Asyst Smart-Plus VI

[DST]

Hi,

Looking for a basic VI to control Asyst's Smart-Plus software.

[Andy F.]

DST,

I haven't used Asyst's Smart-Plus software before, so I am not sure how to interface with it.  It may be the case that it has an ActiveX or .NET interface, but you would have to figure out that communication protocol.  More likely, LabVIEW could act as a replacement for the Asyst software.  How is everything connected to the computer (GPIB?).  If so then you could replace the file with VISA calls or something equivalent.  Repost with some more information and we may be able to help you.

Andy F.

[DST]

Thank you very much for your response.

Well, The Asyst "Smart-Plus" software actually controls a Robot, Front load and a Pre-Aligner. (Wafer Automation in the Semiconductor field). All 3 modules have SECS communication protocol but I do not want or need to control each one separately in lab. The "Smart Plus" does this for me in a very good and safe way but it is not user friendlily. You need to choose a comand from a list and for each comand you have several parameters you need to write before executing the comand. I want LabView to control Smart Plus and simplify the operations with a user friendlily GUI. "Smart-Plus" has a SECS interface &  DCOM.

[Andy F.]

DST,

If it has a DCOM interface then you can probably control it using LabVIEW using the Automation and ActiveX VIs.  I searched for VB code or something on Google for Smart-Plus, but I couldn't find any reference to what properties or methods that you should use, which would make programming it much more difficult.  If you place the Automation Open Function on the block diagram, right-click and select Select ActiveX Class.  You can either try to browse to the file (if you know where it is) or select it from the Type Library drop-down list.  If you get all of that, actually selecting the properties and methods may be difficult since I couldn't find any documentation (you may need to contact Asyst), so if you get that far good luck. 

I saw that Smart-Plus can read ASCII text files.  Have you considered using LabVIEW to write a text file, that you can just use in Smart-Plus?  This may be easier to do than trying to wade through the DCOM interface. 

Andy F.