User`s guide

146 Appendix B
Using the Agilent IO Libraries
Installing Custom Agilent IO Libraries
10 Use the following table for guidelines to select the type of installation
for your application. Highlight your selection and then click
Next>
to install the option (1 - 6) selected.
Option Description
1. SICL and Agilent
VISA Installation
(see Step 11)
Installs SICL and Agilent VISA with the default options for your computer
configuration. This option allows development and runtime capabilities
using SICL and Agilent VISA. The option also allows you to select Agilent
E8491 IEEE-1394 to VXI support. If another vendor’s VISA is installed,
installing this option
will overwrite the other vendor’s VISA.
2. SICL and side-
by-side Agilent
VISA Installation
(see Step 11)
Installs SICL and side-by-side Agilent VISA with the default options for
your computer configuration. If another vendor’s VISA is installed,
installing this option
will not overwrite the other vendor’s VISA.
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. 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.
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.
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 98/Me/2000/XP) 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.