Agilent T&M

Programmers Toolkit for

Visual Studio .NET
Version 1.2

Getting Started

Agilent Technologies
Notices
© Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2002-2003 Warranty 1987). U.S. Government users will receive
no greater than Limited Rights as defined in
No part of this manual may be reproduced in The material contained in this docu- FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987) or DFAR
any form or by any means (including elec- ment is provided “as is,” and is sub- 252.227-7015 (b)(2) (November 1995), as
tronic storage and retrieval or translation ject to being changed, without notice, applicable in any technical data.
into a foreign language) without prior agree- in future editions. Further, to the max-
ment and written consent from Agilent imum extent permitted by applicable Safety Notices
Technologies, Inc. as governed by United law, Agilent disclaims all warranties,
States and international copyright laws. either express or implied, with regard
to this manual and any information
Manual Part Number contained herein, including but not
CAUTION
5090-6479 limited to the implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a par- A CAUTION notice denotes a haz-
Edition ticular purpose. Agilent shall not be ard. It calls attention to an operat-
liable for errors or for incidental or ing procedure, practice, or the like
Second Edition, August 2003 consequential damages in connec- that, if not correctly performed or
Printed in USA tion with the furnishing, use, or per-
formance of this document or of any adhered to, could result in damage
Agilent Technologies, Inc. information contained herein. Should to the product or loss of important
815 14th Street SW Agilent and the user have a separate
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data. Do not proceed beyond a
written agreement with warranty
terms covering the material in this CAUTION notice until the indicated
document that conflict with these conditions are fully understood and
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arate agreement shall control.

Technology Licenses
The hardware and/or software described in
this document are furnished under a license
and may be used or copied only in accor-
dance with the terms of such license.

Restricted Rights Legend

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U.S. Government prime contract or subcon-
tract, Software is delivered and licensed as
“Commercial computer software” as
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or as a “commercial item” as defined in FAR
2.101(a) or as “Restricted computer soft-
ware” as defined in FAR 52.227-19 (June
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sure of Software is subject to Agilent Tech-
nologies’ standard commercial license
terms, and non-DOD Departments and
Agencies of the U.S. Government will
receive no greater than Restricted Rights as
defined in FAR 52.227-19(c)(1-2) (June

2 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Table of Contents
1 Welcome to the Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit
About the Agilent T&M Toolkit ...................................................8
What is the T&M Toolkit? ....................................................8
What Makes the T&M Toolkit Useful? .........................................8
What is in the T&M Toolkit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
How to Use this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Installing Agilent T&M Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Installing Agilent T&M Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Activating Agilent T&M Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Uninstalling Agilent T&M Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2 The New Project Wizard

Using the New Project Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3 Using Instrument Explorer

What is Instrument Explorer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
How to Start the Instrument Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
How Instrument Explorer Discovers Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Instrument Explorer and the IVI Config Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Instrument Explorer and Active Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Instrument Explorer and VISA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Finding Instruments Connected to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Instrument Connection Status Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Finding RS-232 (Serial) Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Setting Instrument Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Agilent T&M Toolkit 1

Managing Instrument Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Using the Instrument Session Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Adding or Creating an Instrument Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Generating Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Drag and Drop Instrument Objects or Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Instruments Session Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4 Using Interactive IO
Quick and Simple Instrument Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Why Control Instruments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
What Happens if There is a Problem Controlling an Instrument? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
How Can You Quickly and Simply Control Instruments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
How Instrument Control is Presented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Commands and Responses vs. Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Shortcuts When Using the Interactive IO Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

5 Using the IO Monitor

Monitoring Interaction with Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Why Monitor Interaction with Instruments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
How Can You Monitor Interaction with Instruments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Getting Started Monitoring Interaction with Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
How I/O Data is Presented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Tracing the API Call Stack of an I/O Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Selectively Enabling/Disabling I/O Library Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Optimizing the Performance of I/O Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Controlling How Many Events are Displayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Logging Trace Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

6 Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard

Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Expanding the Driver Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

2 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Which Drivers are Supported? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Starting and Using the Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

7 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument

Describing the DirectIO Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Reading and Writing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Controlling the Instrument Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
The VISA Support Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Using Low Level Gpib, Serial, Tcpip, and USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Low-Level Access through DirectIO.Gpib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Remote Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Low-Level Access through DirectIO.Serial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Data Flow Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Low-Level Access through DirectIO.TCPIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Low-Level Access through DirectIO.USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

8 Analyzing Instrument Data

The Complex Data Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The Complex Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Digital Signal Processing Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Fast Fourier and Inverse Fast Fourier Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Windowing Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Data Set Comparison Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Bessel Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
The I0 Bessel Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The J0 and J1 Bessel Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The Y0 and Y1 Bessel Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Statistical Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Agilent T&M Toolkit 3

 Discrete Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
Probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Special Statistical Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Engineering Math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Regression Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

9 Using the 2D Graph Objects

Using the 2D Graph Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Where are the 2D Graph Controls? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
What Types of Graphs are Available? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using Traces to Get Data to the Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
How can I Modify the Appearance of the Graph? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Panning, Zooming, and the Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

10 Virtual Waveforms, Timing Classes, Number Formatting, and Engineering Math

Generating Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Timing Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
The Timing Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
ProgressUpdater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
The EngineeringFormatter Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
The Engineering Math Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

11 Using Agilent VEE with .NET

Using Agilent VEE with .NET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Using the VEE Wrapper Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
How do VEE and .NET Communicate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Can Legacy VEE Code be Adapted to .NET? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

12 Product Support
Help Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

4 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Dynamic Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
F1 Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Agilent Developer Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Support Included with All T&M Toolkit Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Where You can Find Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Agilent T&M Toolkit 5

6 Agilent T&M Toolkit
Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

1
Welcome to the Agilent T&M
Programmers Toolkit
About the Agilent T&M Toolkit 8
How to Use this Manual 10
Installing Agilent T&M Toolkit 11
System Requirements 13

This chapter describes the features of the Agilent T&M Toolkit,

the system requirements needed to run T&M Toolkit, and how
to install, uninstall, and license the Agilent T&M Toolkit.

Agilent Technologies 7
1 Welcome to the Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit

About the Agilent T&M Toolkit

What is the T&M Toolkit?

The Agilent T&M Toolkit is a set of tools, components, controls,
and class libraries that help you communicate with and control
test and measurement equipment from within Microsoft’s ®
Visual Studio .NET development environment.

What Makes the T&M Toolkit Useful?

The T&M Toolkit helps you cut your instrument programming
time, speeds up your product development process, and
improves your productivity. The T&M Toolkit extends
Microsoft's ® Visual Studio .NET platform with integrated,
easy-to-use software tools and components that make Visual
Studio .NET the easiest place for you to write code for
automating measurement tasks and displaying test data.
With T&M Toolkit, Agilent's extensive measurement expertise is
integrated into the Visual Studio .NET framework to eliminate
many of the problems traditionally associated with connecting
to and controlling instruments. The T&M Toolkit software
automatically generates code for you, and Windows®
functionality, such as drag and drop, makes many tasks faster
and easier. Robust debug, analysis, and tuning tools further
streamline your development process. Plus, Agilent's on-line
test and measurement help, fully integrated at every step,
shortens your programming learning curve.

What is in the T&M Toolkit?

The T&M Toolkit includes:
• Language support for C#, Visual Basic .NET, and Managed
C++.
• A wizard, called the New Project Wizard, helps you quickly
setup a T&M project.

8 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Welcome to the Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit 1

• Instrument Explorer — Finds instruments attached to your

PC or network, and helps you easily manage the instruments
and their drivers. Just drag and drop an instrument icon into
your work window to generate code to connect with the
instrument.
• Interactive IO — Can be used to check instrument
connections and to send commands to instruments.
• IO Monitor — Helps you debug instrument control
applications by capturing and displaying instrument
communication details from different I/O layers.
• The Driver Wrapper Wizard — Provides a way to
automatically create a .NET-friendly wrapper object around a
traditional VXIplug&play driver or IVI-C driver (IVI-COM
drivers do not require wrappers). This lets your .NET
application use any of the hundreds of drivers available from
Agilent and other instrument vendors.
• DirectIO — Gives you an easy way to control instruments
using the instrument’s native command set. Supported
protocols include: GPIB, Serial, TCP-IP, and USB.
• Data Analysis support — Mathematical, statistical, and digital
signal processing support.
• Data Types — Includes support for Complex numbers.
• 2D Graph Objects — A variety of different graphical displays
provide multiple ways to view and scale data.
• Special class libraries — Timing, a virtual Waveform
Generator, and an engineering number formatter all make
your tasks simpler.
• VEE Wrapper Wizard — Provides an easy way for you to call
Agilent VEE Pro User Functions from a Visual Studio .NET
project.
• Integrated help — T&M Toolkit’s Help system is fully
integrated with the Visual Studio .NET help system. The new
Dynamic Help feature and IntelliSense shorten the learning
curve even further.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 9

1 Welcome to the Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit

How to Use this Manual

This manual has been structured to match a workflow. The
workflow model is:
1 Start a new T&M project in Visual Studio
• See Chapter 2 - The New Project Wizard
2 Discover and configure your instruments
• See Chapter 3 - Using Instrument Explorer
• See Chapter 4 - Using Interactive IO
• See Chapter 5 - Using the IO Monitor
• See Chapter 6 - Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard
3 Manage your instruments
• See Chapter 7 - Using the DirectIO Class to Manage your
Instruments
4 Analyze your data
• See Chapter 8 - Analyzing Instrument Data
5 Display your data
• See Chapter 9 - Using the 2D Graph Objects
6 Optional helpers for numerous areas
• See Chapter 10 - Virtual Waveforms, Timing Classes, and
Number Formatting
7 How to use Agilent VEE with .NET
• See Chapter 11 - Using Agilent VEE with .NET

10 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Welcome to the Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit 1

Installing Agilent T&M Toolkit

Before installing the Agilent T&M Toolkit, ensure that Microsoft
Visual Studio .NET is already installed and is working properly
on your computer. Next, ensure no applications, especially
.NET, are running when you begin the Agilent T&M Toolkit
installation process.

Installing Agilent T&M Toolkit

Place the Agilent T&M Toolkit CD-ROM into the computer’s
CD-ROM drive. (Do not install directly from the WWW.)
Installation should start automatically. However, if it does not,
select Start > Run from the computer’s taskbar and enter:

[The computer’s CD-ROM drive letter]:\setup.exe

Select OK.
Run Visual Studio .NET and you will notice that the Start Page
has a link on the left side with the title: Agilent T&M Programmers
Toolkit. The main menu also has an item entitled T&M Toolkit.

Activating Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit uses a Product Key to
activate it. The Product Key is shipped with the T&M Toolkit.
You are prompted for the key when you install T&M Toolkit.
If you are using an evaluation version of T&M Toolkit, the
Product Key is “eval” (without the quotes). You can upgrade to a
licensed product by purchasing T&M Toolkit and entering the
Product Key. The Product Key is entered at T&M Toolkit > Product
Key on the main menu.

