control instrument

[faamar]

Hello everybody,

I am a beginner in labview and I have to control an E5071C vector network analyzer with a lightwave component HP8702A and an itest voltage supply. I don't know how I can control several labview instruments in the same program. Can someone send me a sample program that allows you to drive multiple instruments at the same time? and would you have the driver for HP 5071C and BE2101.

[GerdW]

Hi faamar,

place each device communication into its own loop (or even VI). Call those loops/VIs in parallel…

[crossrulz]

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@faamar wrote: and would you have the driver for HP 5071C and BE2101.

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Meet the Instrument Driver Network (IDNet)

Agilent ENA Series Analyzer (E5071C)

You could also contact the manufacturer to see if they have anything.

[faamar]

have you an exemple of programme to control different instrument in the same VI.

[johntrich1971]

If you have the code for each instrument individually working then put the code from each instrument separately into one vi. Have you reviewed the training materials at the top of this board? They are valuable in helping you to get a jumpstart on LabVIEW programming.

[cbutcher]

I might suggest rather than taking 2 (3) separately working VIs (which you may or may not have yet...) you instead try to work out what you want to do with the combination of devices.

Build an application that uses each of the devices in combination appropriately.

Of course, simpler VIs for a single instrument are important for testing, and can if written helpfully also be a part of your complete solution, but I've seen several VIs that are just multiple VIs copy-pasted into a single VI that become increasingly unworkable and unmaintainable. Don't start with this as your goal!

[johntrich1971]

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@cbutcher wrote:

I might suggest rather than taking 2 (3) separately working VIs (which you may or may not have yet...) you instead try to work out what you want to do with the combination of devices.

Build an application that uses each of the devices in combination appropriately.

Of course, simpler VIs for a single instrument are important for testing, and can if written helpfully also be a part of your complete solution, but I've seen several VIs that are just multiple VIs copy-pasted into a single VI that become increasingly unworkable and unmaintainable. Don't start with this as your goal!

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I agree with this in principle. My suggestion was really more about getting an understanding of how the two instruments could run in parallel. With that understanding it should be easier to design the code.

[cbutcher]

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@johntrich1971 wrote:

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@cbutcher wrote:

I might suggest rather than taking 2 (3) separately working VIs (which you may or may not have yet...) you instead try to work out what you want to do with the combination of devices.

Build an application that uses each of the devices in combination appropriately.

Of course, simpler VIs for a single instrument are important for testing, and can if written helpfully also be a part of your complete solution, but I've seen several VIs that are just multiple VIs copy-pasted into a single VI that become increasingly unworkable and unmaintainable. Don't start with this as your goal!

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I agree with this in principle. My suggestion was really more about getting an understanding of how the two instruments could run in parallel. With that understanding it should be easier to design the code.

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Of course! I just wanted to point it out before someone (perhaps the OP, perhaps someone else) read this and proceeded to copy-paste their 2..N VIs together, then when discussing it later with their colleague/supervisor/employer, say "but I was told to do this on the forums by ...".

It can be difficult later to explain to the next person who inherits the code from someone who has by then left why they should really consider trying to separate things out again (the example I'm thinking of had a tab control and 3 literally separate operations on the 3 tabs, with no relation between them...)