Keithley
Instruments
6485-852B03
Release Note for Version B03
IVI Instrument Driver for the Model 6485/6487/6514
8/01/2003
IMPORTANT:
To work properly with the driver, your instrument must have a compatible
version of firmware. Refer to section 2
(System Requirements) below for specific details regarding the required
firmware version for your instrument.
Visit Keithley.com for upgrade instructions if your instrument’s
firmware is not a compatible version.
The instrument’s firmware version is shown on the display when the
instrument is first powered up, immediately to the right of the model number.
This
document provides additional information for the installation and use of the
6485-852B02 6485/6487/6514 driver for LabView and LabWindows CVI, Visual Basic,
and C/C++.
Table of
Contents
----------------------------------------------
1.1.2 Keithley Configuration Panel and
Wizard
1.2 Additional available software
2.1 Supported Operating Systems and
System Software
3.1 GPIB Controller Installation
3.1.1 Keithley and INES PCMCIA Controller
Installation
3.2 Connecting your Computer to your
Instrument
3.3 Upgrading from a previous version
of the 6485 IVI Instrument Driver
3.4 Instrument Driver Installation
3.4.1 Installing the driver from CD
3.4.2 Installing the driver from the Web
3.4.3 Installing only the Keithley I/O
Layer
4 Using the 6485 IVI Instrument
Driver
4.2 Create your own Virtual Instruments
4.4.3 Example of using VISA resources:
4.6 Using the Example Programs
4.7 Using the driver with LabView
----------------------------------------------
The
components described below are provided as part of the KE6485 IVI Instrument
Driver for the 6485 Picoammeter, 6487 Picoammeter with voltage source, and 6514
Electrometer. Some shortcuts for them
are added to the Keithley Instruments folder on your Start Menu.
Version
B03 of the KE6485 driver supports the 6485 Picoammeter, 6487 Picoammeter with
voltage source, and 6514 Electrometer.
The
Instrument driver conforms to the IVI DMM Class specification. The driver uses
the Keithley I/O layer (VISA) to communicate with your instrument. IVI
(Interchangeable Virtual Instruments) and VISA (Virtual Instrument Software
Architecture) provide a common foundation for application development across
multiple communication buses and multiple instrument vendors. This software driver supports many
Application Development Environments under Windows, such as Visual Basic,
C/C++, LabView, LabWindows/CVI, and TestPoint. Numerous examples and an on-line
help utility are provided to help programmers build their custom applications.
The
Keithley Configuration Panel is provided to allow you to setup or modify the
communications between the driver and your instrument.
For an IVI
driver to be truly interchangeable you need to create a virtual instrument
configuration which points to the VISA resource to use, the name of the DLL to
use and the prefix for the function calls in the DLL. The Configuration Panel
and Wizard allow you to do this.
The
installation pre-configures instruments for Serial ports COM1 and COM2, and for
a GPIB instrument at GPIB address 14. If you are using one of these, you may
skip the configuration panel. Otherwise, you must create a new instrument
configuration using the Keithley Configuration Panel and Wizard. See
instructions below.
ExceLINX
for the 6485/6487/6514 is a Microsoft Excel add-in for the 6485 Picoammeter,
6487 Picoammeter with voltage source, and 6514 Electrometer. Within minutes of
installing ExceLINX on a PC, users can acquire data dynamically within Excel,
and then employ the familiar Excel graphics, charting, and analysis
capabilities. No Programming is required to use ExceLINX - a few mouse clicks
are all it takes to configure the instrument, set parameters, triggers,
etc. Check Keithley.com or call
1-888-KEITHLEY (534-8453) for more information.
Pentium-class
PC.
6485
firmware release B02 or later. DDC Mode is not supported by the driver.
6487
firmware release A02 or later. DDC Mode is not supported by the driver.
6514
firmware release A11 or later. DDC Mode
is not supported by the driver.
Supported
GPIB controller (see section 3.1), or RS-232 Serial port for communications
with the instrument.
