How to get serial number of instrument in IVI-C

[jhliu001]

Hello,

I use TestStand 4.0.1, and I want to use IVI-C driver to communicate with my instruments. Before futher action, I want to confirm my instrument's information. In direct VISA driver, I could send *IDN? command to get this information, usually, it will include Manufacturer, Model Number, Serial Number and Firmware Version.

So now, when I use IVI-C step in TestStand, I can use IVI-C -> Tools step  "Set/Get/Check Attributes" to get: "IVI_ATTR_INSTRUMENT_MANUFACTURER", "IVI_ATTR_INSTRUMENT_MODEL", "IVI_ATTR_INSTRUMENT_FIRMWARE_REVISION". But I can not find an attribute for Instrument _SerialNumber!!!

When I use NI SPY to monitor how IVI-C to get the above attributes of instrument, I found it also uses the *IDN? command. as blow:

viQueryf(GPIB0::1::INSTR (0x23395638),"*IDN?""%256[^.]")

So why the IVI-C does not provide an attribute for get the SN# of Instrument?  How can I get the SN# of instrument in IVI-C world?

Any suggestion will be highly appriciated!

[markus kossmann]

Usually, an IVI-C driver also provides "low-level" functions to send SCPI commands to and to receive reponses from the instrument. Just use these functions to send an IDN? query and then parse the response yourself to get the serial number.  

[jhliu001]

Hello markus,

Thank you for your reply. Now I just get an idea is that in LabVIEW, using the IVI-C driver's properties-- "IO Resource Descriptor" to get the GPIB address, and then use VISA function to write and read SCPI commands. But this is a kind of backward from IVI to plag&play.

You mentioned ---"IVI-C driver also provides "low-level" functions"---. So in TestStand where can I found those low-level functions?

Thank you very much.

[RayFarmer]

Hi,

This are not available in TestStand because TestStand is not a programming language. You will have to use LabVIEW / LabWindows or someother language supported by TestStand