Table Of ContentVEE Advanced Techniques
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VEE and VEE Pro are trademarks of Agilent Technologies.
Printing History
Edition 2...............................March 2004 Part Number E2120-90002(cid:13)
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Conventions Used in This Manual
This manual uses the following typographical conventions:
Advanced Italicized text is used for book titles and for
Techniques emphasis.
Dialog Box Bold text is used for the first instance of a word
that is defined in the glossary.
File Computer font represents text that you will see
on the screen, including menu names, features,
buttons, or text that you have to enter.
dir filename In this context, the text in computer font
represents an argument that you type exactly as
shown, and the italicized text represents an
argument that you must replace with an actual
value.
File ⇒ Open The “⇒” is used in a shorthand notation to show
the location of VEE Pro features in the menu. For
example, “File ⇒ Open” means to select the
File menu and then select Open.
Sml | Med | Lrg Choices in computer font, separated with bars
(|), indicate that you should choose one of the
options.
Press Enter In this context, bold represents a key to press on
the keyboard.
Press Ctrl + O Represents a combination of keys on the
keyboard that you should press at the same time.
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Contents
1. Introduction
About This Manual...................................................................................3
Configuring VEE......................................................................................5
Configuring VEE for Windows...........................................................5
Color and Font Settings..................................................................5
Customizing Icon Bitmaps.............................................................6
Selecting a Bitmap for a Panel View.............................................6
Configuring VEE for UNIX................................................................7
Color and Font Settings..................................................................7
Changing X11 Attributes (UNIX)..................................................7
Screen Colors Change (UNIX) ................................................8
Attempt to Use Too Many Colors (UNIX)....................................8
Applications that Use a Local Color Map (UNIX)........................9
Using Non-USASCII Keyboards (UNIX).........................................11
Using HP-GL Plotters (UNIX)..........................................................11
Using VEE Example Programs..............................................................14
The Example Directories...................................................................14
Running the Examples.......................................................................14
Using Library Objects.............................................................................15
Formula Objects...........................................................................15
Supported I/O Interfaces.........................................................................16
Using VEE Execution Modes.................................................................17
Setting Execution Modes...................................................................17
What is an Execution Mode?.......................................................17
Why should I want to change Execution Modes?........................18
How do I know when to change Execution Modes?....................18
Guidelines to Switching Execution Modes..................................19
About the Compiler......................................................................19
Execution Mode Changes: VEE 3 to VEE 4....................................21
Line Colors in Compiler Mode....................................................21
Potential Compatibility Problems................................................21
Contents-1
Execution Mode Changes: VEE 4 to VEE 5.....................................29
About the VEE 5 Execution Mode..............................................29
Converting Programs to VEE 5 Execution Mode........................29
VEE 5 Execution Mode Changes.................................................30
Using VEE 5 Mode in HP-UX.....................................................34
Execution Mode Changes: VEE 5 to VEE 6.....................................35
About the VEE 5 Execution Mode..............................................35
New Data Types...........................................................................35
Variant to VEE Data Type Conversion - Improved Array Handling
35
Updated Functions.......................................................................37
Related Reading......................................................................................38
2. Instrument Control Fundamentals
Introduction to Direct I/O..................................................................44
An Example of Direct I/O............................................................44
MultiInstrument
Direct I/O................................................................................44
Introduction to VXIplug&play...........................................................46
Getting Started.............................................................................46
What You Need............................................................................47
Installing the VXIplug&play Driver Software.............................47
Location of Files (WIN95 and WINNT Frameworks).................47
Location of Files (HP-UX Framework).......................................48
Summary of Terminology............................................................48
A VXIplug&play Example Program............................................48
Further Information......................................................................49
Introduction to Panel Drivers and Component Drivers.....................49
Panel Drivers................................................................................49
Component Drivers......................................................................50
Further Information......................................................................52
Support For Register-Based VXI Devices........................................52
3. Configuring Instruments
Using the Instrument Manager...............................................................58
Overview...........................................................................................58
Contents-2
Auto Discovery..................................................................................60
The Instrument List...........................................................................61
Instrument Configuration..................................................................63
Renaming an Instrument....................................................................65
Adding an Instrument Configuration...........................................67
Adding a Panel Driver or Component Driver....................................72
Editing an Instrument Configuration............................................73
Editing an Interface Configuration...............................................75
Configuring for a Direct I/O Object..................................................76
Configuring for a VXIplug&play Driver..........................................79
Configuring for a PC PlugIn Card.....................................................83
Details of the Properties Dialog Boxes...................................................85
Instrument Properties Dialog Box.....................................................85
Name Field...................................................................................86
Interface Field..............................................................................86
Address Field................................................................................86
Gateway Field..............................................................................88
Advanced... Button.......................................................................88
Advanced Instrument Properties Dialog Box: General Tab..............89
Timeout (sec) Field......................................................................89
Live Mode Field...........................................................................90
Byte Ordering Field......................................................................90
Description (optional) Field.........................................................90
Advanced Instrument Properties Dialog Box: Direct I/O Tab..........91
Read Terminator Field................................................................91
Write EOL Sequence Field..........................................................92
Write Multi-field As Field............................................................92
Write Array Separator Field.........................................................93
Write Array Format Field.............................................................93
Write END (EOI)
On EOL Field
(GPIB Only)............................................................................94
Conformance Field.......................................................................95
Binblock Field..............................................................................95
State (Learn String) Field.............................................................96
Upload String Field......................................................................96
Download String Field.................................................................96
Contents-3
Advanced Instrument Properties Dialog Box: Plug&play Driver Tab.