Uninstalling Agilent T&M Toolkit

If you open the Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, you see
Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET. Select this
entry and choose Remove. If Agilent VisaCom was installed by T&M
Toolkit, it is uninstalled. However, if it was installed separately,
it is not uninstalled.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 11

1 Welcome to the Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit

When the T&M Toolkit is uninstalled, the next time Visual

Studio is run it pauses and displays the message:
“Help is updating to reflect your recent changes. This may take
several minutes."

This is caused by the removal of the integrated T&M Toolkit

Help from Visual Studio .NET. It is normal, and it does take
several minutes.

12 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Welcome to the Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit 1

System Requirements

Hardware Requirements
The hardware requirements listed below include the combined
resource needs of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the Agilent
T&M Toolkit.

Computer/Processor
PC with a Pentium II-class processor, 450 megahertz (MHz)

Minimum Memory (RAM) Requirements

Windows® XP Professional: 160 megabytes (MB) of RAM

Windows® 2000 Professional: 96 MB of RAM

Recommended: 256 MB or more

Free Disk Space:

2.5 GB with 500 MB minimum on the system drive
Agilent T&M Toolkit requires 100 MB on the installation drive

Drive
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive

Display
Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor with 256
colors or more

Input Device
Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device

Access to the World Wide Web (WWW) is strongly

recommended

Agilent T&M Toolkit 13

1 Welcome to the Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit

Supported Instrument Interfaces

One of the following physical connectivity options is required
for the PC-to-instrument connection:
• Agilent 82357A USB/GPIB Interface
• Agilent E5810A or E2050A/B LAN/GPIB gateway
• Agilent 82350A or 82341C GPIB interfaces
• Agilent E8491B or E1406B VXI configurations using drivers
• Standard RS-232
• National Instruments I/O hardware using NI 488 version 1.5

Software Requirements

Operating System
• Design Time - Microsoft Windows 2000, XP
• Run Time - Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, and XP
Home

Development Environment
• VB .NET Standard Edition
• Visual C# Standard Edition
• Visual Studio .NET Standard and higher

14 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

2
The New Project Wizard
Using the New Project Wizard 16

This chapter describes the New Project Wizard. The New Project
Wizard walks you through the process of creating a new T&M
Toolkit project.

Agilent Technologies 15
2 The New Project Wizard

Using the New Project Wizard

The Agilent T&M Toolkit includes a New Project Wizard that
you can use to create a new T&M Toolkit project.

Using the New Project Wizard

Step Action
1 a From the Visual Studio main menu, select File > New > Project.
b As Figure1 shows, enter the project name and its home directory.
c Select OK when you are done.

Figure 1 Creating a New Agilent T&M Toolkit Project with .NET

16 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 The New Project Wizard 2

Using the New Project Wizard (continued)

Step Action
2 Review the welcome screen and select Next when you are done.

3 This step only appears if both compilers are installed.

a Select the programming language for this project by clicking either
Visual Basic .NET or C#. For Visual Studio .NET 2003, Managed
C++ is also available.
b Select Next when you are done.

4 a To create an executable file, select either Windows Application or

Console Application. To create a DLL file, select either a Windows
Control Library or a Class Library. See Figure2 for an example of
the screen.
b Select Next when you are done.

Figure 2 Selecting the Project Type

Agilent T&M Toolkit 17

2 The New Project Wizard

Project Type Definitions

In Figure2 on page17 , there is a list of project types. The
project types are defined as:
• A Windows Application is a stand-alone executable that
displays Windows Forms.
• A Windows Control Library is a dynamic link library (DLL)
file that contains a library of custom controls for use on
Windows Forms.
• A Class Library is a DLL file that contains a library of custom
classes.
• A Console Application is a stand-alone executable that does
not use Windows Forms and is launched from an operating
system prompt.

Using the New Project Wizard (continued)

Step Action
5 a Select the namespaces you need for your program. You can refer to
the Namespace Description for an overview of which libraries each
namespace provides. You can also add more namespace
references after the Wizard is finished. See Figure3.
b Select Next when you are done.

6 a Review the summary.

b If the summary is correct, select Finish.

7 A using statement is added to your C# source code for each of the

namespace references you have selected
-or-
An Imports statement is added to your Visual Basic .NET source code
for each of the namespace references you have selected

18 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 The New Project Wizard 2

Figure 3 Selecting Namespaces for the Project

Agilent T&M Framework Class Libraries

The following table summarizes the class libraries available in
the Agilent T&M Framework. The classes and their properties
and methods can be accessed by adding the appropriate
Reference to your Visual Studio project. Using the T&M Project
Wizard to create a new project automatically adds the
references that are checkmarked in Figure3 on page19 .

Agilent T&M Toolkit 19

2 The New Project Wizard

Table 1 Agilent T&M Framework Namespaces

Namespace Description Classes

Agilent.TMFramework.InstrumentIO Easy access to message based Direct IO

instruments from .NET programs

Agilent.TMFramework Complex number data type and math Data Types

support

Agilent.TMFramework.DataAnalysis Mathematical tools to facilitate the Data Analysis

analysis of test results and EE data

Agilent.TMFramework. T&M-smart graphs for viewing test Data Visualization

DataVisualization results and EE data

Agilent.TMFramework Generates signals to simulate simple Function

instruments, Precision timing, Waveform
Formatting exponential numbers, and Generator,
Engineering Math functions Timing,
Engineering
Formatter,
Engineering Math

Agilent.TMFramework. Enables instrument communication Driver Wrapper

InstrumentDriverInterop using VXIplug&play, IVI-C, and
IVI-COM instrument drivers

Agilent.TMFramework.VeeInterop Access Enables communication Callable VEE

between VEE UserFunctions and a
.NET application

20 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

3
Using Instrument Explorer
What is Instrument Explorer? 22
How Instrument Explorer Discovers Instruments 24
Managing Instrument Configurations 31
Using the Instrument Session Wizard 34
Drag and Drop Instrument Objects or Sessions 38

This chapter describes how Instrument Explorer works, how it

can help you manage instruments, and how it can simplify your
programming.

Agilent Technologies 21
3 Using Instrument Explorer

What is Instrument Explorer?

Instrument Explorer is integrated into Visual Studio and also
runs as a standalone application. It provides a visual tree view
of instrument connections and easy access to other related
tools.
The Instrument Explorer performs the following key tasks:
• Quickly identifying and verifying which instruments are
connected to the PC
• Creating and saving files containing instrument connection
information to a configuration file for later use.
• Assisting the user in finding and selecting drivers through a
Wizard
• Providing access to DirectIO, which enables direct
communication with the instrument via ASCII commands
• Providing easy access to the Interactive IO tool, which
facilitates sending common, generic commands to
instruments
• Generating code that connects to an instrument within a VB
.NET, C#, or C++ project using DirectIO or a driver

How to Start the Instrument Explorer

To invoke the standalone version of Instrument Explorer, go to
Start > Programs and select Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit 1.2 >
T&M Programming Tools > Agilent Instrument Explorer. To invoke the
integrated version, either go to the Visual Studio main menu
and select T&M Toolkit > Instrument Explorer or select the
Instrument Explorer icon from the Toolkit toolbar.

The Instrument
Explorer icon

Figure 4 Agilent T&M Toolkit Toolbar

22 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

Instrument Explorer appears on the left side of Visual Studio.

During runtime, it is hidden.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 23

3 Using Instrument Explorer

How Instrument Explorer Discovers Instruments

Instrument Explorer gathers instrument information from three
sources to create its instrument configuration. These three
sources are described below.

Instrument Explorer and the IVI Config Store

Instrument Explorer reads the IviConfigurationStore.xml file
found in [IVI installation directory]\IVI\Data directory. From
this file, Instrument Explorer extracts a list of IVI-based instruments
that have been installed. The list of IVI-based instruments is added to
Instrument Explorer’s database of instruments.

Instrument Explorer and Active Discovery

Instrument Explorer actively searches the local machine’s GPIB
and VXI buses for instruments. If an instrument is powered-on
and using one of these buses, it is discovered and added to
Instrument Explorer’s database.

Instrument Explorer and VISA

Instrument Explorer reads the database file created by the IO
Config utility of Agilent VISA. All entries in this file are added to
the Instrument Explorer database. These entries include entries
for instruments that are not active on a bus and entries for LAN
based instruments.

24 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

Finding Instruments Connected to Your Computer

To find instruments that are connected to your computer:
1 Select the Find Instruments button from the Instrument
Explorer toolbar or right click the top entry ( ) of the
currently loaded configuration.

Find Instruments
Icon

Figure 5 Instrument Explorer Toolbar

2 After instrument discovery is finished (see the progress

indicator at the bottom of the Instrument Details area or
Figure6), a dialog box appears that prompts you to select
which instruments you want to identify using an *IDN query.
*IDN provides information, when available, regarding the
vendor, model number and version number of the
instrument.

Figure 6 Progress Bar During Instrument Discovery

Agilent T&M Toolkit 25

3 Using Instrument Explorer

Figure 7 Selecting Instruments to Query with *IDN

3 To verify the connection and identify the instrument by

model and/or vendor using *IDN do the following:
a Select the addresses you want to query with an *IDN. See
Figure 7.
b Select OK
c If available, additional information about the instrument
is displayed.
4 View the list of instruments. Instruments are organized by
bus type.
5 Select an instrument and view detailed information about it
in the Instrument Details area at the bottom of Instrument
Explorer. See Figure8on page27.

26 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

In this release of Agilent T&M Toolkit, the Instrument Explorer does not
NOTE identify RS-232 instruments.

Figure 8 Instrument Desciption

Instrument Connection Status Icons

Instrument connections are represented iconically in
Instrument Explorer as follows:

Agilent T&M Toolkit 27

3 Using Instrument Explorer

Instrument connection status unknown

Instrument not found

Instrument found but not identified (*IDN)

Instrument failed *IDN? query

Instrument identifed with *IDN? query

Finding RS-232 (Serial) Instruments

Agilent T&M Toolkit includes a utility called Interactive IO (see
Chapter 4, “Using Interactive IO) that can be accessed from
Instrument Explorer. Interactive IO can be used to access any
serial port that is properly configured.

You can use the Agilent IO Config utility to configure your serial
ports. See Figure9 on page29. Using Agilent IO Config,
configure the settings for your serial port.

28 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

Figure 9 Configuration dialogdialog from the Agilent IO Config Utility

From the Visual Studio main menu, select T&M Toolkit >
Interactive IO. Using Interactive IO, connect to the instrument
and then query it with an *IDN.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 29

3 Using Instrument Explorer

Setting Instrument Properties

Once you have discovered the instruments connected to your
computer, they appear as either a list of “New Instrument” or
they are identified by name. If you right click on an instrument,
you will see the pop-up menu in Figure10. If you select
Instrument Properties, you see the dialog box in Figure11. Using
the Instrument Properties dialog box, you can set the instrument’s
name, description, and resource name.

