*********************** **** Read Me First **** *********************** Version 1.0.4.0 Apr 3, 2018 Introducing the Agilent L44XX IVI-COM Driver for the L4400 Series LXI Modules ------------------------------------------------------- The instrument driver provides access to the functionality of the Agilent L4400 Series LXI Module through a COM server which also complies with the IVI specifications. This driver also presents an IVI-C driver via the agl44xx.dll. 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 --------------------- The L4400, L4490A, and L4491A mainframes are supported. Modules for the L4400: L4421A L4433A L4437A L4445A L4450A L4451A L4452A Modules for the L4490A and L4491A: 34921A 34933A 34937A 34945A 34950A 34951A 34952A 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 XP Windows Vista Windows 7 Shared Components Before this driver can be installed, your computer must already have the IVI Shared Components installed. Minimal IVI Version: 2.2.1 The IVI Shared Components installer is available from: http://www.ivifoundation.org/shared_components/Default.aspx VISA-COM Any compliant implementation is acceptable. Typically, VISA-COM is installed with VISA and other I/O library modules. The latest version of Keysight (Agilent) IO Libraries is recommended and includes VISA-COM. You can download the latest version from: http://www.keysight.com/find/iosuite Uninstall --------- This driver can be uninstalled like any other software from the Control Panel using "Add or Remove Programs" in Win XP or "Programs and Features" in Windows Vista/Windows 7. The IVI Shared Components may also be uninstalled like any other software from the Control Panel using "Add or Remove Programs" in Win XP and "Program & Features" in Windows Vista/Windows 7. 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. Caution: Once you have installed version 2.x of the IVI Shared Components, you will not be able to build IVI drivers and applications developed with earlier versions. You will need to upgrade those drivers/applications to the new IVI Shared Components and to build on Visual Studio 2008 or higher or you will need to build those drivers/applications on a different machine that does not have version 2.x of the IVI Shared Components. Start Menu Help File -------------------- A shortcut to the driver help file is added to the Start Menu, All Programs, Agilent IVI Drivers, AgilentL44xx 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 many programming examples for this driver. Additional Setup ---------------- .NET Framework The .NET Framework itself is not required by this driver. If you plan to use the driver with .NET, the minimal .NET framework version is: 2.0 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 <(x86)>\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. 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 IAgilentL44xx[n] interface rather than the IAgilentL44xx interface. The IAgilentL44xx[n]. property will return a pointer to the new IAgilentL44xx[n] interface. The IAgilentL44xx[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. Pre-existing .NET client applications must be re-build before using the new version of the driver. Known Issues ------------ The L44XXa has a lot of commands. Not all of them are incorporated into the IVI-COM or IVI-C driver. Both IVI-C and IVI-COM have special methods which allow you to send SCPI commands and read responses from the instrument. In the IVI-COM driver, in the "Core" interface, the "IAgilentL44XXSystem.IO Property" is used to send commands and read responses. The following two lines of code show an example of how to use the IO property: myL44XX.System.IO.WriteString("*IDN?",true); String respStr = myL44XX.System.IO.ReadString(); In the IVI-C driver, there are two routines that may be used to pass SCPI to the instrument and read the response. The following two lines show an example of how to do this in the IVI-C driver: ViInt32 respSize; ViChar respStr[50]; status = agl44xx_SystemWrite(vi, "*IDN?"); status = agl44xx_SystemRead(vi, 50, respStr, &respSize); A partial list of known commands that were not implemented in the IVI-COM driver is as follows: ROUTe:CHAN:LABel:CLEar:MODule ROUT:OPEN:ABUS ROUT:OPERation:OVERlap ROUT:SCAN:ADD ROUT:SCAN:REMove SYST:CDES? SYST:MOD:PFAil:JUMPer:AMP5? -- used by the 34937A and 34938A General-Purpose Switch Modules SYSTem:COMMunicate:GPIB:ADDRess SYSTem:COMMunicate:GPIB:ADDRess? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:AUTOip SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:AUTOip? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:BSTatus? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:CONTrol? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:DHCP SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:DHCP? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:DNS SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:DNS? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:DOMain SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:DOMain? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:GATEway SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:GATEway? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:HISTory? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:HISTory:CLEar SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:HOSTname SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:HOSTname? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:IPADdress SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:IPADdress? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:KEEPalive SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:KEEPalive? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:MAC? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:SMASk SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:SMASk? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:TELNet:PROMpt SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:TELNet:PROMpt? SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:TELNet:WMESsage SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:TELNet:WMESsage? Revision History ---------------- Version Date Notes ------- -------- ----- 1.0.4.0 Apr 03, 2018 Defect related to Bench Vue fixed. 1.0.3.0 Dec 20, 2007 Re-implemented IviSwtch logic to address numerous issues. Added support for L4490A and L4491A mainframes. 1.0.2.0 Jul 26, 2007 Fixed problem related to binary reads using TCPIP connections. Removed VISA IEventManager support => AsyncEventsEnabled now returns an error. 1.0.1.0 Jun 02, 2006 Initial release. IVI Compliance -------------- IVI Instrument Class: IviSwtch IviDmm Spec: IVI-4.6 Revision: 4.0 IviSwtchBase Yes IviSwtchSoftwareTrigger Yes Optional Features: Interchangeability Checking no State Caching no Coercion Recording no Driver Identification: Vendor: Agilent Technologies Description: Agilent L4400 Series LXI Module. Revision: 1.0.4.0 Component Identifier: AgilentL44xx Hardware Information: Instrument Manufacturer: Agilent Technologies Supported Instrument Models: L4490A, L4491A, L4421A, L4433A, L4437A, L4445A, L4450A, L4451A, L4452A Supported Bus Interfaces: TCPIP, GPIB, USB 32-bit Software Information: Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP, Windows Vista 32, Windows 7 32, Windows 10 Unsupported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 Support Software Required: VISA-COM Source Code Availability: Source code included with driver. 64-bit Software Information: Supported Operating Systems: Windows Vista 64,Windows 7 64, Windows 10 Support Software Required: VISA-COM Source Code Availability: Source code included with driver. More Information ---------------- For more information about this driver and other instrument drivers and software available from Agilent Technologies visit: http://www.keysight.com/find/adnivicominfo A list of contact information is available from: http://www.keysight.com/find/assist Microsoft, Windows, MS Windows, and Windows NT are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. © Copyright 2004-2018 Keysight Technologies