Agilent N67XX VXI plug&play Instrument Driver Read Me Agilent N67xx Modular Power Supply Universal Instrument Driver (UID) Driver Revision B.01.00 Apr. 12, 2007 Revision History - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 groupped channels B.00.02 12/22/05 Add Power Limit, Relay Polarity API Support N6701A(600W), N6710B frames(1200W) B.01.00 04/01/07 Added functions: agN67xx_setDate agN67xx_getDate agN67xx_setTime agN67xx_getTime agN67xx_setFourWireSense agN67xx_getFourWireSense agN67xx_setOutputCoupleEnabled agN67xx_getOutputCoupleEnabled agN67xx_setOutputCoupleChannels agN67xx_getOutputCoupleChannels agN67xx_setOutputCoupleDelayOffset agN67xx_getOutputCoupleDelayOffset agN67xx_getOutputCoupleMaxDelayOffset agN67xx_setOutputCoupleDelayOffsetMode agN67xx_getOutputCoupleDelayOffsetMode agN67xx_dlogInitiate agN67xx_dlogAbort agN67xx_dlogConfigureFunction agN67xx_dlogConfigureTriggerCurrent agN67xx_dlogConfigureTriggerVoltage agN67xx_dlogConfigureTriggerSource agN67xx_dlogTrigger agN67xx_dlogConfigureTime agN67xx_dlogConfigureTriggerOffset agN67xx_dlogConfigureFunctionMinMax agN67xx_fileDelete agN67xx_fileExportDlog agN67xx_fileReadFirst agN67xx_fileReadNext agN67xx_fileGetSize agN67xx_setCurrentCompensate agN67xx_getCurrentCompensate Added support for N6705A frame. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 it's 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. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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). - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 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 - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Windows and Windows NT are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. © Copyright 2004 Agilent Technologies, Inc.