In [13] it can be found the necessary libraries and some
examples about how to operate the device in Python.
Python is a high level programming language, very popular
during recent years especially like a scripting language, but
it can also be used to generate complete executables. CPython,
the reference implementation of Python, is free and
open source. Currently, there are available two versions
of Python: Python2 and Python3. The latter, although
newer, is not fully compatible with all operating systems.
Therefore, the libraries and examples are only compatible
with Python 2.X.
To facilitate to use the device with Python, two demonstration
programs are provided: DAQControl and EasyDAQ.
DAQControl is a demo program of complete test panels
(Fig. 4a). It allows the user to access, through CRM, to
most of the device functions, such as analog inputs, analog
output, digital I/O, and timer/counter functions (PWM,
capture, pulse count and capture). EasyDAQ is other demo
program provides access to configure and deploy experiments
in stream mode (Fig. 4b). The user can configure
input terminals, gain and sample rate for up to 4 simultaneous
experiments, but focused especially on analog readings.
It is also possible to activate an experiment as an
analog output, using the DAC as a complete signal generator.
The software configures openDAQ to generate predefined
waves, like sinusoidal signals, square, triangular or
saw-tooth. It even allows reading an array of voltage values
from a text archive in the PC, using it as the pattern
for one period of the wave in the signal generator.
5.2. OpenDAQ in LabVIEW
LabVIEW is one of the most popular programming languages
in the field of instrumentation and laboratory measurements.
In this regard some examples and the low level
libraries for using openDAQ in that platform are providing
in [18]. The files were created with LabVIEW 2011. As for
Python, apart from the low level libraries, openDAQ offers
two programs for demonstrating the use of the device in
LabVIEW: DAQcontrol (Fig. 5a) and EasyDAQ (Fig. 5b).
These demos are practically equivalent to the demos created
for Python, although in this case there are some
non-available options. In [18] the user can find the full
suite of low-level libraries (SubVIs), needed to control
openDAQ in LabVIEW.