User manual
72
© 2008, Elektro-Automatik GmbH & Co. KG
EN
LabView support
8. Communication with LabView
8.1 Overview about the Labview VIs
For an easy integration of multiple and even different devi-
ces into existing LabView applications we provide a set of
Labview VIs.
Those virtual instruments (VI) enable a simple implemen-
tation into and the programming of an application without
the need for the user to learn about the lower levels of
communication.
In order to use the functionality of these VIs it is required to
use and run the software development tool LabView from
the company National Instruments. The LabView VIs support
the use in version 7.0 or higher. VIs compatible to LabView
6.1 can be obtained by request.
Following minimum system requirements have to be
considered:
- Pentium 3 CPU with 256 MB memory
- Windows operating system (Win98 and WinXP)
Updates of these VIs can be downloaded from our website
www.elektroautomatik.de, if available.
8.1.1 Installation
To install and use the VIs in LabView in your environment,
please read the file „installation_english.pdf“ on the included
CD for instructions.
After the installation you can find the VIs in the context menu
of the LabView IDE in „Instrument I/O -> Instrument drivers
-> IF-XX“.
Some VIs are only for devices of series PSI9000 and will only
work with these. They got the abbreviation PSI9 in front of
their file name and also in their VI icons. Other VIs are only
for the electronic loads of the series EL3000 and EL9000.
These use the abbreviation EL in front of their names and
in their icons. Usage and functionality are described in the
user manual for the VIs. You can access it the usual way
via the LabView context help or directly from the CD in the
folder „\software\labview_7+\“. Depending on the Windows
version it can be necessary to copy the help file to a local
hard drive in order to read it correctly.
We distinguish three categories of VIs:
1. Communication VIs
2. Standard VIs
3. Special VIs
Important! Always use the proper VIs for your device.
PleasereadtheLabViewVIshelpleontheincluded
CD in order to get an overview and a clue about the
handling.
Broadcast:
After every broadcast query all bus sharing units can only
answer consecutively. Depending on the bys system, the
baud rate and the number of units, as well as the extra bus
traffic the answers can be delayed more or less. The time is
not specifiable and can only be estimated by the formula bus
sharing units * response time at singlecast. In most cases
the response time will be shorter.
7.8 Message structure IF-G1
The message structure for the text based communication
via a GPIB card is described in section 4.5.7