How does one use imported CVI instrument drivers?

[andrewW]

I have downloaded and imported the ID Library
CVI instrument driver for the Solartron 7150
Digital Multimeter (so7150) to LabVIEW 6.0, but
cannot read data from the instrument using the
relevant .vi's in the library created on
importation.

Do I need a .dll to get the .vi's to work? If so,
how do I go about acquiring the files necessary?

The (fully) LabVIEW implemented instrument driver
for the Solartron 7151 Digital Multimeter is
fairly similar in interface to the so7150. Anyone
with success programming the so7150 in LabVIEW?

I am generally attempting to find a way to
communicate with the so7150 while retaining
better timing control than that afforded by
GPIB Read in the absence of a functional
inst
rument driver.

Pertinent info:
Operating System: Windows 2000 Professional
LabVIEW version: 6.0
Communication interface: PCMCIA-GPIB
(driver version 1.60)


Thanks in advance,

Andrew

[ian_fung]

http://www.ni.com/support/cvi/visa/

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/3efedde4322fef19862567740067f3cc/cf78245cb9c707ce86256a3f00500ace?OpenDocument

Try these link for more information

[andrewW]

Thanks for the pointers, ian.f.

I ought to have mentioned that I do not have
LabWindows installed on my PC. Is there a
way to create the necessary dll without
LabWindows? It should in principle be
possible since the .c .fp and .h files all
are on my PC...

[DiegoF]

Hi,

You need some kind of C compiler (Visual C++, for example) to compile the instrument driver code into a dll. The file you need are the .c and .h. In CVI you would include include the .c, .h and .fp file into a project and compile a dll. For other compilers, you'll need to check with the compiler's manual how to generate dlls.

Here's a link to a NI tutorial on making dlls in Visual C++:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/2d17d611efb58b22862567a9006ffe76/3a1f4b7cbc68b636862567cc004d5cca?OpenDocument

Once you have the dll you can import the CVI instrument driver to LabVIEW.

I'm attaching a compile dll for the instrument driver you're working with. You can use this dll to import the CVI driver. It should work prope
rly, I tested it here. I you come across any problems using the dll, you might need to compile the code yourself.

You also need to include the CVI run time engine in your target machine. Go to www.ni.com to download a free copy of the runtime engine.

Hope this helps.

DiegoF.
National Instruments.

[andrewW]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I now have LabWindows/CVI v5.0 and have completed
the importation process. A new problem has now
arisen: Even when I set the integration time at
the minimum - 6.66 ms - I cannot read the stipulated
25 readings per second error free. I have tried both
the driver based .vi and basic GPIB Reads, the latter
after setting up the instrument using the appropriate
driver based .vi, to no avail. The driver based .vi's
appear to work fine, save for the slower than
expected read rate of 2 versus 25 readings per second
Any ideas?