Ocean Optics Omnidrivers package

[Albert.Geven]

I am not talking about the ocean optics omnidriver.

I'm talking about the NI instruments ocean optics driver available from NI's instrument driver network!

no dll's so nothing to miss.

[1234@1]

when i go to ni instrument driver page, it automatically directs to ocean optics 2000 4000. in down load driver and related software it shows different versions of lab view. when i download driver it downloads following attached file. in which there is no set up and read me .html file.

please send me correct path for this.i have again reinstall lab view 2011 evalution version.

[fromm8]

Hello

I downloaded the file you attached, and there I could find the readme.html file:

This driver is a project style driver (LabVIEW plug and play), you do not need a setup file. Please check the link below:

project style

Regards

[1234@1]

what can i conclude from this lab view plug and play link. in ocean optics diver installer i found ooihome in that i found readme. html in this file i dont found revelent information. can you send me a proper link of lab view and ocean optics +spam driver so that after installing both of them this 1097 error has been removed. is this problem of installing a proper version of both of them.

[Albert.Geven]

Your conclusion is wrong and so good luck next time.

[r0oland]

Dear Albert,

I think it is time to reanimate this post 🙂

I am sucessfully using the OMNIDriver+SPAM dlls that are provided by OceanOptics for 64bit LabView. Everything is working fine when I am using the wrapper libary that they provide and I can read my spectra and wavelengths and everything.

Now I would like to change a paramenter that is called "external trigger delay". As the name already suggests, this sets the delay between an external trigger and the start of the integration time. 
This function is not available through the wrapper libary but through an additional library called ExternalTriggerDelay.llb. 
Like the wrapper library, this can be found under Ocean Optics > OmniDriverSPAM > labview > win32/64 > your version > ExternalTriggerDelay.dll

I have attached a version of my vi with which I tried to set this parameter, but while I don't get any error messages, it also does not seem to do anything whatsoever. I also don't really understand how it works, since I can't even specifiy my spectrometer ot anything. It just creates the java object somehow and writes something somewhere but it is not working...

Do you have an idea how get things working?

Regs Joe

[Albert.Geven]

Hi
I'm quite busy with other things but maybe I can look at it Tuesday for a moment. If you don't get an answer, try again to mail Wednesday, so I will not forget it.

[r0oland]

Thanks, I appreciate your quick response. However, I dug a bit depper into the manual and figured it out myself. Once everything is working fine I'll probably post my code here, as I find the Ocean Optics manual and instructions not to useful...

Thanks anywy!

Regs Joe

[Albert.Geven]

Thanks for the message and I appreciate your posting when finished

[r0oland]

So for everyone who is like me on the desperate (and vainly) journey of finding proper documentation for the use of the OMNI driver with Labview, you shall not despair, as I have found wisdom 🙂

But seriously now, it took me a while to get anything working with my Ocean Optics Spectrometer and I will try to explain the problems I ran into. 

Here is my step by step check list that will help you to avoid the mistakes I made.

My System

• 64bit Windows 7
• 32- and 64-bit LabVIEW 2012 incl. a few add ons
• .NET framework 4 installed and updated using Windows Update service

Installing Drivers

• !!!do NOT plug in the Spectrometer with out proper drivers installed!!!
• download and install DotNet 4.0 (all architectures) form the Ocean Optics Website: http://www.oceanoptics.com/technical/softwaredownloads.asp
  While this is probably not necessary, depending on the system you are using, but it is good to make sure
• also download and install the latest OmniDriver+SPAM and the Spectrasuite (yes, you want this too, just to check that your spectrometer is properly detected and working)
• You will need a Password for both the Driver and the Spectrasuite, if you don't have them, contact OceanOptics or go and buy the driver
• once everything is installed and your .NET firmware is updated, then plug in the spectrometer
• the drivers should now be detected automatically and the spectrometer should be recognized with its name (HR2000+ in my case) and the device name should end in (WinUSB)
• try open the SpectraSuite and see if the spectrometer is reckognized
• if not, try a different USB connector and/or restart your system

64bit / 32bit version Problems:

• if you are using a 64bit Windows, you must use the 64bit drivers and spectrasuite as well as 64bit LabVIEW
• I was told that it should also work using 32bit LabVIEW, but I had no success with that, the instructions (that don't really make sense) are attached ("OmniDriverusing32-bitLabVIEWon64-bitWindows7.pdf")

C-Wrapper vs. .NET-Wrapper

• Ocean Optics delivers his driver with premade vis which can be found in the libaries under \Program Files\Ocean Optics\OmniDriverSPAM\labview\[your OS]\[your Labview] 
• I started using the functions provided there and most things worked fine, however, they still use the old C-wrapper 
• these get no longer updated and especially if you want to use some advanced features of your spectrometer, you should use so called .NET wrapper that make use of Microsofts .NET framework
• you can find instructions on how to get started with the .NET wrappers in the file "OmniDriverNETInterfaceinLabVIEW.pdf" and a sample program called "SetAcquisitionParameters_NET.vi"
• if you are using 64bit LabVIEW like me and you try to create the .NET wrapper as described in the pdf, you will get an error message
• You have to force your LabVIEW to use the .NET framework 2, which is done by placing the attached "LabVIEW.exe.config" in the same folder as your LabVIEW.exe (the one that starts LabVIEW, not the vis you are gone create or already have created)

I think this covers most of the things that cause me problems...If you need help, don't hesitate to ask here in this forum. 

Regs and good luck out there,

Joe