New Example for Time Based Synchronization

[MAnoushe-NI]

• This contribution adheres to CONTRIBUTING.md.

I've added tests applicable for this pull request

What does this Pull Request accomplish?

Adds an example for Time-Based Synchronization

Why should this Pull Request be merged?

No examples in nidaqmx python for this.

What testing has been done?

Confirmed working with cDAQ and AI Module

[zhindes]

I really appreciate the new example; thank you! Some requests:

• Please create a new folder called time_based in examples/synchronization and put this here.
• Rename this example voltage_acq_int_clk_time_start.py
• Add a summary at the top of the example. e.g., Take the one from voltage_acq_int_clk.py and modify it according to the time-based nature of your changes

I'll make more specific code comments in the file itself.

[zhindes]

Our examples usually prefer simplicity. I would remove this function and simply put your with ... task: block at the top-level

[zhindes]

This is a more standard read from a finite task:

Suggested change

	data = task.read(number_of_samples_per_channel=num_samples)
	data = task.read(READ_ALL_AVAILABLE)

[zhindes]

Note you'll need to import READ_ALL_AVAILABLE or fully specify it

[zhindes]

With my suggested change to the read, this can be simplified

Suggested change

	num_samples = 1000
	task.timing.cfg_samp_clk_timing(1000, sample_mode=AcquisitionType.FINITE, samps_per_chan=num_samples)
	task.timing.cfg_samp_clk_timing(1000, sample_mode=AcquisitionType.FINITE, samps_per_chan=1000)

[zhindes]

1 minute is a lot...

Suggested change

	# Calculate the start time (1 minute from now)
	start_time = datetime.now(timezone.utc) + timedelta(minutes=1)
	# Calculate the start time (10 seconds from now)
	start_time = datetime.now(timezone.utc) + timedelta(seconds=10)

[zhindes]

Two things:

1. Generally printing commentary isn't really necessary, but for something that must wait, I like it. But let's not overdo it.
2. You don't need comments that repeat the code. I like the comment describing how the time delta stuff works out. These feel a bit less useful.

Suggested change

	print(f"Scheduled start time: {start_time}")
	# Configure the time start trigger
	task.triggers.start_trigger.cfg_time_start_trig(start_time)
	print("Starting the task...")
	task.start()
	print("Waiting for the scheduled start time...")
	# Wait until the scheduled start time
	print(f"Scheduled start time: {start_time}")
	task.triggers.start_trigger.cfg_time_start_trig(start_time)
	task.start()
	print("Waiting for the scheduled start time...")

[bkeryan]

FYI: I was going to ask whether it's really necessary to specify UTC here, but then I looked up whether datetime.now() returns an "aware" datetime and now I am sad.

https://discuss.python.org/t/datetime-api-no-atomic-way-to-get-aware-current-local-datetime-when-moving-between-time-zones/55041/8
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24281525/what-is-the-point-of-a-naive-datetime

[bkeryan]

There is a DAQmx API for this, Task.wait_for_valid_timestamp, so you don't need to poll.
https://github.com/ni/nidaqmx-python/blob/master/generated/nidaqmx/task/_task.py#L1028

I think you can wait for either TimestampEvent.FIRST_SAMPLE or TimestampEvent.START_TRIGGER.

I assume you are doing this to avoid getting a read timeout. FYI, another solution is to increase the read timeout to account for the scheduled start time, but that's probably less clear.

[zhindes]

Closing this old PR. If anybody is interesting in contributing a feature like this, we can open a new one and have a discussion.