Technical data

Connecting Instruments to GPIB 3
Agilent Connectivity Guide 57
Step 4: Communicate with Instruments
If your instruments show up in the Explorer Pane as verified,
communication has been established. This section shows how to further
verify instruments and connections using Interactive IO.
Communicating Using Interactive IO
Interactive IO is a utility within Agilent IO Libraries Suite that
communicates with instruments. It can be used to send and receive
strings to instruments, which support formatted I/O.
NOTE
Time-out Errors: If you are getting time-out errors when sending
commands and waiting for results, you can lengthen the time-out in the
Interact > Options menu, which is set at 5000 ms by default.
NOTE
When to Use VISA Assistant: VISA Assistant is still installed as part
of the Agilent IO Libraries Suite, but, for most users, it has been
replaced by the Interactive IO utility. Interactive IO provides a simpler,
more intuitive way to send commands to instruments and read the
results.
Some capabilities of VISA Assistant are not yet available in the
Interactive IO utility. These include:
• Memory I/O for VXI and GPIB-VXI interfaces
• Reading and writing of VISA attributes
• Configuration of VXIplug&play drivers
If you need these capabilities, you can start the VISA Assistant utility
by clicking the Agilent IO Control > VISA Assistant, or by clicking
Tools > VISA Assistant on the Connection Expert menu bar.