NI -488.2 GPIB

[Sze Yuen Cheng]

I am Sze Yuen Cheng from Osram Sylvania Inc. I have a few questions about your NI-488.2 GPIB. I need to use the GPIB to interface a few Xitron power analyzer instruments with the computer by using Visual Basic 6, and this is the first time that I am using both Visual Basic and GPIB. I found 2 files from the NI-488.2 software CD: one is called Vbibi-32.bas and the other is Niglobal.bas. What are these files? Are they just the initialization and variable definitions for the GPIB hardware? Do I have to include these files with the Visual Basic program in order to communicate between the computer and the instruments through the GPIB? How can I include these files in the Visual Basic program? What are the most important things that I have to know
or acquire from the Vbibi-32.bas and the Niglobal.bas files in order to finish my task? I am going to attach these 2 files for your references.

If you need more information, please contact me at sze.cheng@Sylvania.com or 847-726-6258.

Thank you,
Sincerely,

Sze Yuen Cheng

[AaronK]

Hi,

You have found the right two files! These two files make up what we call the "language interface files" for VB. You can find out more here: http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niepd_web_display.display_epd4?p_guid=B45EACE3D90756A4E034080020E74861&p_node=DZ52353&p_source=external

In summary:
NIGLOBAL.BAS: global module containing predefined constant declarations
VBIB-32.BAS: source file containing NI-488.2 routine and NI-488 function prototypes

I always find that the best way to learn is by example. There should be some basic examples that installed with your NI-488.2 driver. If you installed it to the default path, it will be located in C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI-488.2\Languages\Visual Basic

Take a look at those examples. They should hel
p you get on your way.

Best Regards,
Aaron K.
Application Engineer
National Instruments