Figure 10 Instrument Right Click Pop-Up Menu

Figure 11 Setting Instrument Properties

30 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

Managing Instrument Configurations

The instrument configuration database for Instrument Explorer
is stored in a Master Configuration File. This file is the default
configuration and is loaded whenever you start Instrument
Explorer.

Opening a Different Configuration File

You can open a different configuration file by selecting the open
configuration file icon (see Figure12) and selecting Open
Configuration File. Use the dialog box that appears to choose a
file.

Open
Configuration
File Icon

Figure 12 Opening a Different Configuration File

Changing the Default Configuration File

You can load a different configuration file at startup without
changing the Master Configuration File. This is a very useful
feature when you have a short-term task with a different
instrument configuration. To use this feature, select the options
icon ( ). Figure13 shows the dialog box that appears. Click
Alternate configuration file and either enter a fully qualified path
to a different configuration file or browse to its location. Click
OK when you are done.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 31

3 Using Instrument Explorer

Figure 13 Selecting a Default Configuration File

Creating New Configuration Files

Suppose you have a configuration file loaded and remove
several devices. You want to save this new configuration and
use it later. You can select the save configuration icon (see
Figure14 ) and save the configuration file with its current name
or with a different name.

Save
Configuration
Icon

Figure 14 Saving a Configuration

Changing or Adding to the Instrument Configuration

Instrument Explorer is an active instrument configuration
manager. It not only reads existing configurations, but it can be
used to add or delete items to configurations. You can add more
instruments to the database by right clicking an interface (such
as GPIB6), by right clicking the Master Configuration, or by
clicking the add instrument icon.

32 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

Master
Configuration

Add Instrument
Icon

Interface

Figure 15 Adding an Instrument

If you plan to use the configuration, be sure you save it. There is a visual
NOTE cue to remind you that you have unsaved changes. This appears as a pink
If
icon ( ) next to the Master Configuration file.

Deleting an Instrument
You can also delete an instrument from the Instrument
Explorer configuration.

If you delete an instrument and save the configuration, the

CAUTION IviConfigurationStore.xml file and the Instrument Explorer
configuration file are updated.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 33

3 Using Instrument Explorer

Using the Instrument Session Wizard

An instrument session is the communication connection that
Instrument Explorer creates between the instruments in the
current configuration and your source code.
There are two types of sessions: a Driver session and a DirectIO
session. Driver sessions create a session for a driver type
specified by you. The supported types are VXIplug&play,
IVI-COM, and IVI-C. You can also choose a DirectIO session that
allows you to directly communicate with your instrument using
a command language such as SICL.

DirectIO does not support VXIplug&play.

NOTE

Adding or Creating an Instrument Session

You can generate code and insert it into your existing source
code using the instrument session wizard. If you plan to do this,
be sure you have a project open before you create the
instrument session. To add a new instrument session do the
following:

Starting an Instrument Session

Step Action Notes

1 Highlight an instrument Right Click the highlighted instrument

2 You see a context sensitive pop-up From the pop-up menu, select Add • This starts the Instrument Session
menu Instrument Session Wizard

3 Study the Wizard’s overview Select Next to proceed

34 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

Starting an Instrument Session (continued)

Step Action Notes

4 Decide between using an a To help make that decision, review the

instrument driver or DirectIO matching drivers found by the Wizard.
If no matches are found, the following
message appears, “No matches may
be found if the instrument cannot be
identified (*IDN isn’t returned). In
some cases, the instrument may be
turned off.”

Figure 16 An Installed Driver Could Not be Found

Agilent T&M Toolkit 35

3 Using Instrument Explorer

b Review the list appearing under • There may be no matching drivers.

“Select from All Installed Drivers”. The See c.
Wizard defaults to the first matching
driver. Select from the matching
drivers.

c If no driver is available, you may wish

to browse the Agilent website to look
for a driver for your instrument.

d If you do not want to do b) or c), you • SCPI is an example of a command

can still communicate with your language supported by many
instrument directly. This requires you instruments.
to be familiar with an instrument • More help is available about
command language supported by the selecting the proper strategy by
instrument. selecting Help on Selecting a
Driver

5 Select the driver or DirectIO a If you choose the driver option, select
the appropriate driver
b Press Next when done

Generating Code
As you finish a pass through the Instrument Session Wizard,
you may choose to generate code. The generated code
establishes a DirectIO object or a Driver object. All generated
code includes fully qualified pathnames. If you choose to
reference the libraries by using an Imports statement in VB.NET
or a Using statement in C#, you do not need to use fully
qualified pathnames.
There are other ways to generate code such as using the pop-up
menu or dragging and dropping an instrument object into your
source code. Of course, if you would prefer to write the code
yourself, you can.

36 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

Generating Code Using the Instrument Session Wizard

Step Action Notes

1 Specify options Select the options you want invoked • There is a preview process, so you
when the code is generated can reverse your choices later if
you do not like them

2 Preview the generated code a Toggle the checkbox to see how the
code looks with different options on or
off
b When you have decided on your
options, select Next

3 Confirm your selections a Review the Summary screen

b Select Back to make changes
c Select Finish to proceed

4 Select a location in your code a The wizard cannot know the correct • It may be easier to paste the
place to put the generated code. Only generated code into your source
you can place the cursor at the correct code and then move it as needed.
insertion point. This could work particularly well if
b If you are not sure where to put the an open section is set aside for this
code, click the Where do I paste my purpose.
code? link.

5 Paste the generated code Use CTRL-C to copy and CTRL-V to paste • The generated code is placed at the
or use the Paste button in the paste tool cursor insertion point in your
source code.
• The source code comments are
kept at your discretion

Agilent T&M Toolkit 37

3 Using Instrument Explorer

Drag and Drop Instrument Objects or Sessions

Another way to create an Instrument Session and generate code
is to drag-and-drop an instrument from the Instrument
Explorer into your source code. This launches the full version of
the Instrument Session Wizard.
Once a session is created, it appears in the tree view as a branch
beneath the parent instrument. You can drag and drop a session
into your source code, and an abbreviated version of the
Instrument Session Wizard runs. In the abbreviated version,
you go directly to the Select Code Generation Options dialog.
See Figure17.

Figure 17 The Abbreviated Version of the Instrument Session Wizard.

38 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Instrument Explorer 3

Once you set your options, you go directly to the summary

screen. If you are satisfied with the options you selected, you
choose Finish and the generated code is immediately dropped
into your source code. Note that the paste tool is not used
because when you dragged-and-dropped the Instrument Session
into your source code, you also established the insertion point
for the generated code.

When you drop the session into your source code, you are establishing the
NOTE insertion point for the generated code.

You can drag-and-drop a session into your source code. However,

CAUTION
generated code always includes instrument initialization code. You
probably do not want to initialize your instrument more than once. If
you drag-and-drop Instrument Sessions, be sure to remove the
instrument initialization code if you do not want it.

Instruments Session Icons

Instrument sessions are represented iconically in Instrument
Explorer as follows:

VXIplug&play Instrument Session

IVI Instrument Session

DirectIO Instrument Session

Unknown Instrument Sessions

Agilent T&M Toolkit 39

3 Using Instrument Explorer

40 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

4
Using Interactive IO
Quick and Simple Instrument Control 42
How Instrument Control is Presented 44

This chapter describes how to use the Interactive IO tool to

quickly and easily control instruments.

Agilent Technologies 41
4 Using Interactive IO

Quick and Simple Instrument Control

Why Control Instruments?

The world of test and measurement revolves around the need to
make and evaluate measurements. Typically, making a
measurement requires setting up the conditions for the
measurement, making the measurement, and evaluating the
results. This requires regular interaction with instruments.

What Happens if There is a Problem Controlling an Instrument?

What if the instrument being controlled fails to respond
correctly, or not at all? You may know that something failed to
work, but you may not know why. To troubleshoot this kind of
problem, start with simple communication before attempting
more complex interaction. Simple communication may be
nothing more than sending a few commands to the instrument
and verifying its responses. In many cases, it is useful to send
and receive these commands without having to create a formal
software application.

How Can You Quickly and Simply Control Instruments?

The Interactive IO tool is a standalone software tool that lets
you:
• Send a command to an instrument in an industry-standard
instrument control language
• Read a response from an instrument
• Send & Read a command in one step
• Quickly recall previously used commands from a list
• View the history of commands and responses

42 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Interactive IO 4

To begin quick and simple instrument control

Step Notes

1 Run the Interactive • Select T&M Toolkit from the main menu and
I/O tool. select Interactive IO from there.
• Click the Interactive IO icon.

2 Specify which • Choose Connect > Resource Name from

instrument to Interactive IO’s menu bar. Then specify which
connect to. instrument to use.

3 Create a command. • Type a command in the Command field or

choose a command from the typing aid.

4 Execute the • Click the Send Command, Read Response, or

command or query. Send & Read button, as appropriate.

When specifying which instrument to use, you must type the address of
NOTE the instrument into the Resource Name field. If you do not know the
instrument’s address, you can use Instrument Explorer to find the address.
If you are using a Serial connection, you must first establish this
connection through the Agilent I/O Config tool before starting Interactive IO.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 43

4 Using Interactive IO

How Instrument Control is Presented

The Interactive IO tool contains several areas of interest, as
shown in Figure 18.

Typing Aid

Command

Action

History

Figure 18 The Interactive IO Main Display

T a b l e 2 lists the areas of the Interactive IO tool and their

purpose.

Table 2 Areas of the Interactive IO Tool

Command Type your command or query here.

Action Click whichever button is needed to send the command,

read the response, or send and read the response.

History List of commands/queries/responses sent to or read from

the instrument for the current session.

Typing Aid A list of generic commands you can quickly access.

44 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Interactive IO 4

Your interaction with the instrument is shown in the Instrument

Session History for the current session, as shown in Figure19 .

Figure 19 History for a Session

Commands sent to the instrument are preceded by ->.

Responses from the instrument are preceded by <-. For
example,
-> *IDN?
sends a command that asks the instrument to identify itself.
And

<- HEWLETT-PACKARD,54600B,0,A.01.35
is the response returned by the instrument.

Commands and Responses vs. Queries

The Interactive IO tool lets you send commands, read
responses, or combine the send and read into a single
operation. A command is a string sent to an instrument. A
response read from an instrument returns data from the
instrument.

Shortcuts When Using the Interactive IO Tool

Recall List of Commands

When you type commands or queries, the Interactive IO tool
remembers them. You can recall them at any time by dropping
down the list, as shown in Figure20.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 45

4 Using Interactive IO

Figure 20 Command History

Typing Aid for Commands

Clicking the button to the right of the drop-down list where you
type commands invokes a shortcut menu that contains
frequently used commands, as shown in Figure21 . Selecting an
item in the menu adds it to the command field and saves you
some typing.

Figure 21 The Typing Aid

46 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

5
Using the IO Monitor
Monitoring Interaction with Instruments 48
How I/O Data is Presented 51
Tracing the API Call Stack of an I/O Library 54

This chapter describes how to use the IO Monitor tool to trace,

debug, and optimize I/O programs.