NOTE: It
is strongly recommended that your computer and instrument be powered by an
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) when running a critical application.
Windows XP
Professional service pack 1 or later
Windows
2000 Service pack 3 or later
Windows NT
Service pack 6a or later
Windows 98
Second edition only
Note:
Windows 95 is not supported.
Chinese
Windows 98 (Second Edition), 2000, and XP Pro are supported.
Japanese
Windows 98 (Second Edition), 2000, and XP Pro are supported.
If you
will be using GPIB to communicate with your instrument, you must have a
compatible GPIB controller card and associated software driver installed in
your computer before installing the Instrument Driver.
The driver
is compatible with the following GPIB controller cards:
Keithley Instruments GPIB cards (ISA, PCI, PCMCIA)
CEC GPIB cards (ISA, PCI)
National Instruments GPIB cards (ISA, PCI, PCMCIA)
INES GPIB cards (PCMCIA)
When using
Keithley Instruments or CEC ISA or PCI GPIB cards, you must have driver
software version 5.14 or later. The
latest driver for these cards is available from the CEC WEB site: www.cec488.com.
Follow the
manufacturer's instructions for installing the controller card and software,
and for verifying correct operation of the card and software driver.
When
installing the INES driver software, do NOT install the HP I/O libraries or
select HP SICL emulation.
When
installing the INES driver software, DO select NI compatibility mode.
When
installing the INES driver software, if the hardware test fails, change the
Interrupt selection to none.
Connect
your instrument to your computer using a standard GPIB interface cable or a
"straight through" (not null-modem) serial RS-232 cable.
If you
have an earlier version of the driver software installed on your computer,
uninstall it by following the steps below before installing this version.
Using the
Add/Remove Programs Wizard in Control Panel, uninstall the following
components:
Keithley 6485 IVI Driver.
Keithley I/O Layer.
NI-VISA x.x.x Runtime (If present) (x.x.x will be the VISA
version)
Reboot
your computer.
The
Instrument Driver is included on the Software CD provided with the Instrument,
or it can be downloaded from www.keithley.com.
If you
have a previous version of the Instrument Driver installed on your computer,
uninstall it as described above before installing the new version.
Before
installing from the CD, it is recommended you visit www.keithley.com to see if
a newer version of the driver is available.
Insert the
Software CD in your computer. The
installation utility should start automatically. If it does not start automatically, run the setup.exe file in the
root directory of the CD.
Follow the
instructions on the screen to install the software.
When the
installation is complete, reboot your computer.
If you
have a previous version of the Instrument Driver installed on your computer,
uninstall it as described above before installing the new version.
Download
the driver software from the Keithley Web site, www.keithley.com. The software is a single compressed file,
approximately 24 MB in size, and should be downloaded to a temporary directory.
Run the
downloaded file from the temporary directory.
Follow the
instructions on the screen to install the software.
When the
installation is complete, reboot your computer.
Installing
the Instrument Driver automatically installs the Keithley I/O Layer and NI-
VISA runtime. If you wish to install
only the I/O Layer and not the instrument driver, run the setup.exe file in the
KeithleyIOLayer subdirectory of the CD.
To connect
to the instrument via the driver you need to first call KE6485_init or
KE6485_InitWithOptions. The first parameter for either function is a VISA
resource string, which indicates to the I/O layer which communication device
you want to use to connect to the instrument and in most cases the address of
the instrument. This can be specified
using a Virtual Instrument name, a Logical Name, or a VISA Resource
string. We recommend that you do not
use the VISA resource string form, since it builds hardware and bus dependencies
into your code. If you use the Virtual
Instrument Name or the Logical Name form, the Keithley Configuration Panel can
be used to select a different bus or address with no code changes required.
The
Keithley I/O Layer installer creates several virtual instruments that you can
use to automatically connect to an instrument.
If you are
using a National Instruments GPIB card, select KE6485_GPIB14 as your device. By
default, the logical name KE6485ExampleInstr is also assigned to this
device. This logical name is used by
the example programs but can also be used by user programs.
