How to control HP4156B through LabView

[yyangbian]

Hello,

I am trying to use HP4156B to measure some current-voltage characteristics of electronic devices. How can I use LabView to control the equipment? For example, I would like to measurement the current every 10 sec. I am really new to this. Could anyone help? Do I need to install the instrument driver first? Is there document or book which can help me start quickly?
Thank you very much!

Regards
Yang

[Dennis_Knutson]

Yes, you should install the driver first. There is a driver for the 4156B/C and one for the 4156A. The B/C driver requires you to first download a dll from Agilent. The A driver is written in LabVIEW and does not interface to a dll. I don't know the difference between the A and the B/C models but a native LabVIEW driver is usually easier to use and is something that you can actually modify if needed. At http://www.ni.com/devzone/idnet/ you will find links on what a driver is, different types of drivers, and how to use a driver.

[brianyang]

Thanks very much for your information! It is very useful.

I have read the example of 4156A and I have another question here. How do you define the parameter type 'var1' in the example? In the measurement, you have to define whether you want to sweep current or voltage. But I am unable to find out how this definition is made in the example. Could anyone help? Thanks again!

[Dennis_Knutson]

You are going to have to be specific as to which driver you actually downloaded. As I mentioned, there are a couple. The example for the 4156A available here, does not have a control called var1.

[brianyang]

I notice that on the front pannel of the example HP415x_a App, there are some  panels hold some texts. But as I right click on these object, I am unable to see the menus like a normal Labview object like a string indicator. The only term listed on the menu is related to the text it contains.  What are those pannels? Thank you!

[Dennis_Knutson]

The text is just text. It's just telling you how the unit is configured. I'm assuming tha tmost of these are defaults after a reset is done. Instrument drivers assume a good working knowledgd of the instrument itself. I'm not that familiar myself so the best thing is to refer to the instrument manual on the different units and how they need to be configured