Call gpib-32.dll directly in VB .NET

[Killjoy]

There is a lot of mention of the inability to use the old VB GPIB modules due to language changes in VB. The solution is to write your own direct DLL calls, but there are no examples of how to do this in Visual Basic .NET. Can anyone help me?

[AaronK]

Hi,

Unfortunatly, we currently do not have a language interface file available to let you do ib level commands in .NET.

The best way to go about this would be to use the Measurement Studio components.

If this is not an option, I have encountered an example of doing VISA calls in C#. If you want to use the VISA C functions in Visual basic, you can use the DllImport external method declarations in the attached example file.

This was written for c#, but you should be able to adopt it for your Visual Basic application.

I also need to mention that this is completely unsupported as it is not an official NI release.

Best Regards,
Aaron K.
Application Engineer
National Instruments

[Killjoy]

I have the Beta Measurement Studio for .NET CD and have installed it. There is an API for GPIB cards for .NET included. However, I am concerned there will be a licensing issues by using NI's dlls in my programs without purchasing the full Measurement Studio. I simply want to read some numbers from a couple of instruments connected to GPIB and do not need the Measurement Studio.

[mikekwok]

Would you give us more information on using the visa.h ?