README.TXT for E1445 Arbitrary Function Generator NOTE: this driver supports the E1445A. It supports the E1446A when it is configured as a VXI servant to the E1445A. Contents: 1 Introduction 1.1 Viewing the Help on Windows 10 Systems 2 VISA Specific Information 2.1 Instrument Addresses 2.2 Executing the Soft Front Panel without VISA 3 Using the E1445 Driver in Application Development Environments 3.1 C/C++ 3.2 Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 WINDOWS 7 x64 Installation. Additional upgrade needed. 5.0 Known Defects 6.0 Obtaining New and Updated VXIplug&play Drivers 7.0 Revision History - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction The help file included with the E1445 VXIplug&play driver contains instrument and programming information. This readme file contains additional information for the VXIplug&play programmer. 1.1 Viewing the Help on Windows 10 Systems The old WinHelp does not run by default on Windows 10 Systems...at least when this driver was updated. A solution was found in the third message on this web site: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-other_settings/winhlp32exe-windows-10/5971eda3-3a07-4156-af2a-926c65eb5a0c The following steps came from the above web site and allow older Winhlp to run on Windows 10 systems: To enable Winhlp to work in Windows 10, follow these simple instructions. a) Download the updated Winhlp32 installation files, which are compressed into a zip file (winhlp32-windows-7-10-x86-64.zip) from the following link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_tSrOg4FLp1T0dyTEppaW9SYm8 b) Extract the contents of of the file you just downloaded (winhlp32-windows-7-10-x86-64.zip) c) Run the Install.cmd as Administrator by right-clicking on Install.cmd, then select Run as Administrator. d) Acknowledge any privilege warnings and allow Install.cmd to proceed. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 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 HPE1445_32.dll present. It will do a partial emulation of the hardware for demo purposes. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Using the E1445 Driver in Application Development Environments This section offers suggestions on using the hpe1445.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 hpe1445.bas, which is contained in the directory ~\winnt\include or ~\win95\include. The ~ refers to the directory in the VXIPNPPATH variable. By default this is set to C:\VXIPNP on KeysightI/O Libraries revisions prior to J.01.00; or to C:\Program Files\VISA on revisions J.01.00 or later. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 WINDOWS 7 x64 Installation. Additional upgrade needed. Version A.02.04 consists of an upgrade to the Installation software for installing the E1445A driver on Windows 7 systems. You must also install the following software upgrade: In Windows 7, the update WinHlp32.exe is required to display 32-bit Help files that have the ".hlp" file name extension. The update is available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607. 4.1 WINDOWS 10 Installation Upgrade. Additional information: The executable WinHlp32.exe is needed to view older help files on Windows 10. This executable was placed into the driver folder that contains the help file and soft front panel. Executing the soft front panel from that folder will allow the SFP help to appear when selected. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 Known Defects This driver does not work on National MXI 1 interface. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.0 Obtaining New and Updated VXIplug&play Drivers The latest copy of this instrument driver and other Keysight instrument drivers are available at the Keysight Technologies customer WWW site: http://www.keysight.com/find/inst_drivers The E1445 driver is located in a self-extracting archive file named e1445.exe. If you do not have Internet access, the drivers can be obtained by contacting your country support organization. US Keysight support contact number: 1 800 829-4444 Press #, then 2. A list of contact information for other countries is available on the Access Keysight Technologies website: http://www.keysight.com/find/assist - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.0 Revision History A.02.00 December 1996 A.02.01 January 1998 hpe1445_32.dll : A.02.01 hps1445.exe : A.02.01 A.02.02 November 2001: Agilent rebranding Fixed a stack limit problem affecting NI VISA 2.5.2 hpe1445_32.dll : A.02.02 hps1445.exe : A.02.03 A.02.03 November 2001: Corrected errors in C++_ARB example in help file hpe1445_32.dll : A.02.02 hps1445.exe : A.02.03 A.02.04 June 2012: WINDOWS 7 x64 Installation InstallShield Update This release updates the InstallShield for installations only on XP, WIN 7 x86 and WIN 7 x64 operating systems.The driver itself has not changed. For Win 95 or Win NT support, utilze version A.02.03. A.02.05 September 2019: Rebranded to Keysight. SFP rebuilt. New installer supports Win10 For Win 95 or Win NT support use version A.02.03 hps1445.exe : A.02.04