Agilent Technologies 47
5 Using the IO Monitor

Monitoring Interaction with Instruments

Why Monitor Interaction with Instruments?

An application you write that communicates with an
instrument or other hardware may not work correctly at first.
The complex nature of the communication between the
application and the instrument—e.g., commands sent via APIs
that migrate through layers of software such as I/O
libraries—can make it difficult to decide where and how
problems arise. What would be helpful is a means to monitor
that communication and, ideally, be able to interact with it in a
way that helps you debug your application.

How Can You Monitor Interaction with Instruments?

The IO Monitor provides .NET programmers with an easy way
to trace and debug I/O programs. The IO Monitor is a
standalone software tool that lets you:
• Trace the API call stack of an I/O library
• Selectively enable and disable I/O library layers
• Filter the reported data to control what you see
• Log trace information to a file (for review later or for sending
to support personnel)

48 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the IO Monitor 5

The IO Monitor keeps track of a sequence of events. An event

can be an entry into or exit from an API and an occurrence of an
asynchronous interrupt. The IO Monitor filters and formats the
events it receives and presents them in several panels. See
Figure22 .

List of events

List of parameters Details for the selected parameter

in the I/O call

Figure 22 The Presentation of I/O Data

The IO Monitor also displays the details of a selected event. This

additional information includes:
• Application name

Agilent T&M Toolkit 49

5 Using the IO Monitor

• Host PC name
• Contents of the output (write) and input (read) buffers
• Selectable data display format
• Elapsed time in the API (for profiling the performance of I/O
applications)

Getting Started Monitoring Interaction with Instruments

When you run the IO Monitor, it automatically attaches itself to
the stream of I/O data between an application making I/O calls
via Agilent VISA-COM, Agilent VISA/SICL libraries and the
instrument being called.

You can run the IO Monitor at any time while debugging an application so
NOTE long as your application uses the Agilent VISA-COM and Agilent VISA/SICL
libraries to access instruments.

To begin monitoring interaction with instruments

Step Notes

1 Run the application that makes I/O IO Monitor supports both Agilent
calls you wish to monitor. and National Instrument interface
cards.

2 Run the IO Monitor. From the main menu, select T&M

Toolkit > IO Monitor or Click the IO
Monitor icon .

3 Tell the IO Monitor to begin monitoring Choose Start from the Monitor
I/O information. menu (Monitor > Start) in the IO
Monitor’s menu bar.

4 Switch between your application and Use your application to send I/O
the IO Monitor as needed. data and then use the IO Monitor to
examine the data.

50 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the IO Monitor 5

How I/O Data is Presented

An Overall View of I/O Data

The uppermost panel lists the I/O events that occur while
monitoring I/O operations.

Figure 23 Events Traced by IO Monitor

T a b l e 3 shows the kinds of I/O data associated with events.

Table 3 I/O Data Associated with Events

Time Stamp When the event began

Program Which application caused the event

Address The I/O bus address used by the event

Source Which I/O library (API) handled the event

Function Call The function call sent during the event

IO Data The buffered I/O data (if any) sent during the event displayed in
ASCII format

Ret Val The value (if any) returned by the event

Time (ms) How long, in milliseconds, the event took

Agilent T&M Toolkit 51

5 Using the IO Monitor

If the event results in an I/O error, the line where that event
appears is preceded by a red warning icon and the event is
presented in red, as shown in Figure24 .

Figure 24 An Event That Generated an Error

A View of Parameters Passed in I/O Data

When you select an event in the uppermost panel, the lower left
panel lists the parameters passed in the I/O call to the
instrument. Figure25 shows an output parameter that was
passed.

Figure 25 Parameters Passed in the I/O Call Associated with an Event

T a b l e 4 shows the details of the list of parameters.

Table 4 Details of the Parameters Passed in an I/O Call

Name Name of the parameter

Type Data type of the parameter (* denotes an array of bytes)

Value Value of the parameter

52 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the IO Monitor 5

A View of I/O Data in a Buffer

If a parameter has an asterisk (*) preceding its name, it means
the parameter passed an array of bytes in a buffer during the
I/O call. To examine the contents of the buffer, you must select
that parameter and look in the bottom right panel. Figure26
shows an example of data in an input buffer.

Figure 26 Example of Data in a Buffer

The details of buffer information are shown in T a b l e 5.

Table 5 Details of Buffer Information

Offset Offset from the start of the buffer

Hex The value in the buffer expressed in hexadecimal format

ASCII The value in the buffer expressed in ASCII format

Agilent T&M Toolkit 53

5 Using the IO Monitor

Tracing the API Call Stack of an I/O Library

The list of events displayed by the IO Monitor shows calls to
APIs in the order that they occur, as well as the data associated
with them. This provides you with a view of the call stack, as
shown in Figure 27.

3
Figure 27 An Ordered List of Calls to the Call Stack

Similarly, the parameters passed to the call stack in a function

call are passed in sequence, as shown in Figure28

Figure 28 An Ordered List of Parameters Passed in a Function Call

Selectively Enabling/Disabling I/O Library Layers

The IO Monitor lets you choose which I/O library layers to
monitor, as shown in Figure29 on page 55. If a particular I/O
library is not of interest to you, simply deselect it in the list.

54 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the IO Monitor 5

Figure 29 Enabling/Disabling I/O Layers to Monitor

You select I/O layers based upon the entry point your program
is using or upon the entry point being used by an instrument
driver you are employing. VISA-COM, VISA, and SICL are all
valid entry points for accessing your instruments. SICL Details
offers you a look at the lowest level of activity. See Figure30 for
a diagram of where the trace points are located.
You can change these setting from another location. From the
main menu, select View > View by IO Layers. This selection
process is identical to the selection process you see in
Figure29 ’s Options > Monitor tab.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 55

5 Using the IO Monitor

Figure 30 The Location of Trace Points in IO Monitor

Optimizing the Performance of I/O Operations

As shown in Figure 31, the Time column associated with each
I/O event shows how long (in milliseconds) the event took. You
can examine the Time values to determine where bottlenecks
exist in your I/O code. For example, if one I/O operation takes
much longer than the others, that operation may be a good place
to begin optimizing your code. After you have optimized the
code, you can rerun the I/O application and examine its events
to verify improvements.

Figure 31 Identifying the Time Spent in I/O Events

56 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the IO Monitor 5

Controlling How Many Events are Displayed

You can control the amount of data being presented as shown in
Figure32 . The more events you choose to display, the more data
you see.

Figure 32 Filtering Data by the Number of Events

Agilent T&M Toolkit 57

5 Using the IO Monitor

Logging Trace Information

If desired, you can save the trace information accumulated by
the IO Monitor to a file. This information is saved in XML
format. Later, you can open the file and examine its contents.

Figure33 shows the options you can specify when logging to a

file. These options include the location of the file, its maximum
size, and what action to take if that size is exceeded.

Figure 33 Specifying the Options for Logging to a File

58 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

6
Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard
Expanding the Driver Possibilities 60
Which Drivers are Supported? 60
Starting and Using the Wizard 61
Troubleshooting 63

This chapter describes the Driver Wrapper Wizard, how to use

it, the drivers supported by it, and some of the typical problems
with wrapped drivers.

Agilent Technologies 59
6 Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard

Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard

Expanding the Driver Possibilities

There are hundreds of existing instrument drivers. These
drivers were written to meet industry standards, such as
VXIplug&play, that existed before .NET and the T&M Toolkit.
The Driver Wrapper Wizard is for the programmer who is
comfortable with VXIplug&play drivers and wants to quickly
capture VXIplug&play functionality for T&M Toolkit. With the
Driver Wrapper Wizard, you can create a .NET and Agilent T&M
Toolkit-compliant wrapper around the same standards-
compliant drivers that you have relied upon for years. This
gives you the extra power of the latest software development
tools without limiting your access to legacy technology.
If you are new to VXIplug&play or want to start quickly with
your instruments, T&M Toolkit’s Instrument Explorer offers
similar functionality through the Driver Session Wizard. The
Instrument Explorer rapidly identifies your instrument
configuration and provides quick communication with a variety
of drivers including VXIplug&play. It is a great tool to use while
you build your expertise with device drivers.

Which Drivers are Supported?

The Driver Wrapper Wizard wraps VXIplug&play and IVI-C
drivers. The IVI-C wrapper is based on the IVI Foundation’s
IVI-C Driver standard, version 1.0, approved in 2002. There are
some IVI-C drivers available that are based on an earlier draft
standard. Due to the significant changes between this earlier
draft standard and the final standard, Agilent T&M Toolkit
recognizes these drivers as VXIplug&play drivers.

The VXIplug&play wrapper is based on the most recent version

of the VXIplug&play driver standard. Because VXIplug&play is
a mature standard, Agilent is shipping more than a hundred of
these drivers with the T&M Toolkit; many of these are already
wrapped.

60 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard 6

Starting and Using the Wizard

Before discussing the Driver Wrapper Wizard, it is important to draw a

NOTE distinction between the wrapper and the driver. The wrapper does not
replace the driver. The wrapper exists separately, and your source code
indirectly uses the driver.dll file by using the wrapper assembly. If the
driver is uninstalled, the wrapper does not work.

The Driver Wrapper Wizard takes you through several steps as

you create the wrapper. There is no set procedure for the Driver
Wrapper Wizard because the steps adjust dynamically
depending upon the driver you have selected. In general, the
steps are as follows:
1 A welcome screen explaining what you are about to do and
what you are required to provide.
2 Choose from a list of VXIplug&play or IVI-C drivers installed
on your machine. You can also download additional drivers
from the Web. See Figure 34.

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6 Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard

Figure 34 Selecting a VXIplug&play or IVI-C Driver to Wrap

3 Customize the wrapper generation process by choosing to

generate XML. The XML is generated automatically and is
used later to create IntelliSense documentation for the
wrapper.
4 The driver is parsed and wrapped. You can review lists of
errors or warnings generated by the parsing or compilation.
5 At this point, you have the option to have the Driver Wrapper
Wizard include the necessary Project References and
generate sample code. This step is optional but strongly
recommended.

62 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard 6

6 Project References are added to your project and sample

code is available from a Code Paste Tool for you to paste into
your project.

Troubleshooting
When the Driver Wrapper Wizard finishes parsing and
compiling the wrapper, a screen similar to Figure35 appears.
Using the tabs, you can review any messages, warnings, or
errors that were generated during the parse and/or compile
processes.

Figure 35 Troubleshooting Wrapper Creation

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6 Using the Driver Wrapper Wizard

The Driver Wrapper Wizard translates the driver’s function

names to .NET-compatible method names. It is common to see
many of these translations on the Parse Information tab textbox.
The Driver Wrapper Wizard also verifies that all of the driver
functions exist in both the driver’s .h and .fp files. If a function
does not exist in both locations, the driver vendor probably did
not intend the function to be visible. In this case, the Driver
Wrapper Wizard does not wrap the function. The list of
functions that were not wrapped is shown in the Parse Warnings
tab text box. Most of these warnings are also normal.

Parse Errors and Compile Errors

As the Driver Wrapper Wizard parses a driver to create a
wrapper, the driver is verified for compliance with the
standards set by its governing body. If a driver fails any of these
tests, the Driver Wrapper Wizard refuses to create a wrapper
and, in almost all instances, tells you why the driver failed. For
an example of how this screen might look, see Figure35 on
page63. Contact the driver manufacturer for help in this
situation.

You are also prompted to send the failure information to

Agilent. While Agilent cannot resolve issues with drivers,
problems with the Driver Wrapper Wizard are of great interest
and every effort is made to resolve them.
If the driver wrapper is created and fails when you use it, this is
almost always a problem with the instrument setup or
configuration. The most common error is
VI_ERROR_RSRC_NFOUND, which is generated by VISA and is
usually caused by an incorrect address or hardware setup. This
error appears as an exception when the program is run.
If the physical connections all appear to be correct and the
addressing also looks accurate, other errors may be found in
either the VISA.h or the <PREFIX>.h driver specific file.

64 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

7
Using the DirectIO Class to Control an
Instrument
Describing the DirectIO Class 66
Low-Level Access through DirectIO.Gpib 71
Low-Level Access through DirectIO.Serial 73
Low-Level Access through DirectIO.TCPIP 75
Low-Level Access through DirectIO.USB 76

This chapter describes the features of the Direct IO class library

found in Agilent.TMFramework.InstrumentIO.

Agilent Technologies 65
7 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument

Describing the DirectIO Class

The DirectIO class provides easy ways to move data between
your instruments and your PC. In this chapter, almost all of the
properties and methods of the DirectIO class are discussed.

Reading and Writing Data

The many read and write methods of the DirectIO class convert
instrument data formats into programmatic data types while
reading and writing between the instrument and your PC. These
methods have, as most T&M Toolkit methods, to be as similar to
the .NET syntax as possible, so your .NET learning is easily
transferred to the T&M Toolkit environment.

There are three instrument formats: a Number, a List, and an

IEEE Block.
• A Number is a numeric value.
• A List is a set of delimited values.
• The IEEE Block is an IEEE 488.2 definite binary block.
T a b l e 6 shows a conversion matrix. For any listed data type, you
can look at the instrument format columns and determine if
there is a DirectIO Read or Write method that does a
conversion.

Table 6 A Conversion Matrix for Instrument Formats and Data Types

Instrument Format

Data Type Number List IEEE Block

Byte Read/Write

Double Read/Write

Int16 Read/Write

Int32 Read/Write

Single (float) Read/Write

String Read Read/Write

66 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument 7

Table 6 A Conversion Matrix for Instrument Formats and Data Types

Instrument Format

Data Type Number List IEEE Block

Object Write

ObjectArray Write

ByteArray Read/Write Read/Write

DoubleArray Read/Write Read/Write

Int16Array Read/Write Read/Write

Int32Array Read/Write Read/Write

SingleArray Read/Write Read/Write

StringArray Read/Write Read/Write

The DirectIO class also supports the Write and WriteLine

methods, the UnbufferedRead method, and the UnbufferedWrite
method. The Write and WriteLine methods vary from other write
methods because they provide string formatting. WriteLine also
appends a newline. The Newline property defaults to an ASCII
linefeed (LF).
The UnbufferedRead and UnbufferedWrite methods transmit and
receive data directly between the instrument and the PC
without the use of system buffers.
Reads can be terminated with a character. You can define the
character using the TerminationCharacter property. However, the
termination character is not active until you set the
TerminationCharacterEnabled property to True.

Controlling the Instrument Session

The DirectIO class includes many properties and methods for
controlling and configuring your instrument session. Some of
these are gateways to low-level control of the instrument.

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7 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument

Buffer Management
By default, the AutoFlush property is True, which automatically
flushes the buffer after every write. If you want finer control of
the buffers, you can call the FlushRead or FlushWrite methods to
clear the read and write buffers.
The size of the buffers is controlled by the SetReadBufferSize and
SetWriteBufferSize. The default size is 1,000 bytes.

Instrument Session Management

The DirectIO class has several properties and methods that can
be used to set instrument configurations and control their
behavior.

Table 7 DirectIO Properties for Instrument Session Management

Property Name Description

Address Gets the address of the current instrument

HardwareInterfaceType Gets the hardware interface type such as GPIB or

ASRL

InstrumentByteOrder Sets the instrument byte order to either big endian or

little endian

Locked Gets the status of the session. If the session is locked,

the status is True

waitForLockTimeout Gets or sets the millisecond value for the I/O timeout
during the creation of the instrument object

The Address, Locked, and waitForLockTimeout properties can be set when

NOTE the instrument is first created as an object. At all other times, these
properties get the assigned value.

Table 8 DirectIO Instrument Session Management

Method Name Description

AssertTrigger() Sends a trigger to the instrument.

68 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument 7

Table 8 DirectIO Instrument Session Management (continued)

Method Name Description

ReadStatusByte() Reads the status byte of instruments.

Clear() Clears an instrument.

Lock() Locks an instrument session and does not allow other

session to access the instrument.

Unlock() Disables exclusive access to an instrument.

The VISA Support Class

The VISA Support Class contains a comprehensive but not
complete listing of VISA properties, enumerations, and
methods. It is also used to validate whether a VISA Resource
Name is well formed.

While the VISA Support Class tests whether a VISA Resource Name is
NOTE well formed, it does not verify whether the address is valid or not.
While

Using Low Level Gpib, Serial, Tcpip, and USB

DirectIO provides the basic features needed for interacting with
your instruments. If you work within the DirectIO class, the
interface for the instrument becomes transparent. For example,
suppose you have written some source code for an oscilloscope.
If you use DirectIO to interact with the oscilloscope, it does not
matter what type of interface you are using. However, if you use
the lower-level methods by accessing the Gpib, Serial, Tcpip, or
USB properties, your source code is tied to a specific interface
and has to be edited whenever the interface changes. This
reduces the source code’s reusability and your efficiency.
The Gpib, Serial, Tcpip, and USB properties are access points to
low-level instrument control that you sometimes need to use. In
the following code snippet, the Gpib property is used to access
the GpibInstr subclass.

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7 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument

Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim scope As New DirectIO(“GPIB0::22::INSTR”)
scope.Gpib.SendLocalLockOut()
End Sub
End Module

70 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument 7

Low-Level Access through DirectIO.Gpib

You can access several properties and methods through the
DirectIO.Gpib property. These properties and methods simplify
the low-level configuration and control of instruments accessed
through the GPIB protocol. The connect string for a instrument
with a GPIB connection is:
GPIB[board ]::primary address[::secondary address][::INSTR]

Items in square brackets, [], are optional and items in italics are
supplied by you. All other entries are required.

Addressing
There are several addressing related properties.

Table 9 Properties Related to Addressing

Property Name Description

HardwareInterfaceNumber Gets the zero based number of the GPIB board.

PrimaryAddress Gets the primary address of the GPIB board.

RepeatAddressing Gets whether the same address should be used

for the next read or write operation.

SecondaryAddress Gets the secondary address of the GPIB board.

UnAddressing Gets whether the same address is not used for

the next read or write operation.

Remote Operation
There are several methods and one property that affect remote
operations.
• RenState is a property that gets the status of the Remote
Enable Line.

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7 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument

Table 10 Methods for Remote Operations

Method Name Description

ControlRen Controls the state of the Remote Enable Line as well as

the local lockouts.

SendGoToLocal Configures the instrument to assume local front panel

control.

SendLocalLockout Locks the front panel of the current instrument.

72 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument 7

Low-Level Access through DirectIO.Serial

There are many properties and methods that simplify the
low-level configuration and control of instruments accessed
through the serial protocol. The connect string for a instrument
with a serial connection is:
ASRL[board ][::INSTR]

Items in square brackets, [], are optional and items in italics are
supplied by you. All other entries are required.

Data Flow Control

There are many properties that support several different serial
transmission flow control techniques.

Table 11 Properties for Flow Control

Property Name Description

BaudRate Gets or sets the rate at which data bits are

transmitted and received.

BytesAvailable Gets the number of bytes available in the global

receive buffer.

CleartoSendState Gets the current status of the clear to send line.

DataBits Gets or sets the number of data bits sent in each

data frame.

DataCarrierDetectState Gets the current status of the data carrier detect

line.

DataSetReadyState Gets the current state of the data set ready line.

DataTerminalReadyState Gets the current state of the data terminal ready

line.

EndIn Gets or sets the terminator for serial read

operations.

EndOut Gets or sets the terminator for serial write

operations.

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7 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument

Table 11 Properties for Flow Control (continued)

Property Name Description

FlowControl Gets or sets the serial flow control technique.

Parity Gets or sets the type of parity being used in the

flow control technique.

ReplacementCharacter Gets or sets a character used to replace a

damaged incoming character.

RequestToSendState Gets or sets the request to send output signal.

RingIndicatorState Gets the current state of the ring indicator input

signal.

StopBits Gets or sets the number of stop bits used to

indicate the end of a signal.

XoffCharacter Gets or sets the XOFF character.

XonCharacter Gets or sets the XON character.

There are also two methods that support flow control.

• Flush is a method used to clear the read and write buffers.
• SetBufferSize is a method used to define the read and write
buffer size

74 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument 7

Low-Level Access through DirectIO.TCPIP

Many Agilent instruments support network connectivity and,
for those that do not, there are converter boxes now available
that make this connectivity quick and easy. The connect string
for an instrument with a TCPIP connection is:
TCPIP[board]::host address[::LAN Device Name]::INSTR

Items in square brackets, [], are optional and items in italics are
supplied by you. All other entries are required.

Table 12 Tcpip Properties

Property Name Description

DeviceName Gets the LAN device name used during the connection.

HostName Gets the hostname of the instrument.

IPAddress Gets the TCPIP address of this instrument.

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7 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument

Low-Level Access through DirectIO.USB

Several Agilent instruments support USB connectivity and, for
those that do not, there are converter boxes now available that
make this connectivity quick and easy. The connect string for an
instrument with a USB connection is:
USB[board ]::Manufacturer ID::Model Code::Instrument Serial
Number::[USB Interface Number]::INSTR

Items in square brackets, [], are optional and items in italics are
supplied by you. All other entries are required.

Table 13 USB Properties

Property Name Description

Is4882Compliant Device supports 488.2 standard.

ManufacturerID The identification number of the manufacturer.

ManufacturerName The manufacturers name.

ModelCode The model number for the device.

ModelName The name of the model.

HardwareInterfaceNumber The interface number for the device.

UsbInterfaceNumber The USB interface number.

UsbSerialNumber The serial number of the USB device.

