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**** Read Me First ****
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Version: 1.0.1.6
November 15, 2004
Introducing the Agilent IVI-COM Driver for AgilentN67xx
-------------------------------------------------------
The instrument driver provides access to the functionality of
AgilentN67xx through a COM server which also complies with the IVI
specifications. This driver works in any development environment which
supports COM programming including Microsoft® Visual Basic, Microsoft
Visual C++, Microsoft .NET, Agilent VEE Pro, National Instruments LabView,
National Instruments LabWindows, and others.
Supported Instruments
---------------------
Frame :
N6700A
N6700B
Module :
N6751A
N6752A
N6761A
N6762A
N6731A - N6735A
N6742A - N6745A
N6731B - N6736B
N6741B - N6746B
Installation
-------------
System Requirements: The driver installation will check for the
following requirements. If not found, the installer will either
abort, warn, or install the required component as appropriate.
Supported Operating Systems:
Windows® 98
Windows Me
Windows NT® 4.0 (SP6 or later)
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Disc Space:
Shared Components: 4,843 k
Driver: 0.97 MB (1,024,000 bytes)
The shared components are installed with the first driver
installed.
Shared Components
Before this driver can be installed, your computer must already
have several components already installed. The easiest way to
install these other components is by running the Ivi Shared
Components installation package available from the IVI Foundation
as noted below. It installs all the items mentioned below.
IVI Shared Components version 1.1.3.0 or later.
The driver installer requires these components. They must be
installed before the driver installer can install the driver.
The IVI Shared Components installer is available from:
http://www.ivifoundation.org/Downloads/SharedComponents.htm
To install, open or run the file: IviSharedComponents.msi
If the driver installer exhibits problems with installing the IVI
Shared Components, find the program IviSharedComponents.msi and
Run the program. It is able to install many of the required system
components, including Windows Installer 2.0.
Windows Installer
Version 2.0 or later. The IVISharedComponents.exe program will
install version 2.0 of the Windows installer.
It is also available from:
For Win98/Me:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=32831
For WinNt4/2000/XP:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseId=32832
Microsoft XML 4.0
The Configuration Server, an IVI Shared Component, uses Microsoft's
XML 4.0 parser. The IVI Shared Components will install the XML 4.0
parser. You can download the parser and its associated SDK from:
http://microsoft.com/downloads
Enter "xml 4.0" as keywords.
Microsoft HTML Help Viewer (Win98, WinNT) Version 1.32 or later
The driver will install without the help viewer, but you will not
be able to use the help file for the driver. You can download the
help viewer from:
http://microsoft.com/downloads
Enter "html help workshop" as keywords
MS Windows® Script
Typically, wscript.exe is installed as part of the operating system
or with Internet Explorer. If you see an error about wscript.exe,
you need to install the Windows Script.
Download from:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads
Enter "windows script" as keywords. Use the one appropriate for
your Operating System.
VISA COM
Any compliant implementation is acceptable. Typically, VISA COM is
installed with VISA and other I/O library modules.
If you are using Agilent Technologies' VISA COM, use
version 2.4.0.4 or later. The latest version of Agilent's IO
Libraries includes the required version of VISA COM.
I/O
If you are using Agilent Technologies' IO libraries, use version
M.01.04 or later. You can download the latest version from:
http://www.agilent.com/find/iolibsforivicom
If you are using National Instruments I/O libraries, use NI-VISA
version 3.0.1 or later and NI-488.2 version 2.2 or later.
Note: Driver may operate without any I/O software in simulation mode.
Additional Setup
----------------
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework itself is not required by this driver. If you
plan to use the driver with .NET, Service Pack 2 is required.
Download from:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/downloads/updates/sp/default.asp
The .NET Framework requires an interop assembly for a COM
server. A Primary Interop Assembly, along with an XML file for
IntelliSense is installed with the driver. The driver's PIA, along
with IVI PIAs are installed, by default, in:
<drive>:\Program Files\IVI\Bin\Primary Interop Assemblies
The PIA is also installed into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) if
you have the .NET framework installed.
If you install the .NET framework later, you can use the file:
<drive>:\Program Files\IVI\Drivers\AgilentN67xx\DotNet.bat
to put the driver's PIA into the GAC and properly register it.
Start Menu Help File
--------------------
A shortcut to the driver help file is added to the Start Menu,
Programs, IVI, AgilentN67xx group. It contains "Getting
Started" information on using the driver in a variety of programming
environments as well as documentation on IVI and instrument specific
methods and properties.
You will also see shortcuts to the Readme file and any programming
examples for this driver.
MSI Installer
-------------
The installation package for the driver is distributed as an MSI 2.0
file. You can install the driver by double-clicking on the file.
