README.TXT for Agilent E1412 Multimeter Contents: 1 Introduction 2 VISA Specific Information 2.1 Instrument Addresses 2.2 Using Callbacks and Soft Front Panel Timeouts 2.3 Executing the Soft Front Panel without VISA 3 Using the Agilent E1412 Driver in Application Development Environments 3.1 Microsoft Visual C/C++ 3.2 Borland C/C++ 3.3 Microsoft Visual Basic 3.4 Special Functions 4.0 Online Information 5.0 Revision History - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction The help file included with the Agilent E1412 VXIplug&play driver contains instrument and programming information. This readme file contains additional information for the Agilent VXIplug&play programmer. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. VISA Specific Information The following topics refer to instances when the driver is used with different versions of VISA. 2.1 Instrument Addresses When using Agilent VXIplug&play instrument drivers, instrument addresses must be all uppercase letters. Implementation of the addressing scheme is vendor specific and some vendors support mixed cases. However, for maximum portability, the instrument address should use uppercase characters only. For example: use "VXI0::56::INSTR" instead of "vxi0::56::instr" 2.2 Using Callbacks and Soft Front Panel Timeouts Callbacks are not supported in win32 environment. 2.3 Executing the Soft Front Panel without VISA The VISA dynamic link library provides a communication library between your program and the instrument. If you receive a message that VISA.DLL cannot be found when executing the soft front panel (hps1412.exe), VISA is not installed on your system. To communicate with the Agilent E1412, you must install VISA from discs supplied with your computer or I/O card. However, it is still possible to execute the soft front panel in a demonstration mode without VISA and/or the Agilent E1412. Simply press 'ok' when the dialog box appears and the soft front panel will then become available. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Using the Agilent E1412 Driver in Application Development Environments This section offers suggestions on using the hpe1412.dll within various application development environments. 3.1 Microsoft Visual C/C++ Refer to your Microsoft Visual C/C++ manuals for information on linking and calling .DLLs. 3.2 Borland C/C++ Refer to your Borland C/C++ manuals for information on linking and calling .DLLs. Rebuilding the driver requires header files located in the ~\winnt\hpe1412 or ~\win95\hpe1412 directory. The ~ refers to the directory in the VXIPNPPATH variable. By default this is set to C:\VXIPNP on Agilent I/O Libraries revisions prior to J.01.00; or to C:\Program Files\VISA on revisions J.01.00 or later. 3.3 Microsoft Visual Basic Refer to the Microsoft Visual BASIC manual for information on calling DLLs. The BASIC include file is hpe1412.bas, which is contained in the directory ~\winnt\include or ~\win95\include. The ~ refers to the directory in the VXIPNPPATH variable. By default this is set to C:\VXIPNP on Agilent I/O Libraries revisions prior to J.01.00; or to C:\Program Files\VISA on revisions J.01.00 or later. 3.4 Special Functions Revision A.02.05 of this VXIplug&play Driver for the Agilent E1412 has added for Special Functions: AC+DC Voltage, AC+DC Current, Offset Compensated 4-wire Resistance and 4-wire Resistance Offset. Each of these Special Functions will actually perform two measurements for each reading. Because this would generate two VM Complete Trigger Out signals, only one reading is allowed per measure command (hpe1412_read_Q(), hpe1412_fetc_Q(), hpe1412_timedFetc_Q() and hpe1412_measure_Q()). Also, since two input triggers are needed, only Input Trigger source Immediate is allowed. Please note that even though one reading will result, two VM Complete signals will result, so use it with caution if triggering another event off of it. It is recommended that sequencing should be done in software rather than hardware for these functions. The Offset Compensated functions require Inguard Firmware Revision 1.03 or 1.04. This revision may be found by doing the Plug&Play revision quiry function. The instrument revision consists of two numbers, separated by a dash (-). The first number is the Inguard Firmware Revision. (The second number is the Outguard Firmware Revision.) 