Counter Triggering

Counters support two different triggering actions: start and pause. A digital trigger can directly initiate these actions. An analog trigger can indirectly initiate these actions by routing the Analog Comparison Event from a triggered analog input or output task to the counter as a digital trigger.

Start Trigger

A start trigger begins a finite or continuous pulse generation. After a continuous generation is initiated, the pulses continue to generate until you stop the operation in software. The specified number of pulses are generated for finite generations unless the retriggerable attribute is used. The retriggerable attribute causes the generation to restart on a subsequent start trigger.

Pause Trigger

You can use pause triggers in edge counting and continuous pulse generation applications. For edge counting acquisitions, the counter stops counting edges while the external trigger signal is low and resumes when the signal goes high, or vice versa. For continuous pulse generations, the counter stops generating pulses while the external trigger signal is low and resumes when the signal goes high, or vice versa.