This operation actually runs:
msiexec /i AgilentN67xx.msi
You can run msiexec from a command prompt and utilize its many
command line options. There are no public properties which can be
set from the command line. You can also install this driver from
another installation package.
Uninstall
---------
This driver can be uninstalled like any other software from the
Control Panel using "Add or Remove Programs".
To uninstall the IVI Shared Components you must use the IVI Cleanup
Utility available from the IVI Foundation at:
http://www.ivifoundation.org/
Note: All IVI-COM drivers require the IVI Shared Components to
function. To completely remove IVI components from your computer,
uninstall all drivers then run the IVI Cleanup Utility. This utility
does not remove any IVI drivers.
Using a New Version of the Driver
---------------------------------
New versions of this Agilent IVI-COM driver may have a new
ProgId.
If you use the version dependent ProgId in CoCreateInstance,
you will need to modify and recompile your code to use the
new ProgID once you upgrade to the next version of the driver.
Doing a side-by-side installation of the driver to use multiple
versions of the driver is not supported. If you need to go back
to an older version of the driver, you need to uninstall the later
version and install the older version.
If you use the version independent ProgId in CoCreateInstance,
you will not need to modify and recompile your code. The new
version of the driver has been tested to be backwards compatible
with previous versions.
To access the new functionality in a new version of the driver
you will need to use the latest numbered IAgilent<driver>[n]
interface rather than the IAgilent<driver> interface. The
IAgilent<driver>[n].<interface> property will return a pointer
to the new IAgilent<driver><interface>[n] interface. The
IAgilentN490x<interface>[n] interface contains the methods and
properties for the new functionality. The new interfaces were
introduced rather than modifying the existing interfaces for
backwards compatibility. The interfaces that were previously
shipped have not been changed.
Known Issues
------------
This driver does not have any known defects.
Revision History
----------------
Version Date Notes
------- ---- -----
1.0.1.6 15 Nov 2004 Updated installer, added VISA COM 3.0 PIA.
1.0.1.5 10 Aug 2004 Added functionality for the N6700B frame.
The tracing capability controlled by the systems interface
TraceEnabled property is not supported in this driver.
1.0.1.0 12 Feb 2004 Bug fix for the Statuses Interface preset method.
1.0.0.1 21 Jan 2004 The help file was updated, however, AgilentN67xx.dll remains
unchanged and is version 1.0.0.0
1.0.0.0 05 Dec 2003 Initial release
IVI Shared Component Revisions
------------------------------
1.3.2.4 IviConfigServer.dll
1.0.7.0 IviConfigServerCAPI.dll
1.1.0.0 IviCShared.dll
1.0.237.0 IviCSharedSupport.dll
2.0.0.0 IviDCPwrTypeLib.dll
3.0.0.0 IviDmmTypeLib.dll
1.0.0.0 IviDriverTypeLib.dll
1.1.1.0 IviEventServer.exe
1.1.1.0 IviEventServerDLL.dll
1.1.1.0 IviEventServerDLLps.dll
1.1.1.0 IviEventServerps.dll
3.0.0.0 IviFgenTypeLib.dll
1.0.236.0 IviFloat.dll
1.0.0.0 IviPwrMeterTypeLib.dll
1.1.0.0 IviRfSigGenTypeLib.dll
3.0.0.0 IviScopeTypeLib.dll
1.0.1.0 IviSessionFactory.dll
1.1.3.0 IviSharedComponentVersion.dll
1.0.0.0 IviSpecAnTypeLib.dll
3.0.0.0 IviSwtchTypeLib.dll
IVI Compliance
--------------
(The following information is required by IVI 3.1 section 5.21.)
IVI-COM Ivi DC Power Instrument Driver
IVI Instrument Class: IVI-4.4_DCPwr_v2.0
Group Capabilities:
Supported:
IviDCPwrOutputs
IviDCPwrOutput
IviDCPwrTrigger
Optional Features: This driver does not support Interchangeability
Checking, State Caching, or Coercion Recording.
Driver Identification:
(These three strings are values of properties in the IIviIdentity
interface.)
Vendor: Agilent Technologies.
Description: Agilent Technologies
Revision: 1.0
Component Identifier: AgilentN67xx.AgilentN67xx
(The component identifier can be used to create an instance of the COM
server.)
Hardware: This driver supports instruments manufactured by Agilent
Technologies. The supported model numbers are:
N6700A
N6700B
This driver supports communicating with the instrument
using either GPIB or LAN.
Software: See the section on installation in this document for
information on what other software is required by this driver.
Source for this driver is not available.
More Information
----------------
For more information about this driver and other instrument drivers
and software available from Agilent Technologies visit:
http://www.agilent.com/find/adnivicominfo
A list of contact information is available from:
http://www.agilent.com/find/assist
Microsoft, Windows, MS Windows, and Windows NT are U.S.
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
© Copyright Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2003-2004