*********************** **** Read Me First **** *********************** Version 1.1.6.0 November 2011 Introducing the Agilent IVI-COM/C Driver for E36xx series of Power Supplies ------------------------------------------------------- The instrument driver provides access to the functionality of E36xx through a COM server or ANSI C API which also complies with the IVI specifications. This driver works in any development environment which supports COM or C programming including Microsoft® Visual Basic, Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft .NET, Agilent VEE Pro, National Instruments LabView, National Instruments LabWindows/CVI, and others. Supported Instruments --------------------- E3649A, E3648A, E3647A, E3646A, E3645A, E3644A, E3643A E3642A, E3641A, E3640A, E3634A, E3633A, E3632A, E3631A 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 2000 Windows XP Windows Vista (32 bit) Windows 7 (32 bit) Disc Space: IVI Shared Components: 8.4 Mb Driver: 4.1 Mb The shared components must be installed before any drivers. Shared Components: Before this driver can be installed, your computer must already have several components already installed. The easiest way to 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 1.5.1.0 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 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: http://microsoft.com/downloads Enter "windows installer" as keywords. Use the one appropriate for your Operating System. 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. The latest version of Agilent's IO Libraries is recommended and includes VISA-COM. I/O Libraries Agilent IO Libraries Suite, version 15.0 or later is recommended. 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: :\Program Files\IVI Foundation\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 run the driver installer again 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, Agilent IVI Drivers, AgilentE36xx 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 AgilentE36xx.1.1.6.0.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". The IVI Shared Components may also be uninstalled like any other software from the Control Panel using "Add or Remove Programs". Note: All IVI-COM/C drivers require the IVI Shared Components to function. To completely remove IVI components from your computer, uninstall all drivers and then uninstall the IVI Shared Components. Source Code ----------- Driver source code is available by choosing "Custom" and selecting "Source Code" when installing the driver. This code is provided as is for informational purposes only. Modification of this code is not supported. Using a New Version of the Driver --------------------------------- New versions of this Agilent IVI-COM/C 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 IAgilentE36xx[n] interface rather than the IAgilentE36xx interface. The IAgilentE36xx[n]. property will return a pointer to the new IAgilentE36xx[n] interface. The IAgilentE36xx[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 ------- ---------- --------- 1.1.6.0 Nov 2011 ReadMe changed to add Win7 support. 1.1.5.0 Oct 2009 Fixed the defect of incorrect output category of E3645A 1.1.4.0 Mar 2009 Add IVI-C driver, Updated Help, Examples, and Simulation 1.0.5.0 May 2003 Fix deserialize defect for the config store file 1.0.4.0 Apr 2003 Change PIA interop assembly file name & contents Support Error message for non English OS 1.0.3.1 Feb 2003 Update help file for ANSI-C of the IVI Factory 1.0.3.0 Feb 2003 Update help file for the IVI Factory Add Examples for Excel, VB 6.0, VC++ 6.0, VB.NET and C# Update IVI Foundation information 1.0.1.0 Jan 2003 First customer release IVI Shared Component Revisions ------------------------------ 1.6.0.1 IviConfigServer.dll 1.6.0.0 IviConfigServerCAPI.dll 1.6.0.0 IviCShared.dll 1.0.238.0 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 1.0.238.0 IviFloat.dll 1.0.4.0 IviLxiSyncTypeLib.dll 1.0.0.0 IviPwrMeterTypeLib.dll 1.1.0.0 IviRfSigGenTypeLib.dll 3.0.0.0 IviScopeTypeLib.dll 1.0.1.2 IviSessionFactory.dll 1.5.1.0 IviSharedComponentVersion.dll 1.0.0.0 IviSpecAnTypeLib.dll 3.0.0.0 IviSwtchTypeLib.dll IVI Compliance -------------- See the driver help file topic "IVI Compliance Information" for complete compliance information. This driver supports communicating with instruments using GPIB, USB, TCPIP (LAN), or ASRL (Serial) if supported by the instrument. Software: See the section on installation in this document for information on what other software is required by this driver. 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. 2003-2011