LabVIEW communication to a 3rd party software

[themadgreek]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to LabVIEW, so I could use some insight and tips/recommendations to this problem I'm trying to solve. 

Objective: Basic data acquisition from ORTEC Digibase -E gamma reader to LabVIEW. 

Problem: To establish connection between LabVIEW and MCA software.

Currently we use the ORTEC Digibase -E ethernet connection directly to the computer and interface it using the ORTEC MAESTRO MCA software. We are not using an MCB hardware to interface with the computer. I am hoping to use LabVIEW to communicate with the ORTEC MAESTRO MCA (3rd party software) and gather required data to LabVIEW. The MCA software have a DLL (Dynamic Link Library), so can I use this file somehow to gather the data, or is there a better and more convenient way to approach this problem. Correct me if I'm wrong with my understanding on this matter. Looking forward to hear some insight and tips/recommendations to this problem.

Thanks,

themadgreek

[psuedonym]

https://www.ortec-online.com/-/media/ametekortec/brochures/a/a11.pdf?la=en&revision=25b8247a-86f7-4e...

[themadgreek]

Thanks @psuedonym

[wiebe@CARYA]

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@psuedonym wrote:

https://www.ortec-online.com/-/media/ametekortec/brochures/a/a11.pdf?la=en&revision=25b8247a-86f7-4e...

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Going on that info, I'd go for ActiveX.

That's also a dll. But the interface is defined, do it could save you a lot of work. The interface could be LabVIEW friendly or not... But you'd have that with a traditional dll too.

[pincpanter]

We use ActiveX for ORTEC devices. It's very convenient.

[wiebe@CARYA]

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@pincpanter wrote:

We use ActiveX for ORTEC devices. It's very convenient.

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I can predict what the next question will be 😋.

[pincpanter]

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wiebe@CARYA  ha scritto:

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@pincpanter wrote:

We use ActiveX for ORTEC devices. It's very convenient.

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I can predict what the next question will be 😋.

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😄 I'm a little busy right now, but I will post an example vi soon.

[themadgreek]

Hi,

Do you use an MCB to communicate via ActiveX, or do you use the MCA software and the connections programmer toolkit software via ActiveX for data acquisition ?

Thanks,

themadgreek

[pincpanter]

The digiBASE IS the MCB. All communication is done through the CONNECTIONS software interface.

In the example vi, I open a connection to the device, then I do the following: get the device description and the current live time, STOP, CLEAR spectrum and START again. The ActiveX interface features a few dedicated methods (like Get data to read the spectrum) and a more general method to send commands. You will find a complete documentation of the available commands in the digiBASE manual. You can also run the vi while Maestro is open and see what happens.

Personally, I don't use the toolkit, although other people may find it useful. All the above programming only requires to install CONNECTIONS.

Another option is to use job files with Maestro. This is especially useful for saving spectra in ORTEC format, because they have a quite complicated format. A job file is a script that can perform various tasks, for example run a series of measurements with given preset times saving all spectra and doing basic data processing. You can launch Maestro (possibly from LabVIEW) specifying a job file in the command line.

EDIT: I re-post the vi with small modifications

[themadgreek]

Hi @pincpanter,

Thanks for the insight and example vi. I tried running the VI to connect to the ORTEC MCB and I am getting the attached errors. I tried doing some troubleshooting and doesn't seem to work. I tried adding an automation open and close in the program to see if it made any difference, and it still has the error. I have the CONNECTIONS software installed and ActiveX communications have been enabled on the system too. Did you happened to get any of these errors when you tried communicating with the ORTEC MCB?

Thanks,

themadgreek