Using a NI DAQ Device with Python and NI DAQmx in Windows

Install Python and the NI-DAQmx Python API:

1. Download and install Python
2. Open a new command prompt or terminal.
3. Download and install the NI-DAQmx Python API using pip with the following command: 

py -m pip install nidaqmx

The NI-DAQmx Python Documentation explains how to install the Python support. The documentation for the NI-DAQmx Python package is hosted on the NI GitHub repository. It includes all of the NI-DAQmx Python example programs. Running the NI-DAQmx Python API requires NI-DAQmx or NI-DAQmx Runtime.

Test Python environment with NI-DAQmx:

1. Open IDLE (Python).
2. Type import nidaqmx and press <Enter>.
3. Type with nidaqmx.Task() as task: and press <Enter>.
4. Make sure to keep the Python indentation (four spaces) and type task.ai_channels.add_ai_voltage_chan("Dev1/ai0"), then press <Enter>. Note that Dev1 is the name of the device connected to the computer. You can find this name in NI-MAX. You'll get an error if this name doesn't match. Additionally, ai0 is the channel number that you want to use to acquire data. Make sure that this is the correct channel name.
5. Type task.read() and press <Enter>.
6. You should be able to see the value read from the AI0 input of the Dev1 device.

The screenshot below illustrates the output of the steps mentioned above.

The following script is the test script used in this article.

import nidaqmx
with nidaqmx.Task() as task:
    task.ai_channels.add_ai_voltage_chan("Dev1/ai0")
    task.read()

Next Steps

• Explore the NI-DAQmx Python API examples from our GitHub repository.