97
Plug&play Driver Name Field.....................................................97
Parameters to init() call Field.......................................................98
Advanced Instrument Properties Dialog Box: Panel Driver Tab......99
ID Filename Field......................................................................100
Sub Address Field......................................................................100
Error Checking Field..................................................................100
Incremental Mode Field.............................................................100
Advanced Instrument Properties Dialog Box: Serial Tab...............102
Advanced Instrument Properties Dialog Box: GPIO Tab...............103
Advanced Instrument Properties Dialog Box: A16 Space (VXI Only)
Tab.............................................................................................104
Byte Access (D8) Field..............................................................104
Word Access (D16) Field..........................................................104
LongWord Access (D32) Field..................................................105
Add Register Field.....................................................................105
Delete Register Field..................................................................106
An Example................................................................................106
Advanced Instrument Properties Dialog Box: A24/A32 Space (VXI
Only) Tab...................................................................................108
Byte Access (D8) Field..............................................................108
Word Access (D16) Field..........................................................109
LongWord Access (D32) Field..................................................109
QuadWord Access (D64) Field..................................................109
Add Location Field....................................................................109
Delete Location Field.................................................................111
Interface Properties.........................................................................111
Interface Field............................................................................111
Address Field.............................................................................111
Gateway Field............................................................................111
4. Using Transaction I/O
Creating and Reading Transactions......................................................115
Creating and Editing Transactions..................................................116
Editing with Mouse and Keyboard............................................116
Editing the Data Field................................................................118
Contents-4
Adding Terminals............................................................................120
Reading Transaction Data...............................................................121
Transactions that Read a Specified Number of Data Elements.122
Read-To-End Transactions.........................................................124
Non-Blocking Reads..................................................................126
Suggestions for Developing Transactions.......................................129
Using Transaction-Based Objects.........................................................130
Execution Rules...............................................................................130
Object Configuration.......................................................................130
End Of Line (EOL) Field...........................................................132
Array Separator Field.................................................................132
Multi-Field Format Field............................................................132
Array Format Field.....................................................................133
Choosing Correct Transactions.............................................................135
Selecting Correct Objects and Transactions....................................137
Example: Selecting an Object and Transaction..........................137
Using To String and From String....................................................138
Communicating With Files ..............................................................139
Using File Pointers..........................................................................139
Read Pointers..............................................................................140
Write Pointers.............................................................................140
Closing Files...............................................................................140
EOF Data Output........................................................................142
Importing Data.................................................................................143
Importing X-Y Values................................................................143
Importing Waveforms................................................................144
Communicating With Programs (UNIX) .........................................149
Using Execute Program (UNIX).....................................................149
Execute Program (UNIX) Fields................................................150
Running a Shell Command........................................................152
Running a C Program.................................................................154
Using To/From Named Pipe (UNIX)..............................................155
Hints for Using Named Pipes.....................................................156
Using To/From Socket....................................................................157
To/From Socket Fields...............................................................158
Data Organization......................................................................160
Contents-5
Object Execution........................................................................160
To/From Socket Object Example...............................................160
Using Rocky Mountain Basic Objects (HP-UX)............................162
Initialize Rocky Mountain Basic................................................163
To/From
Rocky Mountain Basic.........................................................163
Examples Using To/From Rocky Mountain Basic....................164
Communicating With Programs (PC) .................................................166
Using Execute Program (PC)..........................................................166
Execute Program (PC) Fields.....................................................167
Using Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)..........................................169
DDE Examples................................................................................173
Using Transactions in Direct I/O and Interface Operations.................176
Using the Direct I/O Object............................................................177
Sending Commands...................................................................177
Reading Data..............................................................................180
Using the MultiInstrument Direct I/O Object.................................181
Transaction Dialog Box.............................................................182
Editing Transactions..................................................................183
Object Menu...............................................................................184
Using the Interface Operations Object............................................184
The EXECUTE Transaction......................................................184
The SEND Transaction..............................................................185
5. Advanced I/O Topics
I/O Configuration Techniques..............................................................189
The I/O Configuration File..............................................................189
Changing the Configuration File................................................190
Programmatic I/O Configuration....................................................190
LAN Gateways................................................................................193
Configuration.............................................................................194
Execution Behavior....................................................................196
Protecting Critical Sections.............................................................198
Supported Platforms...................................................................199
Execution Behavior....................................................................199
Example: EXECUTE LOCK/UNLOCK Transactions - GPIB..201
Contents-6
