Data acquisition system with collection of hardware information for identifying hardware constraints during program development

摘要

A system and method for displaying DAQ device configuration information in response to program creation. The present invention preferably operates in a data acquisition (DAQ) system, wherein the DAQ system comprises a computer system and at least one DAQ device coupled to the computer system. The computer memory includes a database which stores information regarding DAQ devices. The database preferably comprises a hardware database which stores hardware capability information regarding DAQ devices, and a configuration file which stores information on the current DAQ configuration. The computer memory also includes one or more DAQ software components of the present invention. When a DAQ software component according to the present invention is included in an application program, the DAQ software component queries the database to obtain information on the DAQ device(s). In response to this obtained information, the first DAQ software component displays a hardware block diagram on the display screen. The hardware block diagram includes one or more function blocks comprised in the DAQ device which are used in the data acquisition task being performed and show the connections and signal routing between the function blocks. When the user edits one or more properties of the DAQ software component, the component again queries the database to obtain information on the DAQ device and displays an updated hardware block diagram in response to the user changes. The present invention thus provides configuration information to the user during program creation, thus simplifying application development and system configuration.