how to use a NIDAQ Card for GPIB using plain C++ in back end ?

[biswalAchyuta]

Hello,

I am new to GPIB programming. I have a card NI Daq 183617C-01 PCI-GPIB. I want to use it to control one external device.

I am planning to use Qt as my front end and plain C++ as my backend.

Could any body please let me know what are the things I need ?

Do I have to use Measurement Studio explicitly or I can use normal C++ GUI ?

Do I have to download any software ?

Do I need to write the driver for the CARD ? If so how to get the addresses /data sheets ?

Thanking you.

Regards

Biswal

[smercurio_fc]

One thing to keep in mind is that NI-DAQ and GPIB are two completely different things. For a GPIB card you need to install NI-488.2 driver software at a minimum. You can download it from the NI site: http://search.ni.com/nisearch/app/main/p/bot/no/ap/tech/lang/en/pg/1/sn/catnav:du,n8:3.25.123.785,ssnav:sup/

As for the development environment you do not need Measurement Studio, but it would probably make things easier. The installation of NI-488.2 includes examples on how to program in C.

You should consider using VISA, though it's not explicitly necessary. If the instrument you are talking to has multiple interfaces then you definitely should use VISA, as the VISA API allows you to talk to a device using either GPIB, serial, or TCP/IP.

You should also look in the Instrument Driver Network to see if there are instrument drivers (i.e., pre-written code) to talk to your device.

[biswalAchyuta]

Hello, Thannks for the suggestion. I have installed NI-488.2 driver.And I tried communicating with the device using MAX communication. The device is getting locked and receiving commands. But I think not able to intrepret. Because it does not respond to ' *INTD?' command . Displays error linke INT. Do I have to do any more settings somewhere ? Please help. Regards Biswal

[Dennis_Knutson]

At the very least, you need to provide the make and model of the instrument. I have no idea what kind of command "*INTD?" is. There is no such standard command. Do you really mean "*IDN?". If you get a warning in MAX that it it did not respond to this, check the manual to see if the command is supported. If it isn't, then ignore the warning.