Our company would build a new measurement system involving a measurement instrument, and a software to control it. The best instruments for the task however all seem to involve software systems of the manufacturer of the device, involving set of prerequisites, running services and so on. I would hate to make the customer have to install range of stuff just to be able to use the instrument, but provide just a stand alone win32 .exe file instead.
The instrument in question, (best for the task I have found) would be Agilent U2722A. http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/pro ... =US&lc=eng
Now, that instrument has long list of stuff it needs to operate, check the Agilent U2722A/U2723A USB Modular Source Measure Units User’s Guide (installation and configuration part) to see what all it needs. Discouraging huh? But, if you look at page 22, there is a small application that allows the user to send and receive commands to the instrument in SCPI format, which is just plain ascii text. (there is a separate manual for all the scpi commands for this instrument) With that feature it could be possible to do everything that is needed, but the question is if it is possible to find out how to use the send and receive without utilizing any of Agilents own drivers and software.
http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/editorial.jspx?cc=US&lc=eng&ckey=1540380&nid=-35489.774878&id=1540380 -> Readme for IVI-COM, IVI-C Version 2.0.2.0 for U272X might shed some light into this, as one of the installation options seems to say:
Can Agilent provide a simple win32 .dll that could just send and receive text commands and results from U2722A for people like me who would love to use the instrument but find the driver/software prerequisites too daunting to learn, install and demand form the end user.
The instrument in question, (best for the task I have found) would be Agilent U2722A. http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/pro ... =US&lc=eng
Now, that instrument has long list of stuff it needs to operate, check the Agilent U2722A/U2723A USB Modular Source Measure Units User’s Guide (installation and configuration part) to see what all it needs. Discouraging huh? But, if you look at page 22, there is a small application that allows the user to send and receive commands to the instrument in SCPI format, which is just plain ascii text. (there is a separate manual for all the scpi commands for this instrument) With that feature it could be possible to do everything that is needed, but the question is if it is possible to find out how to use the send and receive without utilizing any of Agilents own drivers and software.
http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/editorial.jspx?cc=US&lc=eng&ckey=1540380&nid=-35489.774878&id=1540380 -> Readme for IVI-COM, IVI-C Version 2.0.2.0 for U272X might shed some light into this, as one of the installation options seems to say:
Can Agilent provide a simple win32 .dll that could just send and receive text commands and results from U2722A for people like me who would love to use the instrument but find the driver/software prerequisites too daunting to learn, install and demand form the end user.
U2722A is a USB Modular based instrument, to ensure proper connection establish within instrument and PC, the Agilent IO Libraries Suite and U2722A Agilent Measurement Manager software are the prerequisites software must be install before it can send and receive commands. The requested standalone win32.dll is not available. Agilent highly recommended all U2722A users to follow the provided installation instructions before use.