Instrument Driver Template VI's

[the dude]

Hello,
I am doing a study about labview and need to control instruments via labview
in an effort to create an "database" of the instruments at the lab.
In a later stage i shall use these VI's so that i can control a complete
test for emc.

Am i correct in thinking that i should make my own representation of (in
this case a signalgenerator R&S SMY) with the help of an instrument driver
template?
In this case i have downloaded a file that contains these VI's from
http://www.ni.com/devzone/idnet/development.htm#labview and i can open them
with labview buth how do i go about in making these VI apear as an icon so
that i can use the "commands" to create the VI of the signal generator.

Do i have to place the files that i downloaded in a specifi
c dir to see them
in labview ?

THX

[Dennis_Knutson]

You would use the templates to help create a driver for any instrument that doesn't already have a driver written for it. Go to Developing a LabVIEW Instrument Driver for a starting point in how to create your own driver. Once you've created a driver, you can add the functions to the Instrument Driver subpalette. The LabVIEW help contains directions on how to create and edit new subpalettes. The driver files that you create can be stored anyplace but typically they go in the instr.lib folder. You should also be aware that the template VIs only cover a small fraction of the functions necessary for a driver (reset, self-test, err
ror query, and a couple others). Depending on the complexity of the instrument, plan on spending up to month for each driver you need to write.

[the dude]

> go in the instr.lib folder. You should also be aware that the template
> VIs only cover a small fraction of the functions necessary for a
> driver (reset, self-test, errror query, and a couple others).
> Depending on the complexity of the instrument, plan on spending up to
> month for each driver you need to write.
Indeed when i placed the files under that dir i could find the sub VI's that
can do query's and so on. So now i can create a VI that represents the
generator.
Can i use this also in other tests like a "function"?

[Dennis_Knutson]

You can use any VI that you write in any other VI. I would suggest that you download drivers for similar instruments to see how instrument functions can be combined into a single LabVIEW VI. For an example, a scope's trigger functions might require several different commands. You could use a single VI for each command but it is often beneficial to have a single VI that does them all. Too much integration can be a problem though. Again using a scope as an example, you might not want to have a single VI that sets vertical, horizontal, triggering, and finally acquires the waveform since this is not a flexible solution to someone who wants to just do an acquisition.