Numerous Instruments On Single Function Panel

[TonyJ]

Looking for some direction and hopefully an example or two. I want to create a .dll in CVI which I can execute to manually open/close relays, change levels for power supplies, and measure voltages/resistances on the DMM. I want to do this as a manual way of troubleshooting and for development prior to integrating TestStand sequences. Is it possible to put all this on a single function panel? My level at CVI development is at the novice level.  Your collective thoughts?

Tony

[NickelsAndDimes]

Hi TonyJ,

It's definitely possible to interact with multiple instruments on a single front panel. It just becomes a question of organizing it so that it's easy to tell what controls correspond to what instruments.

[AustinManinTown]

Hi Tony,

While you can create a single instrument driver that accesses all your hardware via a single function panel, it has the potential to make the code difficult to debug, reuse and scale. A better approach is to create instrument drivers for each piece of hardware (relays, power supply and DMM). Each driver can be used in application (created in CVI) to give you the functionality you need for troubleshooting. 

The above approach will make debugging a lot easier, as each piece of hardware has its own instrument driver, with the code for that specific purpose. You will also find that the drivers can be more readily used in code modules called from TestStand.

Good software development practices recommend breaking application functionality into components (e,g, functions) that perform specific operations. I don't think instrument drivers should be considered any different in this respect.