Understanding IVI.NET Driver Types

Nimbus allows you to build IVI.NET drivers that target .NET Framework as well as drivers that target .NET Core. This allows the Nimbus developer to simultaneously support customers building applications with .NET Framework as well as those building applications with .NET Core.

.NET Framework and .NET Core

The .NET Framework has been in use for Windows desktop development for many years, and was the only option availble for building managed applications on windows. .NET Core brings new capabilities, enhanced performance, simplified distribution, and more.

The main consideration in choosing which type of IVI.NET driver to build is the type of .NET customer applications you need to support. End users building .NET Framework applications will naturally need an IVI.NET Framework driver, while end users building .NET Core applications will require an IVI.NET Core driver. Luckily, Nimbus makes it easy to support both.

The lists below present some very basic aspects to consider when building IVI.NET Framework and IVI.NET Core types.

Characteristics of IVI.NET Framework Drivers

Windows-only.
Deployed globally for all consuming applications into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC).
Use Windows Installers (MSIs) for distribution.
Can use publisher policy files to upgrade applications built against previous versions.

Characteristics of IVI.NET Core Drivers

Underlying technology of .NET Core is cross-platform.
More flexible.
Higher performance.
Deployed via NuGet packages (.nupkg).
Installed locally for private use by each consuming application.

Specifying an IVI.NET Driver Type with Nimbus

The IVI.NET Driver Wizard allows you to specify which .NET Framework version and which .NET Core version you wish to support with the new driver. At least one version of one kind of driver must be selected.

Note
Only a single .NET Framework version can be specified. A single Nimbus driver can support multiple .NET Core versions (e.g. .NET 6, .NET 7, etc), but only a single .NET Framework version can be targeted. In practice, it is rarely necessary to support multiple .NET Framework versions with a single driver.

Multi-Targeted IVI.NET Drivers

As explained above, newly created IVI.NET drivers will emerge from the IVI.NET Driver Wizard with zero or one .NET Framework targets specified and zero or more .NET Core targets specified. If more than one target is specified, then the IVI.NET driver is, by definition, already multi targeting.

Drivers converted from earlier versions of Nimbus will only be single-targeted. Specifically, they will be targeting .NET Framework 4.6.2 (or higher if the driver was already targeting a .NET Framework version higher than 4.6.2. In this case, or in the case of a Nimbus developer wanting to change the multi-targeting options after running the IVI.NET Driver Wizard, the task of adding, removing, or changing the driver targets is straight-forward.

To specify the target frameworks for your IVI.NET driver

Open the driver solution in Visual Studio with Nimbus running.

Important
Any changes to the target frameworks for an IVI.NET driver must be done with Visual Studio open and with Nimbus running. Nimbus must detect the change as it happens and perform updates to the driver project and to the .design file. Editing the target frameworks directly outside the context of an open Nimbus solution bypasses this important logic and will result in the project no longer being loadable by Nimbus.

Important

Any changes to the target frameworks for an IVI.NET driver must be done with Visual Studio open and with Nimbus running. Nimbus must detect the change as it happens and perform updates to the driver project and to the .design file. Editing the target frameworks directly outside the context of an open Nimbus solution bypasses this important logic and will result in the project no longer being loadable by Nimbus.

Open the IVI.NET driver project file. This can be done by simply double-clicking the driver project node in Solution Explorer.

Locate the TargetFrameworks MSBuild property in the driver project file and update with a semi-colon separated list of target framework monikers.

Note
Multiple versions of .NET Core can be specified, but only a single .NET Framework version can be specified.

See the Microsoft help topic on valid values for the TargetFrameworks property and for further information.

Important
Nimbus requires that the TargetFrameworks (plural) property be used instead of the TargetFramework (singular) property, even if only a single target framework is specified.

Save the driver project file.
Within a few seconds of editing the TargetFrameworks property and saving the project file, Nimbus will detect the change and show a dialog box indicating that the driver project must be updated to support the new target framework set.
Click OK to let Nimbus begin updating the driver.
A dialog box should appear indicating that the operation was successful.
If the operation fails for any reason, it is important to close Visual Studio and manually update the driver project file such that the TargetFrameworks property has its orginal value. This must be done without Visual Studio open. Once the TargetFrameworks property is returned to its original value, open the solution and re-try the operation.