nidaqwrapper

Unified NI-DAQmx Python Wrapper.

A Python package that provides a clean, high-level interface to NI-DAQmx hardware. It consolidates analog input, analog output, and digital I/O into a single package with two layers: task classes for channel configuration and orchestrator classes for acquisition lifecycle management.

The architecture uses direct delegation -- nidaqmx.Task is the single source of truth. No intermediate state is maintained; every channel addition and timing configuration delegates immediately to the underlying driver.

Installation

pip install nidaqwrapper

Requires NI-DAQmx drivers installed on the system. The nidaqmx Python package communicates with the NI-DAQmx C driver, which must be installed separately from ni.com.

For development:

git clone https://github.com/tibor-barsi/nidaqwrapper.git
cd nidaqwrapper
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Quick Start

Accelerometer acquisition with software triggering:

from nidaqwrapper import AITask, DAQHandler

# Define an analog input task with two accelerometer channels
task = AITask('vibration_test', sample_rate=25600)
task.add_channel('accel_x', device="Dev1", channel_ind=0,
                 sensitivity=100, sensitivity_units='mV/g', units='g')
task.add_channel('accel_y', device="Dev1", channel_ind=1,
                 sensitivity=100, sensitivity_units='mV/g', units='g')

# Use DAQHandler for triggered acquisition
wrapper = DAQHandler()
wrapper.configure(task_in=task)
wrapper.connect()
wrapper.set_trigger(n_samples=25600, trigger_channel=0,
                    trigger_level=0.5, trigger_type='up', presamples=2560)
data = wrapper.acquire()  # shape: (25600, 2)
wrapper.disconnect()

Features

• Analog input (AITask) -- voltage, accelerometer (IEPE), force (IEPE), and custom linear scales
• Analog output (AOTask) -- voltage generation with continuous buffer regeneration
• Digital I/O (DITask / DOTask) -- on-demand single-sample and clocked continuous modes
• Single-task handler (DAQHandler) -- configure, connect, acquire/generate, disconnect lifecycle with software triggering via pyTrigger
• Multi-task synchronization (MultiHandler) -- hardware-triggered finite acquisition and validated multi-task pipelines, with trigger-firing hooks and non-blocking acquisition
• Synchronized timing -- finite/continuous acquisition modes, shared sample clocks (clock_source), and digital/analog edge start triggers (set_start_trigger(), set_analog_start_trigger()) on all task classes
• Acquisition control -- stop_acquisition() cooperative abort, is_running(), check_state() auto-reconnection on both handlers
• Eager channel validation -- add_channel() validates the configuration with the driver immediately (TASK_VERIFY), so invalid parameters raise on the offending line and IEPE/delta-sigma modules (NI 9234 etc.) work correctly (v0.2.0 behavior change: errors that previously surfaced at a later operation now surface inside add_channel())
• NI MAX persistence -- save() on all task classes persists the task to NI MAX; from_name() loads it back as a wrapper
• Task lifecycle -- configure() / start() / stop() / clear_task() on all task classes
• TOML configuration -- save_config() / from_config() for portable, human-readable task definitions with device aliases
• Device discovery -- list_devices(), list_tasks(), get_connected_devices() for hardware enumeration
• Raw task injection -- from_task() on all task classes wraps pre-configured nidaqmx.Task objects
• Factory classmethods -- from_name() creates tasks from a saved NI MAX task name, from_config() from TOML
• System introspection -- system_info() returns structured device/driver/task inventory
• Context manager support -- automatic resource cleanup with with statements
• Thread safety -- DAQHandler and MultiHandler use per-instance RLock for concurrent access

Usage Examples

Load an NI MAX task by name

from nidaqwrapper import DAQHandler

wrapper = DAQHandler()
wrapper.configure(task_in='MyInputTask', task_out='MyOutputTask')
wrapper.connect()
data = wrapper.acquire()
wrapper.disconnect()

NI MAX round-trip (save a task, reload it by name)

