Visual basic programming with Agilent 34970A and Personal 488 PCI Card

[MaheshC]

Hello everybody,
Well I am totally new to this. I am just learning what Data Acquisition Units are. So here is my question. I have a Personal 488 PCI Card (IEEE 488.2 Bus Controller). I have a Agilent 34970A Data Acquisition/Switch Unit from Agilent Technologies. I am trying to write a program in visual basic which can communicate with this unit. Like Send some commands and receive data from the unit. So I would be really grateful if I get some suggestions from this forum. I am basically looking for libraries for VB which can communicate with this device. I really appreciate all the help.

Thanks,
Mahesh

[theW]

Hello, Mahesh.

I understand that you are trying to do basic communication via the GPIB to your Agilent instrument. I will assume for this discussion that you have a National Instruments GPIB card such as a PCI-GPIB.

There are a few shipping examples that come with the NI-488.2 driver that should be helpful to you. The default installation directory for these examples is C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI-488.2\Languages\Visual Basic. I think that the "Query4882" project is a good place to start, though there are others in that directory that may be more applicable to your particular situation.

If I have not answered your question, please respond here and I will get back to you.

Thanks,
Scott B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[MaheshC]

Hello Scott,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I am sorry, I did not provide all the necessary data. Here is what I have got. I got a card from IOTech People which is Personal 488/PCI card. They have supplied their own drives and IOTech Library which they say would work with the new DAU in VB. But I am tring with that but the device is not communicating. Is the card different from the PCI-GPIB card? Can I get to download these samples as well as library required by those samples from any website? I would try that if it is working...

Thanks a lot for your help. Sorry for inconvenience caused to you.

Thanks once again.

Yours Sincerely,
Mahesh

[theW]

Mahesh,

It's not a problem, but unfortunately the examples will not apply to any non-National Instruments card as such a card will use a different driver requiring different calls from VB. The PCI-GPIB is a National Instruments GPIB card. Perhaps someone else here can help you, but since you do not seem to be using any of our hardware or software, my helpfulness is limited since I do not have specific knowledge of your setup.

Scott B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments