Models 707B and 708B Switching Matrix Reference Manual
Section 5: Introduction to TSP operation
707B-901-01 Rev. B / January 2015
5-17
VXIPnP drivers
VXI (Vixie) plug-and-play (VXIPnP) style drivers are Win32 DLLs that have some standard functions
defined by the VXIPnP Alliance, such as:
•
init
•
close
•
error_message
•
reset
•
self_test
•
Read
•
Initiate
•
Fetch
•
Abort
The application programming interface (API) was defined so that users of instruments would have a
familiar API from instrument to instrument. There are some basic guidelines when creating APIs for
your instrument, such as using VISA data types and how to construct the CVI hierarchy.
Interchangeable Virtual Instruments (IVI) style drivers
The major problem with VXIPnP drivers was that the API was not specific to the instrument. For
something as standard as measuring DC volts on a digital multimeter (DMM), it would be a good idea
if there were a set of standard functions to do this.
The
http://www.ivifoundation.org
) defined a set of application programming interfaces
(APIs) for the following instruments: DMM, function generator, DC power supply, scope, switch,
spectrum analyzer, RF signal generator and power meter. They are currently working on class APIs
for some other instrument types.
There are two types of IVI drivers: IVI-COM drivers use Microsoft
®
COM technology to expose driver
functionality, while IVI-C drivers use conventional Microsoft
®
Windows
®
DLLs to export simple C-
based functions.
For more information about IVI drivers and the differences between the COM, C, and .NET interfaces,
see
(
http://pacificmindworks.com/docs/Making%20the%20Case%20for%20IVI.pdf
).