Chapter 4
Developing Your Application
4-2
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using the
Add VME Device Wizard
to reserve system resources when the
Resource Manager runs.
Systems consisting of only a VMEpc 870 Series controller, a VME chassis,
and VME boards do
not
need to run Resman when using NI-VXI software
even though the devices do not appear in the T&M Explorer connection
tree. However, you would not be able to use VISA without manually
adding the VME devices to the system by using T&M Explorer as
described above and then running Resman. This is because NI-VISA uses
the Resource Manager to create instrument sessions for VXI/VME device
communication. If this is not an issue for you, you can skip Resman.
T&M Explorer presents a graphical display of your entire test and
measurement system to help you configure various components. When
you launch T&M Explorer, you see all your VXI, GPIB, GPIB-VXI, and
serial devices on the screen. You can add devices that cannot be detected
dynamically by T&M Explorer through the
Add Device Wizard
in the
Edit
menu. Such devices include VME devices, certain GPIB devices, and
serial ports. You can view the properties (such as logical address, address
space used, primary address, and so on) of each device by right-clicking
on the device in the tree. When you view the properties of most National
Instruments devices, you can configure the hardware settings directly in the
property pages.
T&M Explorer and Resman are designed to work together. You can run the
Resource Manager through T&M Explorer by either clicking on the
Run
Resman
button on the toolbar, or selecting
VXI Resource Manager
from
the
Tools
menu. From the
Options
dialog in the
Tools
menu, you can also
configure T&M Explorer to run Resman automatically when the computer
boots up. Resman reports all errors that it finds in your system to T&M
Explorer. When you view your system through T&M Explorer, you can
easily spot any errors in your system that Resman found.
You can find more information about T&M Explorer by using its online
help. From T&M Explorer, open the
Help
menu and select
Help Topics
.
Device Interaction
After Resman has detected and configured all VXI devices, you can view
specific information on each device in your system by using the T&M
Explorer utility. This utility includes a
System View
, which contains a
description for each device, including each VXI device
’
s logical address.