Agilent N6700 VXIplug&play Instrument Driver Read Me
README.TXT
Agilent N67xx Modular Power Supply
Universal Instrument Driver (UID)
Driver Revision B.00.02
December 22, 2005
Revision History
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A.00.00 2/24/04 Initial release.
B.00.00 9/07/04 Fixing agN67xx_init() error w/ no Option models
Remove OVP state API
Add Voltage Slew Rate API
Add Reboot API
Add System Group API
B.00.01 12/03/04 Fixing agN67xx_outputVoltCurr() error for same channels
Fixing agN67xx_init() for grouped channels
B.00.02 12/22/05 Add Power Limit, Relay Polarity API
Support N6701A(600W), N6710B frames(1200W)
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Contents:
1 Introduction
2 VTL/VISA Specific Information
2.1 Instrument Addresses
2.2 Language Specific Features
3 Using the AG N67xx UID in Application Development Environments
3.1 Microsoft® Visual C/C++
3.2 Microsoft Visual Basic
3.3 LabWindows/CVI
4.0 Known Defects
4.1 Timeouts with NI GPIB ver 1.2 on Windows NT®
5.0 Online Information
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1. Introduction
The help file included with the AG N67xx Universal Instrument Driver contains
instrument and programming information. This readme file contains additional
information concerning the driver.
The AG N67xx Windows® 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP drivers
are actually a single 32-bit driver.
This AG N67xx driver conforms to all portions of the VXIplug&play driver
standard which are applicable to conventional GPIB and RS-232. Two
elements of the standard do not apply to the AG N67xx since it is not a
VXI instrument. First, there is no soft front panel, as the AG N67xx
can be controlled from its hardware front panel. Second, there is no
knowledge base file, which is primarily a description of a VXI board.
This driver features:
1. Conformance with the VXIplug&play standard. The only exceptions are that
it does not have a soft front panel or a knowledge base file.
2. It is built on top of, and uses the services provided by VISA. VISA
supports GPIB and VXI protocols. The driver can be used with any
GPIB card for which the manufacturer has provided a VISA DLL.
3. It includes a "Function Panel" (.fp) file which allows it to be used
with visual programming environments such as Agilent VEE Pro, LabWindows, and
LabVIEW.
4. It includes a comprehensive on-line help file which complements the
instrument manual. The help file presents application programming
examples, a cross-reference between instrument commands and driver
functions, and detailed documentation of each function, with examples.
5. Source is included so that the driver can be modified if desired. The
source conforms to VXI Plug & Play standards. Modifications should only
be done by people who are familiar with the VXIplug&play standard.
6. It includes a Visual Basic include file (.bas) which contains the function
calls in Visual Basic syntax, so that driver functions can be called from
Visual Basic. If you use Visual Basic with this driver, you should be
familiar with C/C++ function declarations. In particular, care must be
taken when working with C/C++ pointers.
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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 Technologies 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 "GPIB0::5" instead of "gpib0::5"
2.2 Language Specific Features
Language Specific features are not supported with this driver.
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3. Application Development Environments
For general instructions on using the driver with Agilent VEE Pro,
Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft Visual Basic,
LabVIEW, and LabWindows/CVI, see the online help file.
Additional notes:
3.1 Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 (& higher)
A.) The driver uses Pascal calling conventions.
B.) Do not build the driver in the directory in which it was installed.
3.2 Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 (& higher)
Refer to the Microsoft Visual BASIC manual for additional
information on calling DLLs.
3.3 LabWindows/CVI 4.0 (& higher)
The AG N67xx driver is supplied as both a source code file and as a
dynamic link library file (dll). There are several advantages to
using the dll form of the driver. These include:
1. Transportability across different computer platforms
2. A higher level of support from Agilent Technologies for the
compiled driver
3. Faster load time for your project
Labwindows/CVI (R) by default will attempt to load the source version
of the instrument driver. To load the dll you must include the file
agN67xx.fp in your project. This file can be found in vxipnp\winnt\agN67xx
Do not include agN67xx.c in your project. You must also provide an
include path for agN67xx.h. This is done by adding vxipnp\winnt\include
to the include paths (CVI Project Option menu).
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4.0 Known Defects
4.1 When using National Instruments GPIB Driver ver 1.2 on Windows NT,
and a bus timeout occurs, an infinite series of GPIB Timeout error message
boxes appear. The solution is to upgrade to version 1.3 of the National
Instruments GPIB Driver.
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5.0 Online Information
The latest version of this driver and other Agilent drivers are available
on the Internet at
http://www.agilent.com/find/inst_drivers
The AG N67xx driver is located in a self-extracting archive file called
N67xx.exe.
If you do not have internet access, drivers can be obtained by
contacting your country support organization. In the U.S., the phone
number is 1-800-829-4444. A list of contact information for other
countries is available on the Agilent Technologies Web site at
http://www.agilent.com/find/contacts00
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Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
© Copyright 2006 Agilent Technologies, Inc.