3.4.1 AC+DC Voltage This measurement performs an AC Voltage measurement and a DC Voltage measurement. The RMS sum is given as the result. 3.4.2 AC+DC Current This measurement performs an AC Current measurement and a DC Current measurement. The RMS sum is given as the result. 3.4.3 Offset Compensated 4-Wire Resistance This measurement performs a 4-Wire resistance measurement, then turns off autoranging, then opens the Front End Input relay (K101) using special firmware pokes, then performs another resistance measurement. The second measurement is the offset due to thermals and other residual voltages. Subtracting the offset from the first reading gives the Offset Compensated Resistance measurement. Autoranging is turned off so that the offset is measured on the same scale as the resistance. Autoranging is not turned back on at the end of the measurement. 3.4.4 4-Wire Resistance Offset. This measurement perforems the same measurement as "Offset Compensated 4-Wire Resistance", but just returns the offst (second reading). It performs the first measurement to establish a range in case autorange was turned on. The Offset can be used in cases where the thermals and other residual voltages are constant and consistent, but the resistance changes. By establishing an Offset, other 4-wire ohms measurements can be made and the Offset subtracted later in software. This would speed up measurements because the Offset would be measured only once. However, be sure that all resistances measured are on the same range. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 WINDOWS 7 x64 Installation. Additional upgrades needed. Version A.02.10 consists of an upgrade to the Installation software for installing the E1412A driver on Windows 7 x64 systems.Also install the following two software upgrades: 1) The National Instruments CVI Runtime Engine which can be downloaded from http://sine.ni.com/psp/app/doc/p/id/psp-272. 2) In Windows 7, WinHlp32.exe is required to display 32-bit Help files that have the ".hlp" file name extension. The update is available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 Online Information The latest copy of this instrument driver and other Agilent instrument drivers are available at the Agilent Technologies customer WWW site: http://www.agilent.com/find/inst_drivers The Agilent E1412 driver is located in a self-extracting archive file called e1412.exe. If you do not have Internet access, the drivers can be obtained by contacting your country support organization. In the US, the phone number is 800-452-4844. A list of contact information for other countries is available on the Access Agilent Technologies website: http://www.agilent.com/find/assist - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.0 Revision History A.01.00 September 15, 1995 Initial Release. A.01.01 October 15, 1995 Revision A.02.00 Aug 1996 Win 95/NT release A.02.01 December 13, 1996 Defect fixes A.02.02 3/1998 hpe1412_32.dll : A.02.01 hps1412.exe : A.02.02 A.02.03 7/1998 hpe1412_32.dll : A.02.01 hps1412.exe : A.02.03 A.02.04 8/1999 hpe1412_32.dll : A.02.01 hps1412.exe : A.02.03 A.02.05 1/2000 Added Special Functions for AC+DC and Offset Compensated Ohms hpe1412_32.dll : A.02.05 hps1412.exe : A.02.03 A.02.06 10/2001 Agilent rebranding hpe1412_32.dll : A.02.06 hps1412.exe : A.02.04 A.02.07 5/2002 Removed unimplemented "Execute Immediate Trigger" node from .fp file. Removed "Attribute VB_Name" line from .bas file. Fixed "Initiate Measurement" link in hierarchical function reference in help file. hpe1412_32.dll : A.02.06 hps1412.exe : A.02.04 A.02.08 10/2002 SFP gave error when launching help file hpe1412_32.dll : A.02.06 hps1412.exe : A.02.05 A.02.09 3/2007 Updated to recognize 34410A/11A or L34411A Will get errors if try to set DC Ratio function with these instruments, or if try to use the TTLTRG's. Some queries with these instruments will return different results (e.g., max range, resolution, ...) than with an E1412. Added Passthrough functions Soft front panel now shows unmodified VISA addresses if multiple matches hpe1412_32.dll : A.02.07 hps1412.exe : A.02.06 A.02.10 11/2011 This release updates the InstallShield for installation only on WIN 7 x64 operating systems.The driver itself has not changed. For Win 95 or Win NT support, utilze version A.02.09.