Define a task programmatically once, persist it to NI MAX with save(), and reload it anywhere with from_name() -- no reconfiguration needed:

from nidaqwrapper import AITask

# Define and persist
task = AITask('vibration', sample_rate=25600)
task.add_channel('acc0', device='cDAQ1Mod1', channel_ind=0,
                 sensitivity=100, sensitivity_units='mV/g', units='g')
task.configure()
task.save()  # persists to NI MAX; AITask's default clear_task=True releases the handle

# Later (or in another script): reload and acquire
task = AITask.from_name('vibration')
task.start()
data = task.acquire(1000)   # (1000, n_channels)
task.stop()
task.clear_task()

AOTask, DITask, and DOTask provide the same save() / from_name() pair (their save() keeps the task open by default, clear_task=False). Note: get_task_by_name() returns a raw nidaqmx.task.Task; use from_name() when you want a wrapper with acquire() / generate().

Digital output

from nidaqwrapper import DOTask

with DOTask('relay_control') as do:
    do.add_channel('relays', lines='Dev1/port0/line0:3')
    do.configure()
    do.write([True, False, True, False])

Digital input

from nidaqwrapper import DITask

with DITask('switches') as di:
    di.add_channel('sw', lines='Dev1/port0/line0:3')
    di.configure()
    state = di.read()  # array of bool values, one per line

Analog output (continuous waveform)

import numpy as np
from nidaqwrapper import AOTask

task = AOTask('sig_gen', sample_rate=10000)
task.add_channel('ao_0', device="Dev1", channel_ind=0)
task.configure()
task.start()

t = np.linspace(0, 1, 10000)
signal = np.sin(2 * np.pi * 10 * t)  # 10 Hz sine
task.generate(signal)
# ...
task.clear_task()

TOML configuration (portable across machines)

from nidaqwrapper import AITask

# Save task configuration
task = AITask('vibration', sample_rate=25600)
task.add_channel('ch0', device="Dev1", channel_ind=0,
                 sensitivity=100, sensitivity_units='mV/g', units='g')
task.save_config('vibration.toml')
task.clear_task()

# Recreate the same task on another machine
task = AITask.from_config('vibration.toml')
task.configure()
task.start()

The generated TOML file uses device aliases, so only the [devices] section needs editing when moving between machines:

[task]
name = "vibration"
sample_rate = 25600
type = "input"

[devices]
dev0 = "cDAQ1Mod1"  # NI 9234

[[channels]]
name = "ch0"
device = "dev0"
channel = 0
sensitivity = 100
sensitivity_units = "mV/g"
units = "g"

Multi-task synchronized acquisition

from nidaqwrapper import MultiHandler

adv = MultiHandler()
adv.configure(input_tasks=[task1, task2])
adv.connect()
adv.set_trigger(n_samples=25600, trigger_channel=0, trigger_level=0.5)
data = adv.acquire()
adv.disconnect()

Hardware-triggered synchronized burst (no raw nidaqmx needed)

Build finite tasks sharing one sample clock and one start trigger entirely with nidaqwrapper, then acquire them as a synchronized burst:

from nidaqwrapper import AITask, DITask, MultiHandler

# Master analog task: finite acquisition, onboard clock
ai = AITask('vibration', sample_rate=25600)
ai.add_channel('acc0', device='cDAQ1Mod1', channel_ind=0,
               sensitivity=100.0, sensitivity_units='mV/g', units='g')
ai.configure(sample_mode='finite', samples_per_channel=25600,
             clock_source='/cDAQ1Mod1/ai/SampleClock')
ai.set_start_trigger('/cDAQ1/PFI0', edge='rising')

# Slave digital task: same clock, same trigger
di = DITask('flags', sample_rate=25600)
di.add_channel('gate', lines='cDAQ1Mod2/port0/line0')
di.configure(sample_mode='finite', samples_per_channel=25600,
             clock_source='/cDAQ1Mod1/ai/SampleClock')
di.set_start_trigger('/cDAQ1/PFI0', edge='rising')

adv = MultiHandler()
adv.configure(input_tasks=[ai.task, di.task])
adv.connect()

# Optional: hooks that select a bench procedure and fire the physical trigger
adv.set_hardware_trigger_functions(start_function=fire_pfi_line,
                                   support_function=select_procedure)

future = adv.acquire(custom_mode='run_up', blocking=False)  # arms tasks, fires trigger
data = future.result()   # {task_name: {channel_name: samples}}
adv.disconnect()

stop_acquisition() aborts a software-triggered acquisition whose trigger never fires; is_running() and check_state() support watchdog-style health polling.

