 2020.

To integrate and run your existing compiled models, you need only the Model Interface Toolkit installed. However, to perform other tasks with models you need additional software, as the following list describes:

  • To develop a model using MathWorks Simulink® application software, you must be a licensed user of and have the following software installed on the host computer:
    • MathWorks MATLAB® software (32-bit or 64-bit versions)
    • MathWorks Simulink software.
  • To compile a model developed using MathWorks Simulink software, you must be a licensed user of and have the following software installed on the host computer:
    • MathWorks Real-Time Workshop® (Simulink Coder®).
    • VeriStand Model Framework. You must complete step 3 of the Installation Instructions section to install the VeriStand Model Framework item on the feature selection screen of the VeriStand installer. Refer to the NI website for a list of compilers that are tested and supported.
  • To compile a LabVIEW VI into a .lvmodel or .lvmodelso file you can load and run, you must complete step 3 of the Installation Instructions to install the VeriStand LabVIEW Model Support item on the feature selection screen of the VeriStand installer.

If you use other modeling environments, contact your model vendor for requirements for developing a model and converting it into a compiled model.

Supported Operating Systems

The LabVIEW Model Interface Toolkit supports the following operating systems:

  • Windows 10/8.11/7 SP12
  • Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP12
  • Windows Server 2012 R21
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP12

Note  In 2016, the LabVIEW Model Interface Toolkit dropped support for Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and installations of Windows 7 without any service packs. The LabVIEW 2020 Model Interface Toolkit will not install or run on an unsupported OS. You cannot deploy or distribute applications that use the LabVIEW 2020 Model Interface Toolkit to an unsupported OS. Additionally, after installing the LabVIEW 2020 Model Interface Toolkit, you cannot use any installers built on this computer with any version of LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI™, NI TestStand™, or Measurement Studio on an unsupported OS.

For more information about the changes to our OS support for 2020, refer to KB 79UC78LS, Why Does my LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, Measurement Studio, or TestStand Built Installer Fail on Windows XP/Vista and Server 2003?.

Note  Support for Windows 32-bit operating systems may require disabling physical address extension (PAE). To learn how this might affect your system and what actions you might need to take, visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code PAESupport.

1 NI software installs VC2015 Runtime and .NET 4.6.2. Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 require Microsoft updates to support these items. Refer to Microsoft KB2919442 and KB2919355 for more information about how to install these updates.

2 NI software is signed with a SHA-256 certificate. Windows 7 SP1, Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 require Microsoft updates to support SHA-256. Refer to Microsoft KB3033929 for more information about how to install this security update.

Application Software Support

The Model Interface Toolkit 2020 supports the following application software versions, including service packs.

Application SoftwareVersions Supported by Model Interface Toolkit
LabVIEW Full or Professional Development System (32-bit) 2020

Installation Instructions

Use NI Package Manager or NI Software Product Downloads to install the LabVIEW 2020 Model Interface Toolkit.

Product Security and Critical Updates

Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from NI.

Upgrade and Compatibility Issues

The VeriStand Model Framework contains changes to the files you use to develop and compile models in C/C++ and third-party modeling environments. If your system contains models compiled with previous versions of the Model Framework, choose from the following options for continuing to use the models in VeriStand 2020:

  • If you do not need to update your model or deploy it to Intel x64-based targets that run NI Linux Real-Time, you can continue to use the model as-is.
  • If you need to update functionality of your model that does not require the changes in the latest version of the Model Framework, you can recompile the model against the deprecated Model Framework files. These files are installed at <RootDrive>\VeriStand\version\ModelInterface\custom\src\obsolete. However, you cannot deploy the recompiled model to Intel x64-based targets that run NI Linux Real-Time.
  • To use the new features in the latest version of the Model Framework, or if you need to deploy the model to Intel x64-based targets that run NI Linux Real-Time, update and recompile the models using the 2020 version of the Model Framework. Update your models according to the following differences between new files in the Model Framework and the deprecated files they replace:
    • ni_modelframework.h contains the following differences from NIVERISTAND_API.h:
      • Implements fixed-width data types from the C99 standard, such as replacing int with int32_t where applicable.
      • Replaces use of the long data type with int32_t or uint32_t where applicable to achieve cross-platform compatibility.
    • ni_modelframework.c contains the following differences from codegen.c:
      • This file is installed on disk at <custom>\src\ni_modelframework.c rather than in the <custom> directory.
      • USER_TakeOneStep() now returns an int32_t value rather than void. If the function completes successfully, it returns NI_OK. If an error occurs, this function returns NI_ERROR.
      • The USER_ModelName global variable is a const char and replaces the ModelName variable.
      • The USER_Builder global variable is a const char and replaces the build variable.
      • The USER_BaseRate global variable is a const char and replaces the baserate variable.

Known Issues

You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Refer to the NI website for an up-to-date list of known issues in the LabVIEW 2020 Model Interface Toolkit.

Bug Fixes

For a complete list of the IDs and titles of the issues fixed in this release, see LabVIEW Model Interface Toolkit 2020 Bug Fixes. If you have a Bug or Legacy ID, you can search the list to validate that the issue has been fixed.

Accessing the Software and Help

To access the Model Interface Toolkit VIs, select View»Functions Palette from the block diagram in LabVIEW and navigate to the Control Design & Simulation»Model Interface palette. You also can right-click any blank space on the block diagram to display the Functions palette.

Refer to the Toolkits»Model Interface Toolkit book on the Contents tab of the LabVIEW Help for more information about the Model Interface Toolkit.

Finding Examples

Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW to launch the NI Example Finder. LabVIEW examples for the Model Interface Toolkit are located in the labview\examples\Control and Simulation\Model Interface directory. 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.

The example models included with the Model Framework are located at <RootDrive>\VeriStand\version\ModelInterface\custom\examples.

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.

For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1

When you install NI software on Microsoft Windows 8.1, 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. For more information about NI support for Windows 8.1, visit ni.com/windows8.


Important Information

Copyright

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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.

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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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Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on NI trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Patents

For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.

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