Debugging Your Application
Chapter 4
NI-488.2M UM for Windows NT
4-6
© National Instruments Corp.
addressed state. Refer to Chapter 7, ibconf–Interface Bus Configuration Utility , or to the
description of
ibconfig
(option
IbcREADDR
) in the NI-488.2M Function Reference
Manual for Windows NT for more information about reconfiguring your software.
Termination Method
You should be aware of the data termination method that your device uses. By default,
your NI-488.2M software is configured to send EOI on writes and terminate reads on
EOI or a specific byte count. If you send a command string to your device and it does not
respond, it might be because it does not recognize the end of the command. You might
need to send a termination message such as <CR> <LF> after a write command as
follows:
ibwrt(dev,”COMMAND\x0A\x0D”,9);
Common Questions
What do I do if
ibtest
fails with an error?
Refer to the Running the Software Diagnostic Test section of this manual or the section
about
ibdiag
in the getting started manual for specific information about what might
cause these tests to fail.
How do I communicate with my instrument over the GPIB?
Refer to the documentation that came from the instrument manufacturer. The command
sequences you use are totally dependent on the specific instrument. The documentation
for each instrument should include the GPIB commands you need to communicate with
it. In most cases, NI-488 device-level calls are sufficient for communicating with
instruments. Refer to Chapter 3, Developing Your Application, for more information.
Can I use the NI-488 and NI-488.2 calls together in the same application?
Yes, you can mix NI-488 functions and NI-488.2 routines.
Can I use the same name for my application and a GPIB device listed in
ibconf
?
No. Devices share the same name space that file and directory names use. Windows NT
might not operate properly if you have a file or a directory name that conflicts with one
of the GPIB device names. By default, the names used by the DOS driver are
gpib0
,
gpib1
,
gpib2
,
gpib3
, and
dev1
,
dev2
,
dev3
, and so on through
dev32
.