Note: tasks reporting different clock-source readbacks (a master on the onboard clock reads back its timebase terminal, a slave the exported sample-clock terminal) produce a UserWarning from MultiHandler.configure() instead of failing validation — verify the clock wiring matches the warning. Mismatched sample rates or samples-per-channel still fail validation.

Context manager (automatic cleanup)

from nidaqwrapper import DAQHandler

with DAQHandler(task_in='MyTask') as wrapper:
    wrapper.connect()
    wrapper.set_trigger(n_samples=1000, trigger_channel=0, trigger_level=0.1)
    data = wrapper.acquire()
# Resources automatically cleaned up

Wrap a raw nidaqmx.Task

import nidaqmx
from nidaqwrapper import AITask

raw_task = nidaqmx.Task('external')
raw_task.ai_channels.add_ai_voltage_chan('Dev1/ai0')
raw_task.timing.cfg_samp_clk_timing(rate=25600)

wrapped = AITask.from_task(raw_task)
# Use wrapped task with DAQHandler or read directly
data = wrapped.acquire()  # shape: (n_channels, n_samples)
raw_task.close()  # Caller retains ownership

API Reference

Task Classes

Class	Module	Purpose
BaseTask	base_task	Shared lifecycle, properties, start(), stop(), save(), from_task(), from_name()
AITask	ai_task	Analog input -- channels, timing, acquisition
AOTask	ao_task	Analog output -- channels, timing, generation
DITask	digital	Digital input -- on-demand and clocked reads
DOTask	digital	Digital output -- on-demand and clocked writes

Orchestrators

Class	Module	Purpose
DAQHandler	handler	Single-task handler with software triggering, auto-reconnection, acquisition abort
MultiHandler	multi_handler	Multi-task orchestrator with hardware trigger validation, trigger hooks, non-blocking acquire, health checks

Utility Functions

Function	Purpose
list_devices()	List connected NI-DAQmx devices with product types
list_tasks()	List tasks saved in NI MAX
get_connected_devices()	Get set of connected device name strings
get_task_by_name(name)	Load a pre-configured task from NI MAX
system_info()	Structured dict of driver version, devices, and persisted tasks
UNITS	Dict mapping unit strings ('g', 'mV/g', 'V', etc.) to nidaqmx constants

Data Format

The public API uses (n_samples, n_channels) for all multi-channel data. Internal transposition to nidaqmx's (n_channels, n_samples) layout is handled automatically.

• DAQHandler.acquire() returns (n_samples, n_channels) or a dict
• DAQHandler.read_all_available() returns (n_samples, n_channels)
• DAQHandler.read() returns (n_channels,) -- single sample
• AITask.acquire() returns (n_samples, n_channels)
• AOTask.generate(signal) accepts (n_samples, n_channels) or (n_samples,)

Requirements

• Python >= 3.9
• NI-DAQmx drivers (system-level installation)
• numpy >= 1.20
• nidaqmx >= 0.8.0
• pyTrigger >= 0.3.0
• tomli >= 1.0 (Python < 3.11 only; Python 3.11+ uses built-in tomllib)

Testing

nidaqwrapper uses a three-tier test strategy:

Tier	Command	Requirements
Mocked	uv run pytest	None (default)
Simulated	uv run pytest -m simulated -v	NI-DAQmx driver + simulated device
Hardware	uv run pytest -m hardware -v	Physical NI hardware

The mocked tier (663 tests) runs by default and requires no NI-DAQmx driver. The simulated tier uses the real driver with simulated devices to catch API contract violations. The hardware tier validates real-world timing and physical signals.

See TESTING.md for detailed setup instructions, troubleshooting, and how to configure simulated devices.

License

MIT License -- Copyright (c) 2026 Tibor Barsi and contributors