Table 14 USB Methods

Method Name Description

SendLocalLockOut Disables the front panel controls of the device.

SendGoToLocal Enables the front panel of the device and passes control
to it.

76 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument 7

Table 14 USB Methods

Method Name Description

ControlRen Controls the state of the GPIB REN interface line and,
optionally, the remote/local state of the device.

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7 Using the DirectIO Class to Control an Instrument

78 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

8
Analyzing Instrument Data
The Complex Data Type 80
Digital Signal Processing Capabilities 84
Bessel Functions 86
Statistical Functions 87
Engineering Math 89
Regression Techniques 91

This chapter describes the complex data type, the digital signal
processing abilities, the statistical functions, mathematical
tools, and regression techniques that are available in the
Agilent.TMFramework, Agilent.TMFramework.DataAnalysis,
and Agilent.TMFramework.DataAnalysis.DSP class libraries.

Agilent Technologies 79
8 Analyzing Instrument Data

The Complex Data Type

Visual Studio .NET does not have a native complex data type,
yet the complex data type is essential for your work. To meet
this need, a complex data type is included with T&M Toolkit and
implemented within .NET as an object. The T&M Toolkit
includes complex mathematics, comparers, and a data type
converter.

The Complex Class

The Complex class has many useful features. In the following
tables, the properties, methods, and conversions are discussed.

The Complex Class Properties

Table 15 Properties of the Complex Class

Property Name Description

Real Gets or sets the real part of a complex number.

Imaginary Gets or sets the imaginary part of a complex number.

Conjugate Gets the Complex Conjugate of this complex number.

ImaginaryComparer Create a new instance of ImaginaryComparer.

MagnitudeComparer Create a new instance of MagnitudeComparer.

PhaseComparer Create a new instance of PhaseComparer.

The Complex Class Methods

Table 16 Methods of the Complex Class

Method Name Description

Add Adds two complex values.

Divide Divides two complex values.

80 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Analyzing Instrument Data 8

Table 16 Methods of the Complex Class (continued)

Method Name Description

Equals Determines whether two instances of complex are

equal.

FromPolarComplex Creates a new complex number from a given phase

and magnitude and expresses it in radians.

GetMagnitude The magnitude, or absolute value, of this complex

number.

GetPhase The phase, or argument, of this complex number

expressed in radians.

IComparable.CompareTo Compares the current instance with another object

of the same type.

IsInfinity A value indicating if either the real or the imaginary

part of the specified complex number evaluates to
either negative or positive infinity.

IsNaN A value indicating if either the real or the imaginary

part of the specified complex number evaluates to
Not-a-Number (NaN).

IsNegativeInfinity A value indicating if either the real or the imaginary

part of the specified complex number evaluates to
negative infinity.

IsPositiveInfinity A value indicating if either the real or the imaginary

part of the specified complex number evaluates to
positive infinity.

Multiply Multiplies two specified complex values.

Negate Negates the value of a specified complex number.

Parse Converts the specified string representation of a

complex number to its complex equivalent.

Subtract Subtracts two complex values.

ToString Converts the value of this instance to its equivalent

string representation using the specified format and
culture-specific format information.

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8 Analyzing Instrument Data

The Complex Type Conversion

The T&M Toolkit Complex data type can only be converted to a
string.
However, the real portion of the Complex data type can also be
converted to a double but, when this is done, the imaginary
portion is set to zero. Likewise, when converting a double to a
complex number, the double is converted to the real portion
and the imaginary number is set to zero.

Comparers
The complex class supports three comparers. These comparers
are accessed through the ImaginaryComparer, MagnitudeComparer,
and PhaseComparer properties.
The ImaginaryComparer, MagnitudeComparer, and PhaseComparer
properties are access points to comparer methods for imaginary
numbers. In the following code snippet, the ImaginaryComparer
property is used to access the ImaginaryComparer subclass.
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim d As Object
Dim result As New _
Agilent.TMFramework.ImaginaryComparer()
Dim a As Complex = New Complex(2, 2)
Dim b As Complex = New Complex(3, 1)
d = result.Compare(a, b)
Console.WriteLine(d)
End Sub
End Module

These subclasses can also be used with the Array.Sort method to

specify array sorting based on imaginary values.

The Imaginary Comparer Subclass

Compares two complex numbers and returns a value indicating
whether one complex is less than, equal to, or greater than the
second complex.

82 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Analyzing Instrument Data 8

The Magnitude Comparer Subclass

Compares two complex numbers and returns a value indicating
whether the magnitude of one complex is less than, equal to, or
greater than the magnitude of the second complex.

The Phase Comparer Subclass

Compares two complex numbers and returns a value indicating
whether the phase of one complex is less than, equal to, or
greater than the phase of the second complex.

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8 Analyzing Instrument Data

Digital Signal Processing Capabilities

The Agilent T&M Toolkit includes a strong set of digital signal
processing (DSP) methods. FFT and IFFT using double and
complex numbers are supported. There are also five data filters
Bartlett, Blackman, Hamming, Hanning, Rectangular, and two
other DSP processing functions Convolution and
CrossCorrelation.

Fast Fourier and Inverse Fast Fourier Transforms

The FFT and the IFFT methods accept an array of complex
numbers or doubles. Additionally, FFT provides parameters for
the input of a time interval and the return of a start frequency
and a stop frequency. IFFT provides parameters for the input of
frequency interval and the return of a start time and a stop
time. These extra parameters make it very easy to graph the
resulting data set using the T&M Toolkit’s 2D Graphing Objects.

The execution time for FFT and IFFT depends upon the length of the
NOTE transform. It is fastest for powers of two. It is almost as fast for lengths
that have only small prime factors. It is typically several times slower for
lengths that are prime or which have large prime factors.

Windowing Functions
Five of the data filters accept the same parameters. The Bartlett,
Blackman, Hamming, Hanning, and Rectangular windows all
accept arrays of doubles and arrays of complex numbers.
For each of these filters, you can set the window to narrow,
wide, or fixed. A narrow window is useful for narrow band
measurements. When the narrow window is used, the peak
value at a given on-bin frequency is preserved. For wide band
measurements, use the wide window. When the wide window is
used, the energy within a given frequency band is preserved.
Finally, when looking at windowed time domain data and when

84 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Analyzing Instrument Data 8

windowing the coefficients of a FIR filter, the fixed window

should be used. This scaling preserves the peak value of the
input data.
When submitting data sets to these windows, you can also
submit a portion of an array by specifying how many array
elements to use. The starting point for these subsets is always
the first element of the array.

Data Set Comparison Functions

There are two methods for data set comparison. The Convolve
method filters a data array by multiplying it with another data
array. While the two data sets can be of different lengths, they
must contain equally spaced data. The CrossCorrelate method
also filters a data array by multiplying it against another but
uses a different process for determining which values to
multiply together.

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8 Analyzing Instrument Data

Bessel Functions
The Agilent T&M Toolkit has a modified Bessel function, a
Bessel function of the first kind, and a Bessel function of the
second kind. These Digital Signal Processing filters are used to
smooth waveform data.

The I0 Bessel Function

The I0 Bessel function is a modified version of the Bessel
function of the first kind. It accepts values less than 700 or
greater than negative 700. Values outside this range return an
exception.

The J0 and J1 Bessel Functions

The J0 Bessel function computes the Bessel function of the first
kind of order zero (J0) of the vector array. The J1 Bessel
function computes the Bessel function of the first kind of order
one (J1) of the vector array.

The Y0 and Y1 Bessel Functions

For both the Y0 and the Y1 Bessel functions, inputs that are less
than or equal to 0 return a zero. The Y0 Bessel function
computes the Bessel function of the first kind of order zero (Y0)
of the vector array. The Y1 Bessel function computes the Bessel
function of the first kind of order one (Y1) of the vector array.

86 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Analyzing Instrument Data 8

Statistical Functions
The Agilent T&M Toolkit has three groups of statistical
functions available for your use: Discrete Mathematics,
Probability, and Special Functions.

Discrete Mathematics
The discrete mathematical functions included with T&M Toolkit
are contained in the following table.

Table 17 Discrete Mathematics

Method Name Description

Beta Calculates the beta of x.

Binomial Calculates the number of combinations of n taken b at a

time.

Combination Calculates how many combinations of n things taken r at a

time.

Factorial Calculates the number of ways that n objects can be

permuted.

Gamma Calculates the gamma function for doubles.

Permutation Calculates the permutations of n numbers taken r at a time.

Probability
The probability functions included with T&M Toolkit are
contained in the following table.

Table 18 Probability

Method Name Description

RMS (Root Mean A standard way of calculating the effective voltage or

Squared) current of an AC wave.

Standard Calculates how far a data point is from the mean value of
Deviation the data set.

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8 Analyzing Instrument Data

Table 18 Probability (continued)

Method Name Description

Variance Calculates the spread of a distribution.

Special Statistical Functions

The special statistical functions included with T&M Toolkit are
contained in the following table.

Table 19 Special Statistical Functions

Method Name Description

Mean Calculates the average value for a set of data.

Mode Returns the most commonly found value within the data
set.

Median Returns the middle value of a data set.

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 Analyzing Instrument Data 8

Engineering Math
Your engineering math needs are easily met by the EngMath
class. This class is a super-set of System.Math and is found in
the Agilent.TMFramework class library. In the following table,
the methods are described. Many of these methods also have
overloads that accept the complex data type.

Table 20 Engineering Math Methods

Method Names Description

Abs Returns the absolute value of a number.

Acos Returns the angle whose cosine is the specified number .

Acosh Returns the hyperbolic arccosine of c.

Acot Returns the angle whose cotangent is x.

Acoth Returns the hyperbolic arctangent of d.

Asin Returns the angle whose sine is the specified number.

Asinh Returns the hyperbolic arcsine of d.

Atan Returns the angle whose tangent is the specified number.

Atan2 Returns the angle that corresponds to the inverse tangent of

the quotient of two specified numbers.

Atanh Returns the hyperbolic arctangent of d.

Ceiling Returns the smallest whole number greater than or equal to

the specified number.

Conjugate Returns the conjugate of a number.

Cos Returns the cosine of the number.

Cosh Returns the hyperbolic cosine of the specified angle.

Cot Returns the cotangent of d.

Coth Returns the hyperbolic cotangent of d.

Exp Returns the natural antilogarithm of a number.

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8 Analyzing Instrument Data

Table 20 Engineering Math Methods (continued)

Method Names Description

Floor Returns the largest whole number that is less than or equal to
the number passed to the method.

IEEERemainder Returns the remainder resulting from the division of a

specified number by another specified number. Note, see the
Microsoft documentation for more detail.

Imaginary Computes the imaginary portion of a complex number input in

phase and magnitude.

Log Returns the natural logarithm of a number.

Log10 Returns the common logarithm of a number.

Magnitude Returns the Magnitude of a complex number.

Max Returns the larger of the two parameters.

Min Returns the smaller of the two parameters.

