Can I Use a DCOM-based driver with Labview RT?

[Ravid]

Hi,

I wish to control a power supply (AeroVironment PPS) from Labview RT.

The problem is that the available driver says (according to the manual): "This driver utilizes multiple threads to control communication with the PPS product while handling calls from the DCOM interface.", And: "The purpose of this driver is to provide a COM (DCOM) compatible interface to PPS products via an RS232 serial communications cable."

I am new to Labview RT, but as I understand it, DCOM is a Windows component, and I am assuming not supported by Labview RT ?

Any suggestions about how to implement communications to this device ?

Thanks,
Ravid

[jdigiova]

Ravid,

You are correct. DCOM uses portions of the WIN32 API that is not accessible in LabVIEW RT. Therefore you cannot communicate to an instrument using DCOM from LabVIEW RT. You will need to use a VISA based driver to communicate to your device from LabVIEW RT. Here is a link discussing this issue.

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/F97B93E42ABDCDDC862569AF006B9F6B?OpenDocument

You may need to develop your own driver, or perhaps you can find one already written somewhere on the internet. For example here is a link to our driver network.

http://www.ni.com/devzone/idnet/

You need to find a driver for your instrument based on VISA.

Regards,
Joseph D.
National Instruments