Web based instrument control

[LED47]

Just a very general question:

I have a web-based instrument... I hope I'm saying that right..

Can I take control of the instrument with LabVIEW as a web based instrument?

[Jay14159265]

As a general answer, yes you can control web connected instruments with LabVIEW. 

[billko]

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@Jay14159265 wrote:

As a general answer, yes you can control web connected instruments with LabVIEW. 

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I think he might've meant "could you control the instrument through a web browser with LabVIEW?"  If that is the case, then "no".  But if you can reach the instrument through a web browser, it is very likely that you can control it through VISA commands as well.

[LED47]

Thank you for the responses,

Would you happen to have a very simple general example of opening communication (web based)?

[GerdW]

Hi LED,

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@LED47 wrote:

Would you happen to have a very simple general example of opening communication (web based)?

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Which protocol does that device use?

"Web based" can have a lot of implementations - and some devices support more than one protocol…

[LED47]

I think we can use - Modbus, RESTful API or Macros

[GerdW]

Hi LED,

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@LED47 wrote:

I think we can use - Modbus, RESTful API or Macros

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Use Modbus/TCP.

There are several Modbus libraries available on VIPM!

[Kyle97330]

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@GerdW wrote:

Hi LED,

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@LED47 wrote:

I think we can use - Modbus, RESTful API or Macros

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Use Modbus/TCP.

There are several Modbus libraries available on VIPM!

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While I personally would use MODBUS given those choices, I will still mention that REST API usage with LabVIEW is possible using its built in HTTP VIs.

Also, depending on the use case, sometimes a REST API can be easier to develop.  MODBUS requires you to know register addresses and if you want any data more than 2 bytes you have to merge the results from several registers.  REST APIs usually have commands and replies that look a lot more like "plain English" and can be less intimidating for new users.

[GerdW]

Hi,

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@Kyle97330 wrote:

Also, depending on the use case, sometimes a REST API can be easier to develop.  MODBUS requires you to know register addresses and if you want any data more than 2 bytes you have to merge the results from several registers.  REST APIs usually have commands and replies that look a lot more like "plain English" and can be less intimidating for new users.

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Yes, that's right.

But:

In the long run it might help (IMHO) the OP to learn Modbus basics as the same principles also apply to other communication protocols, like CAN (message frames with payload data, where you need to pick the bits/bytes), CANopen (SDO: very similar scheme of register addresses with dedicated meaning and data formatting), …

[Quiztus2]

you can run a gRPC device server. For rt targets it is as simple as running an executable and you are ready to go. For client side you can use gRPC-labview or python, C#, c or whatever.