Phase Returns the phase of a complex number in radians.

Pow A number raised to a power.

Real Computes the real portion of a complex number that has been
input as phase and magnitude.

Round Returns a number nearest the number passed in the

parameter.

Sign For a number X, return (X / ABS(X))

Sin Returns the sine of the number.

Sinh Returns the hyperbolic sine of the specified angle.

Sqrt The square root of a specified number.

Tan Returns the tangent of the number.

Tanh Returns the hyperbolic tangent of the specified angle.

ToDegrees Converts radians to degrees.

ToRadians Converts degrees to radians.

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Regression Techniques
Agilent T&M Toolkit supports four regression methods: Linear,
Logarithmic, Exponential, and Power. The Logarithmic,
Exponential, and Power regression methods throw exceptions if
they are passed values less than or equal to zero.
The regression methods accept the following data sets:
• A one-dimensional array of Y values, the X start value, and
the X interval.
• A one-dimensional array of XY values where X is always the
first value and the pattern is XYXYXY.
• A one-dimensional array of X values and a one-dimensional
array of Y values.
• A two-dimensional array of XY values where the array can be
dimensioned [n,2].
The Linear regression method produces both coefficients, the
goodness of fit, and Y fitted data. All of the other regression
methods produce both coefficients, the goodness of fit, Y fitted
data, and X fitted data.

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92 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

9
Using the 2D Graph Objects
What Types of Graphs are Available? 95
Using Traces to Get Data to the Graph 101
How can I Modify the Appearance of the Graph? 106
Panning, Zooming, and the Context Menu 108

This chapter provides an overview of the available graphs, of

how to get data to the graph, and categories of properties that
are used to configure a graph’s appearance. All of these features
are found in the Agilent.TMFramework.DataVisualization class
library.

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9 Using the 2D Graph Objects

Using the 2D Graph Objects

Where are the 2D Graph Controls?

From the Windows Forms Designer, open the Toolbox by
selecting View > Toolbox or enter ALT-CTL-X. The Toolbox
appears on the left side of your display. You should have
already created a T&M Toolkit Tab and added the Agilent
components to it. However, if you have not, review the “How Do
I Add the T&M Toolkit Tab to the Toolbox?” topic in the
Frequently Asked Questions book of the online Help.

The T&M Toolkit tab looks like:

Figure 36 The Agilent T&M Toolkit Toolbox Tab

To use a graph control such as the Complex Graph, just drag

and drop it onto the upper left corner of your form.

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 Using the 2D Graph Objects 9

What Types of Graphs are Available?

There are seven types of graphs.

XY Graph

Figure 37 XY Graph

The XY Graph displays traces fed by dual-channel data (X and Y

data) which can be arbitrarily or functionally related to each
other. In Figure37 , there are two traces. Each trace consists of a
one-dimensional array of X,Y pairs. The XY Graph also accepts
two-dimensional arrays.

Whenever X,Y data pairs are loaded into an array of any size, the 2D Graph
NOTE Object always assumes the first value read is the X value of the X,Y pair.

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Waveform Graph

Figure 38 Waveform Graph

The Waveform Graph displays time domain data given Y values

and a start time/stop time for the Y values.
There is a tutorial in online help entitled “Using the 2D Graph
Objects”. The tutorial uses the Waveform Graph to describe
traces. Every graph has at least one trace, the DefaultTrace, as
well as others that you may add.
Traces, such as the one displayed in Figure38, visually
represent your data. They are the fundamental building block to
graphing with the T&M Toolkit. Traces are discussed in more
detail later in this chapter.

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Y Graph

Figure 39 Y Graph

The Y graph displays traces fed by a single-channel Y data

source, where X data is the index for the data point.
The Y graph in Figure 39 shows two different traces and two
different markers. The markers appear as a diamond shape near
the end of the trace with the shorter cycle time and an
upside-down triangle about one-third of the way along the other
trace. Markers move from data point to data point along the
trace.

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StripChart

Figure 40 Strip Chart

A Strip Chart displays live, continuous traces fed by

single-channel Y data with TimeSpan as the X axis. The data is
accumulated in a user-configurable internal buffer.

The recommended way to manage the Strip Chart time interval is to

NOTE connect it directly to the system timer. In your source code, this looks like
StripChart1.TimeInterval =
System.Windows.Forms.Timer1.Interval. You then
manipulate the Timer properties to control the StripChart time interval.

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Complex Graph

Figure 41 Complex Graph

A Complex Graph is a special-purpose graph for complex

numbers where the real portion of the complex number is the X
axis, and the imaginary portion of the complex number is the Y
axis.
The Complex Graph in Figure 41 has two markers. These
markers are linked so that when the marker on the outside trace
is moved, the marker on the inner trace moves in unison with it.
There are no limits to the number of linked markers on a graph,
and you can link one marker to an infinite number of other
markers. However, the links are always unidirectional. For
example, if you move the marker on the inner trace in Figure41,
there is no corresponding movement from the marker on the
outer trace.

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Magnitude Spectrum Graph

Figure 42 Magnitude Spectrum Graph

A Magnitude Spectrum Graph displays one-dimensional,

complex data of a frequency domain. When the data is
prepared, a method in the Agilent T&M Framework is used to
capture the real portion (the magnitude) of the complex
number. The magnitude is then displayed on the Y axis and
frequency is displayed on the X axis.

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Phase Spectrum Graph

Figure 43 Phase Spectrum Graph

A Phase Spectrum Graph displays one-dimensional, complex

data based on a phase angle. When the data is prepared, a
method in the Agilent T&M Framework is used to capture the
imaginary portion (the phase) of the complex number. The
phase is then displayed on the Y axis and frequency is displayed
on the X axis.

Using Traces to Get Data to the Graph

As has been mentioned, traces are the fundamental building
block for the 2D Graph Object. Every graph has at least one
trace, called the DefaultTrace, and usually several others which
you have added.
The trace holds the data points you have generated. This could
be a continuous stream of data plotted on the Y axis with time
on the X axis (a Strip Chart), a two-dimensional array of X,Y

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pairs (an XY Graph), or a large array of complex numbers (a

Complex Graph). In each of these cases, traces function in the
same way and with the same descriptive properties.

The Default Trace

Every graph object in the 2D Graph Object starts with one
DefaultTrace. You can delete the DefaultTrace, but, should you
also delete all other traces, a DefaultTrace is automatically
re-created.
The DefaultTrace is designed for situations where you want a
quick, single trace plot. The PlotDefaultTrace() method supports
the use of the DefaultTrace for single trace plots. The
PlotDefaultTrace() method loads and plots the DefaultTrace in a
single step. The other plotting method is designed for multiple
traces and requires a separate step to load data into the trace.

Defining New Traces and Markers

Figure 44 Trace Representations

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 Using the 2D Graph Objects 9

To create traces, you need to access the Trace Collection. See

Figure45 for an example of how the Graph Appearance
category looks. Since Traces is the default property for all of the
2D Graph Objects, you can also just click the graph and click the
ellipsis to go to the Trace Collection Editor.

Figure 45 Locating the Traces Collection in the Property Listing

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Figure 46 The Trace Collection Editor for the SpectrumTrace

All traces are listed in the left column and, by choosing one of
the traces, you can set the properties for it from the property
listing in the right column. As you change the properties, your
changes are reflected on the trace representation as seen in
Figure44 .
Notice in Figure 46 that the Marker Collection is accessible from
the Trace Collection Editor. To create markers or change their
properties do the following:

Accessing the Markers Collection Editor

Step Description
1 Launch the Trace Collection Editor

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 Using the 2D Graph Objects 9

Accessing the Markers Collection Editor (continued)

Step Description
2 Select the trace that contains the marker you want to edit

3 Select the Marker Collection

4 Select and edit the marker

Markers, however, do not appear on the trace representations

seen in Figure44.

Setting and Plotting Data

You have created all the traces and markers you need for your
graph. The properties are set so that the appearance and
behavior of your graph is going to be just what you want. All
that remains is to generate the data and then programmatically
connect your graph with the data set. To accomplish this within
the 2D Graph Object Set, there are just three simple methods
you need to know.
• The PlotDefaultTrace Method is only used for the DefaultTrace.
It loads data from a source you have provided and plots it
directly to the DefaultTrace. One data source connected to
one trace gives you a quick, simple graph.
• Whenever you have multiple data sets, which means multiple
traces, the SetData Method is used to load data into each trace.
The SetData Method is always used in conjunction with the
PlotAll Method.
• The PlotAll Method is always used as the final step in a series
of SetData Methods. It plots all of the traces that have been
loaded, supports multiple data types, one-dimensional
arrays, and a two-dimensional array for the XY graph.

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How can I Modify the Appearance of the Graph?

The appearance of your graph is modified by the extensive
property set within the Microsoft .NET Form Designer and the
features of the 2D Graph Objects provided by the Agilent T&M
Toolkit.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 2D Graph Property Categories

The 2D Graph Objects are made available through the seven
graph objects previously mentioned and the three graph
property categories used to control their appearance. A
description of these three categories follows:
• The Graph Appearance Category
• The Bottom, Left, Right , and Top Margin property settings
control the distance, in pixels, between the plot area and
edge of the graph control. The plot area is the area where
your traces appear.
• The Marker Display is a legend for the markers. Using this
group of properties, you can define how the Marker
Display appears.

The Marker Display not only presents an example of each marker’s

NOTE appearance, it also captures the relationships between markers that are
linked.

• The Plot Area is the area where your traces appear. You can
control its appearance with this property set.
• The Smoothing Mode property specifies the rendering
quality for the graphic.
• The main Title for the graph control. You can control its
appearance with this property set.
• The Trace Legend displays the trace’s name, color, whether
fill bars are visible, and whether the data points are
visible.
• The Graph Axes Category

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 Using the 2D Graph Objects 9

• The Graticule group of properties includes the creation and

configuration of a grid for your graph. You can also set a
property called TickStyle. TickStyle is used to define which
of the plot area boundaries have tick marks.
• The XAxis and YAxis groups of properties are identical in
nature. You can control the appearance of the axis, major
ticks, and minor ticks; or the caption text and appearance.
You can also control the scaling by adjusting the minimum
and maximum values; and several other items such as
CoordStyle(Linear,Log).

There is an item of particular interest on the XAxis and YAxis property

NOTE subsets. The AutomaticScaling property defaults to automatically scaling
both axes (except in the Strip Chart) and is used for design-time work. For
run time, the AutoScaling method is strongly recommended. The
AutoScaling method supports the UndoZoom feature of the context menu
whereas the AutomaticScaling property does not.

• The Graph Behavior Category

• The 2D Graph Objects have a very useful context menu
that is activated by placing the cursor in the plot area and
right clicking. This feature is discussed in more detail in
“The Context Menu" on page110.
• The KeyboardEnabled property activates several handy
shortcut keys for zooming and panning. This feature is
discussed in more detail in “Keyboard Shortcuts " on
page 108.
• The MouseEnabled property activates the mouse wheel. The
mouse wheel, used in conjunction with the keyboard, can
provide the full range of zooming and panning. This
feature is discussed in more detail in “Mouse
Shortcuts" on page108.

