Front Panels for instruments

[Kura]

Does anyone know if there are any places online where I could download a vi that could fully function as the front panel of an instrument? As in like the vi would more or less look like the front panel as well preferably?

[Dennis_Knutson]

You don't mention which instrument so I would suggest going to NI's Instrument Driver Network, se if a driver exists, and then look at the application examples that might be included at see what's there. You should be able to get at least a starting point. It is not a requirement that an instrument driver include a full representation of an instrument's front panel and I hope it never will. It's not to bad for a simple instrument like a DMM but the more complex one's require an awful lot of coding and most users just don't require that sort of thing. You might also want to consider designing a user interface that's easier to use than the actual instrument's. For example, the instrument manufacturer usually
has a pretty small screen and limited options for user interaction. You've got a big monitor with a lot of options such as pull-down menus and tab controls. It may not look like the instrument but it would likely be easier for the user.

[J. B. Wood]

In article <50650000000800000037D70000-1079395200000@exchange.ni.com>,
Kura wrote:

> Does anyone know if there are any places online where I could download
> a vi that could fully function as the front panel of an instrument? As
> in like the vi would more or less look like the front panel as well
> preferably?

Hello. I've just waded into LabView 6.1 and I wondered about the same
thing for remote TCP/IP control. I think recreating an entire front panel
may not be an efficient use of LabView as it could require a lot of G
programming to provide functionality of an item of test equipment (e.g. a
spectrum analyzer) with many front-panel controls. I did manage to
program a LabView real-time display of an Agilent spectrum analyzer trace
using a TCP/I
P connection to the instrument.

For a remote front-panel display (screen & controls) I think a much better
approach is to have an instrument with an http web server capability and
requisite code such that the instrument and its front panel can be
displayed and controlled via a web browser. Those cheap (less than $60
US) NAT and wireless router boxes intended for home use usually come with
an internal web server for configuration purposes. The beauty of this
approach is that you only need a web browser and not specialized client
software like LabView if all you want to do is remotely control the
instrument. It's too bad that the folks at Agilent and other test
equipment manufacturers are behind the times on this IMHO. Sincerely,

John Wood (Code 5550) e-mail: wood@itd.nrl.navy.mil
Naval Research Laboratory
4555 Overlook Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20375-5337