TestPoint Application Note (c) Capital Equipment Corporation 1995
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Instrument Libraries: Techniques for Creating Libraries with Professional Features
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A TestPoint instrument library is simply a TestPoint user-defined object which contains commands to setup and operate a specific instrument.  Libraries are stored as .TST files and because instrument libraries are the same as any other application file,  the ideas presented in this note can be applied  with success to most TestPoint applications to improve their value and ease of use. All instruments can be controlled without the use of an instrument library by use of the GPIB, RS-232 or TCP/IP objects.  Therefore, the primary purpose of the library is to make the instrument easier to use.  To achieve that goal, the best instrument libraries should have the following features:

1.  Interactive panel(s) to allow  device configuration in an "immediate" mode.
2.  Automatic preset commands controlled by the settings of the interactive panel.
3.  Settings for GPIB or COM port addresses, timeout, demo mode, and serial poll following an SRQ among others.
4.  Options for automatic execution of setup commands at initialization.
5.  Actions for direct instrument access to handle commands not implemented in the library.
6.  Liberal use of comment fields to document command usage.

For more information on creation of your own user-defined objects, consult your TestPoint documentation or the TestPoint example programs on this web site.