Setting up and using instrument with visa.

[JakobW]

Hi!

I am a complete newby to labview, just a two hour lecture in the bag. What I want to learn is how you set up and use an external instrument using visa. In my case I want to mesure alternating voltage using Agilent 34401A Multimeter, but that is of less importance.

The hardware is in place and the drivers are installed, it's basicly good to go. 

Things I like to know:

1) How to get from nothing, to being able to give the instrument instructions and to receive information from the device, using Visa.

2) How do you give and receive information to/from the device? I have some commands like:

:VOLTage:DC? {<range>|MIN|MAX|DEF},{<resolution>|MIN|MAX|DEF},

but where do I write them?

I would be very thankful for any help! I will more than likely never be able to help anyone else on this forum, but my problem is pretty general so I believe more people than I will find an answer useful.

[GovBob]

First you can read this. 

Also you can open LabVIEW  go to help>>Find Examples. On the search tab type in Agilent. You should see some examples there for your DMM

Hope this helps. 

[JakobW]

Thank you for your help. The premade examples seems great, but I can't help myself from wanting to connect the device more manually. The link you shared also seems useful, however what I'm looking for might be a "for dummies" guide because I don't feel much wiser after reading it tbh.

But don't think I'm not grateful, I really am! Just being honest about my personal experience, other people maybe would have understood it by now.

[GovBob]

Well there is a whole tutorial series on controlling/reading instruments. 

Do you have much LabVIEW experiance. If not use the tutorials on this website. 

Have you heard of Measurement and Automation Explorer? MAX. Open that and you can manually test GPIB commands and see your connected instruments.

What interface are you using (i.e. GPIB, Serial)?

[JakobW]

I'm using GPIB. Now I feel that I ahould have enough information to succed, I can't say I get everything right know, but with the links you've sent me, and quickly checking out max, I think I'll be alright.

Thank you for your help and quick answers!