© National Instruments Corp.
5-1
NI-488.2M UM for Windows NT
Chapter 5
ibic–Interface Bus Interactive Control Utility
This chapter introduces you to
ibic
, the interactive control program that you can use to
communicate with GPIB devices interactively.
Overview
With the Interface Bus Interactive Control (
ibic
) program, you communicate with the
GPIB devices through functions you enter at the keyboard. For specific information
about how to communicate with your particular device, refer to the manual that came
with the device. You can use
ibic
to practice communication with the instrument,
troubleshoot problems, and develop your application program.
One way
ibic
helps you to learn about your instrument and to troubleshoot problems is
by displaying the following information on your screen whenever you enter a command:
•
The results of the status word (
ibsta
) in hexadecimal notation
•
The mnemonic constant of each bit set in
ibsta
•
The mnemonic value of the error variable (
iberr
) if an error exists (the ERR bit is
set in
ibsta
)
•
The count value for each read, write, or command function
•
The data received from your instrument
Example Using NI-488 Functions
This section shows how you might use
ibic
to test a sequence of NI-488 device
function calls. You do not need to remember the parameters that each function takes. If
you enter the function name only,
ibic
prompts you for the necessary parameters.