If you are
using a Keithley Instruments or CEC ISA or PCI GPIB card, select
KE6485_GPIB1_14 as your device.
If you are
using a Keithley Instrument or INES PCMCIA GPIB card, select KE6485_GPIB2_14 as
your device.
If you are
using COM Port 1, select KE6485_COM1 as your device.
If you are
using COM Port 2, select KE6485_COM2 as your device.
An example
of using a Virtual Instrument Name to connect to an instrument connected to COM
Port 1 is:
KE6485_init("KE6485_COM1",
VI_TRUE, VI_TRUE, handle)
If you
want to create your own virtual instruments then use the Configuration Panel or
Wizard. Open the Configuration Panel by selecting Start> Programs>
Keithley Instruments> Keithley Configuration Panel, and wait for the Wizard
to start. Follow the Wizard
instructions to create a new configuration or modify an existing one.
You can
also define logical Names for your devices using the configuration panel. One logical name is created by default:
KE6485ExampleInstr. This default
logical name is used by the example programs supplied with the driver, and is
associated with the KE6485_GPIB14 device by default.
For GPIB
instruments, you would use a resource string of the following format:
"GPIBx::yy::INSTR".
x is the GPIB card number.
yy is the GPIB address of the instrument.
For RS232
instruments, the VISA resource string has the following format:
"ASRLx::INSTR" where x is the COM Port number.
To connect
to a 6485 at GPIB address 14 via GPIB1:
KE6485_init("GPIB1::14::INSTR", VI_TRUE, VI_TRUE,
handle)
Using the
KE6485_InitWithOptions function there is a parameter, called OptionString,
where you can enable/disable certain features of an IVI driver.
If this
feature is enabled the driver will query the instrument after every function
call to see if there where any errors. This is useful while you are writing
your application but once it is finalized then you can disable this feature to
gain extra performance.
If enabled
the IVI engine will check to see if the parameters you are passing in are
within range. Disabling this feature in the final application will also gain
some performance increase.
The driver
has the option of caching all the settings it sends to the instrument so that
it doesn't send a setting to the instrument a second time if it hasn't changed.
By default this is enabled.
The KE6485
Driver includes a number of example programs written in Visual Basic, LabView,
and C. The examples demonstrate how to
perform common functions using the driver. The example programs are hard coded
to use the logical name: KE6485ExampleInstr for the device identifier. By
default, this logical name is associated with the KE6485_GPIB14 device, which
is a 6485 at GPIB address 14 using a National Instruments GPIB interface card
for communications. If you are using a
different bus, address, or interface card, you must reassign the logical name
to the correct device using the Keithley Configuration Panel. For example, if you are using a CEC GPIB
card instead of a National Instrument GPIB card, you would use the Keithley
Configuration Panel to delete the logical name from the KE6485_GPIB14 device,
and add it to the KE6485_GPIB1_14 device.
If LabView
is already installed on your computer when the driver is installed, the LabView
VIs will be installed in the proper subdirectory of the LabView directory so
that they are directly accessible from within LabView.
If LabView
is not installed on your computer when the driver is installed, the LabView VIs
will placed in a subdirectory of the Keithley Instruments directory. Once LabView has been installed, the VIs
must be copied to the proper subdirectory under LabView before they can be
used. This directory is typically:
C:\Program
Files\National Instruments\LabView X\inst.lib\KE6485
Depending
on the particular driver, there may be separate versions of the VIs for LabView
5.x and 6.x, in which case they will be installed into separate
directories. Copy the appropriate
version of the VIs into the National Instrument directory tree.
The
instrument driver works correctly only if the serial baud rate is set to 9600.
This problem is only in the driver and will be fixed in the next release. This
does not affect GPIB connections.
The VISA
software supplied with the Instrument Driver is Copyright (c) 2001 National
Instruments Corporation. All Rights
Reserved.
The KE6485
Series instrument driver is Copyright (c) 2001-2003 Keithley Instruments. All Rights Reserved.
End of
Release notes.