README.TXT for Agilent Technologies E1418A D/A Converter
Contents:
1 Introduction
2 VISA Specific Information
2.1 Instrument Addresses
2.2 Executing the Soft Front Panel without VISA
3 Using the E1418A Driver in Application Development Environments
3.1 C/C++
3.2 Microsoft Visual Basic
4.0 Known Defects
5.0 Online Information
6.0 Revision History
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Introduction
The help file included with the E1418A VXIplug&play driver contains
instrument and programming information. This readme file contains
additional information for the VXIplug&play programmer.
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. VISA Specific Information
The following topics refer to instances when the driver is used with
different versions of VISA.
2.1 Instrument Addresses
When using Agilent VXIplug&play instrument drivers, instrument addresses
must be all uppercase letters. Implementation of the addressing scheme
is vendor specific and some vendors support mixed cases. However, for
maximum portability, the instrument address should use uppercase
characters only.
For example: use "VXI0::56::INSTR" instead of "vxi0::56::instr"
2.2 Executing the Soft Front Panel without VISA
The VISA dynamic link library provides a communication library
between your program and the instrument. The SFP may be executed without
VISA or without the HPE1418.dll present. It will do a partial emulation
of the hardware for demo purposes.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Using the E1418A Driver in Application Development Environments
This section offers suggestions on using the hpe1418.dll within
various application development environments.
3.1 C/C++
Refer to your C/C++ manuals for information on linking
and calling .DLLs.
Rebuilding the driver DLL should be done in a different directory than
the one the driver was installed in order to differentiate the changes.
3.2 Microsoft Visual Basic
Refer to the Microsoft Visual BASIC manual for information on calling DLLs.
The BASIC include file is hpe1418.bas, which is contained in the directory
~winntinclude or ~win95include. The ~ refers to the directory in the
VXIPNPPATH variable. By default this is set to C:VXIPNP on Agilent I/O
Libraries revisions prior to J.01.00; or to C:Program FilesVISA on
revisions J.01.00 or later.
4.0 Known Defects
This driver does not work on the National Instruments MXI 1 interface.
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.0 Online Information
The latest copy of this instrument driver and other Agilent instrument
drivers are available at the Agilent Technologies customer WWW site:
http://www.agilent.com/find/inst_drivers
The Agilent E1418A driver is located in a self-extracting archive file named
e1418.exe.
NOTE: If you are using an Command Module, you may also need to
download a new SCPI driver into your command module in addition to
downloading the most recent VXIplug&play driver.
If you do not have Internet access, the drivers can be obtained by
contacting your country support organization. In the US, the phone
number is 800-452-4844. A list of contact information for other
countries is available on the Agilent Technologies website:
http://www.agilent.com/find/assist
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.0 Revision History
A.01.00 May 1, 1996 Initial Release.
A.02.00 Aug 1996
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.00
hpe141832v.dll G.01.00
hpvscp32.dll G.03.00
A.03.01 November 1997
Fixed a timer defect which prevented the driver from working
properly on 200 MHz Pentium Pro systems.
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.00
hpe141832v.dll G.01.00
hpvscp32.dll G.03.01
A.03.02 4/1998
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.01
hpe141832v.dll G.01.00
hpvscp32.dll G.03.02
hps1418.exe A.01.01
A.03.03 6/1998
The hpe141832v.dll was modified to accommodate the new
E8491 controller.
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.01
hpe141832v.dll G.01.03
hpvscp32.dll G.03.02
hps1418.exe A.01.01
A.03.04 7/1999
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.04
hpe141832v.dll G.01.04
hpvscp32.dll G.03.03
hps1418.exe A.01.01
A.03.05 10/1999
hpe141832v.dll -- selftest was modified to eliminate occasional
failures due to error 258.
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.04
hpe141832v.dll G.01.05
hpvscp32.dll G.03.03
hps1418.exe A.01.01
A.03.06 9/2000
hpe1418_32.dll -- hpe1418_close had a defect that caused multiple
closes and opens of instrument to error. hpe1418_cmdString_Q
had an incorrect termination of return string. hpe1418_outpArray
on non-E1406A interfaces could open/close incorrect output relays
due to uninitialized variable.
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.05
hpe141832v.dll G.01.05
hpvscp32.dll G.03.03
hps1418.exe A.01.01
A.03.07 11/2000
hpe1418_32.dll -- selftest was still failing on fast PC's with
the E8491.
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.05
hpe141832v.dll G.01.06
hpvscp32.dll G.03.03
hps1418.exe A.01.01
A.03.08 11/2000
hpe141832v.lib -- .lib file was built in Visual C++ 6.0 format
instead of 5.0 format.
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.05
hpe141832v.dll G.01.06
hpvscp32.dll G.03.03
hps1418.exe A.01.01
A.03.09 5/2001
Agilent rebranding
hpe1418_32.dll A.02.06
hpe141832v.dll G.01.07
hps1418.exe A.01.02
hpvscp32.dll G.03.04