Installation guide

24 Chapter 2
Installing the IO Libraries
Installing New IO Libraries
2. SICL and
side-by-side
Agilent VISA
Installation
Installs SICL and side-by-side Agilent VISA with the default options for
your computer configuration. With this option, another vendor’s VISA
will
not be overwritten.
Beginning with version K.01.00, you can install Agilent VISA as a
secondary VISA (side-by-side). When this is done, Agilent VISA
will
not overwrite
another vendor's VISA, if one is present on the computer.
Normal VISA programs use visa32.dll which is installed in the Windows
system directory. Agilent VISA is implemented in agvisa32.dll which is
also installed in the Windows system directory.
n If Agilent VISA is installed as the primary VISA, the Agilent
version of visa32.dll is installed in the Windows system directory
and forwards all VISA calls to agvisa32.dll.
n If Agilent VISA is installed as a secondary VISA, agvisa32.dll is
installed but Agilent's visa32.dll is not installed. Thus, Agilent
VISA will not overwrite another vendor's visa32.dll which may
already be installed.
n If Agilent VISA is installed as a secondary VISA, the support files
in the 'bin', 'include' and 'lib' directories of the <VISA Path>
(e.g., C:\program files\visa\winnt on Window NT/2000 or
C:\program files\visa\win95 on Windows 95/98/Me) are not
installed since they would overwrite another vendor's support
files.
Copies of the Agilent version of the VISA support files are in the 'agbin',
'include' and 'lib' subdirectories under <VISA Path>\agvisa. These files
are installed even when Agilent VISA is the primary VISA.
The Agilent VISA utilities vifind32.exe and VISA Assistant use Agilent
VISA even if another vendor's VISA is installed as primary VISA.
Normally, a VISA program will use the primary VISA (i.e., call through
visa32.dll). However, if a VISA program is linked with agvisa32.lib or
dynamically loads agvisa32.dll, the program will use Agilent VISA even
if it is not the primary VISA.
Option Description