User`s guide

72 Chapter 2
Installing the E5810
Installing and Configuring the Agilent IO Libraries
Verifying Communication From Your PC
This section gives guidelines to communicate with and program connected
GPIB and RS-232 instruments from your PC via the E5810 (assuming the
PC is configured for VISA LAN Client), including:
 Using VISA Assistant for Communication
 Using Supported Programming Languages
Using VISA
Assistant for
Communication
After the E5810 has been configured and you have connected your GPIB
and/or RS-232 instruments to the E5810, you can verify communication
between your PC and the instruments using the VISA Assistant utility or
by using VISA or SICL commands with supported programming languages.
This section shows one way to use VISA Assistant to verify instrument
communication.
The Agilent IO Libraries include an IO utility called VISA Assistant. You
can use VISA Assistant to verify communication between your PC and
connected GPIB and RS-232 (ASRL) instruments.
Example: Using
VISA Assistant
For example, to use VISA Assistant for GPIB (IEEE-488.2) instruments:
1 Click the blue IO icon on the Windows taskbar (on the lower right-hand
corner of the screen).
2 Click
Run VISA Assistant to display the VISA Assistant main
screen. For information on VISA Assistant, click H
elp.
3 Maximize the VISA Assistant main screen.
4 Follow the steps shown to return the Identification string for
IEEE-488.2-compliant instruments
NOTE
You can also communicate with (but not program) installed GPIB and/or
RS-232 instruments using the E5810 Web access, whether or not your
PC is configured for VISA LAN Client. See Chapter 3 - Using E5810
Web Access for details.