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Panning, Zooming, and the Context Menu

Once your graph is drawn, you may want to zoom-in on specific
areas and pan from location to location. There are several ways
to do this with the 2D Graph Objects. You can use your
keyboard, mouse, or a context menu, whichever is the most
convenient for you.

Keyboard Shortcuts
To use keyboard shortcuts, hold the CTRL or ALT key down
(depending upon whether you are panning or zooming) and
then hold down the second key until you have achieved the
desired result. See the following table for key combinations and
their corresponding action.

Table 21 Keyboard Shortcuts for Panning and Zooming

Key Combination Action

CTRL-RightArrow Pans right

CTRL-LeftArrow Pans left

CTRL-UpArrow Pans upward

CTRL-DownArrow Pans downward

ALT-RightArrow Zooms in on the X axis

ALT-LeftArrow Zooms out on the X axis

ALT-UpArrow Zooms in on the Y axis

ALT-DownArrow Zooms out on the Y axis

Mouse Shortcuts
When using the mouse shortcuts, the action is not completed
until after you release the buttons.

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Table 22 Mouse Shortcuts for Panning and Zooming

Key / Mouse Combination Action

Hold down the left mouse button and Zooms the area within the rectangle.
draw a rectangle inside the plot area. (Press the ESC key before releasing
the mouse’s left button to cancel the
zoom.)

Hold down the CTRL key and the left Pans the graph display in the direction
mouse button simultaneously. Drag you drag the mouse.
the mouse.

Hold down the X key and move the Zooms the X axis in (mouse wheel
mouse wheel forward or backward. forward) or out (mouse wheel
backward).

Hold down the Y key and move the Zooms the Y axis in (mouse wheel
mouse wheel forward or backward. forward) or out (mouse wheel
backward).

Hold down the Z key and move the Zooms the X and Y axis in (mouse
mouse wheel forward or backward. wheel forward) or out (mouse wheel
backward).

Hold down the H key and move the Pans the display to the left (mouse
mouse wheel forward or backward. wheel forward) or to the right (mouse
wheel backward).

Hold down the V key and move the Pans the display up (mouse wheel
mouse wheel forward and backward. forward) or down (mouse wheel
backward).

Hold down the E key and move the Pans the display towards the upper
mouse wheel forward and backward. right corner (mouse wheel forward) or
the lower right corner (mouse wheel
backward).

Hold down the W key and move the Pans the display to the upper left
mouse wheel forward and backward. corner (mouse wheel forward) or to the
lower left corner (mouse wheel
backward)

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The Context Menu

There is also a context menu available that provides quick
access to several useful features. To access this menu, place
your mouse pointer in the plot area and right click.

Figure 47 Context Menu - AutoScale

• If the current graph has already been AutoScaled, the

AutoScale menu option is greyed out. If you choose
AutoScale, a sub-menu containing entries for each axis or
both axes appears. AutoScale tells the graph object to
automatically scale the chosen axis(es) to match the
minimum and maximum values of the traces.
• Choosing Zoom also initiates a sub-menu containing entries
for the axis or axes and an additional sub-menu that prompts
for a zoom factor.

Figure 48 Context Menu - Zoom

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 Using the 2D Graph Objects 9

• UndoZoom is disabled until you have done a Zoom operation.

At that point, choosing UndoZoom reverses the zoom process
by returning to the previous zoom point.
• If a marker is not defined for a trace on the graph object, the
ViewMarker menu choice is disabled. If you have a marker
defined, choosing ViewMarker brings a marker back into the
display area. For example, suppose you had a trace with a
marker defined for it. You zoomed the trace several times
and the marker was now on a part of the trace that was no
longer in the display area. By choosing this menu option, the
marker would be moved to the edge of the display area.
• Choosing the Copy option places a copy of the graph control
(not the Forms Designer form) onto the Windows Clipboard.
• Choosing Save initiates a File Save dialog box. You can save a
copy of the graph control (not the Forms Designer form) in a
.jpg, .bmp, or .gif format.

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Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

10
Virtual Waveforms, Timing Classes,
Number Formatting, and Engineering
Math
Generating Waveforms 114
Timing Classes 119
The EngineeringFormatter Class 121
The Engineering Math Class 124

This chapter describes a component and several additional

classes that are very useful to engineers. All of these classes are
found in the Agilent.TMFramework class library.

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10 Virtual Waveforms, Timing Classes, Number Formatting, and Engineering Math

Generating Waveforms
Have you ever been in a situation where you just need to create
a simple sine wave to test some source code you have written,
but you don’t want to start up the instruments? The T&M
Toolkit’s FunctionWaveformGenerator is made-to-order.
The FunctionWaveformGenerator creates data for six different
waveform functions: sine, cosine, triangle, square, positive
ramp, and negative ramp. The properties for each of these
functions are fully configurable by you, so you can control the
characteristics of the waveform and match it directly to your
needs.

Of course, it is nice to have a tool that creates fully configurable

data sets that can be used to simulate different waveforms, but
the FunctionWaveformGenerator has a great deal more
convenience to offer. You can drag and drop it right onto your
Windows Form, adjust its properties at design time, and run
your program. The FunctionWaveformGenerator is only visible
at design time.

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In Figure49 you see a YGraph with a

FunctionWaveformGenerator that has been dragged from the
T&M Toolkit tab of the Forms Designer Toolbox and dropped
onto the form. No programming has been done yet.

Figure 49 A YGraph with FunctionWaveformGenerator Component

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10 Virtual Waveforms, Timing Classes, Number Formatting, and Engineering Math

In Figure50 you see the properties for the

FunctionWaveformGenerator. Notice that the name has been
changed to FWG1 to simplify typing later. At this point, you are
still in the Windows Forms Designer and, due to the unique
features of the FunctionWaveformGenerator, you are able to
control the data for your graph as well as its appearance.

Figure 50 Properties for the FunctionWaveformGenerator

The graph is ready, but it does require some programming to

take advantage of the FunctionWaveformGenerator and create a
graph of the sine wave. Switch to the code window by double-
clicking on the “Graph Me!” button. You should find yourself in
the Button1_Click event. Enter the following line of code:
YGraph1.PlotDefaultTrace(FWG1.GenerateYData)

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Run the program and click Graph Me! to produce the graph
shown in Figure 51.

Figure 51 Graphed Sine Wave Using Data from FWG1

Properties

Table 23 FunctionWaveformGenerator Properties

Property Name Description

Amplitude Gets or sets the amplitude of the generated waveform.

DCOffset Gets or sets the DC offset of the waveform.

Frequency Gets or sets the frequency of the generated waveform.

FunctionType Gets the wave type. Sets the wave type to Sine, Cosine,
Square, Triangle, PositiveRamp, or NegativeRamp.

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Table 23 FunctionWaveformGenerator Properties

Property Name Description

NumberOfPoints Gets or sets the number of points in the generated

waveform.

Phase Gets or sets the phase (in degrees) of the generated

waveform.

StartTime Gets or sets the start time of the waveform.

StopTime Gets or sets the stop time of the waveform.

Methods

Table 24 FunctionWaveformGenerator Methods

Method Name Description

GenerateXData Generates the X axis values.

GenerateYData Generates the Y axis values.

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Timing Classes

The Timing Class

Most computers have high-resolution counters. These counters
are very useful when you need precise timing measurements. To
test if your computer supports this type of counter, call the
HiResCounterSupported method.

The Timing class provides two sets of functionality designed to

take full advantage of a high-resolution counter. First, the
CounterValue property and the CalculateElapsedSeconds method
allow you to make precise timing measurements. To determine
the amount of timing resolution available from your computer's
high-resolution performance counter, use the CounterResolution
property.
The following C# example demonstrates this usage.
using System;
using Agilent.TMFramework;
using Agilent.TMFramework.InstrumentIO;

public class App {

public static void Main() {
DirectIO dio = new DirectIO("GPIB0::7");
double elapsed;
dio.WriteLine("*IDN?");
long start = Timing.CounterValue;
string response = dio.Read();
long stop = Timing.CounterValue;
elapsed = Timing.CalculateElapsedSeconds(start, stop);
Console.WriteLine("Elapsed time was: {0:E4}", elapsed);
}
}

Secondly, you can use the Delay method from this class to
provide delays, in the microsecond range, for gating I/O with an
instrument.

The Delay method guarantees the requested amount of time passes

NOTE before it returns. However, due to the preemptive, multitasking nature of
the Windows operating system, there is no guarantee the delay is not
longer.

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ProgressUpdater
The ProgressUpdater class is quite useful in at least two
instances. If you are programmatically building a driver
wrapper with T&M Toolkit’s Wrapper Generator and want
notification of the progress, the ProgressUpdater properties can
do this for you. You can also use this class for any program you
are developing where you want to monitor the progress of an
event.

The ProgressUpdater class has two properties:

• Message is a property that gets the message associated with
this event.
• PercentComplete is a property that gets the percent complete
value for this event.

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The EngineeringFormatter Class

The EngineeringFormatter class addresses the number formatting
needs of engineers. It converts any number into engineering
format and, for numbers with exponent values between E+024
and E-024 (inclusive), it can substitute the abbreviated or full SI
prefix for the exponent.
Any formatting method you use that takes an IFormatProvider as
a parameter can also use the EngineeringFormatter to format
numbers. For example, the System.String.Format method can
accept a FormatProvider (an object that implements
IFormatProvider). This method is used as follows for C#:

string result =
String.Format(EngineeringFormatter.Default,
"{0:M6}", 123456);

The result of this operation is "123.456E+003". If you had used

the standard .NET number format provider with the format
code of "E5", the result would have been "1.23456E+005". Note
how the EngineerFormatter adjusts the position of the decimal
point so the exponent is always a multiple of three. This is true
even when you display the exponent value as an SI prefix
instead of a number.

The general format for an engineering format specifier is:

<formatCharacters><significantDigits>. The significant digits
portion of the format specifier is optional. If the significant
digits are not specified, a default of four significant digits is
used.

When specifying the number of significant digits, use at least 3 in your

CAUTION
format specifier. For example, the code snippet
String.Format("{0:mt5}", 123456) specifies five
significant digits and produces the string "123.46e3". If only one
significant digit is specified using "{0:mt1}", the result is "100e3",
which is not very informative.

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The following table describes the different format specifiers

used to apply different engineering formats. Any format
specifier that is not recognized is passed through to the default
.NET FormatProvider. The description of each of the following
format codes shows an example of the format based on the
number 123456.

Table 25 Format Specifiers and Their Action

Format Specifier Description

M or m Engineering Multiple Mode. Exponent value is always a

multiple of three. Exponent character is displayed in either
upper case (E) or lower case (e) depending on the case of
the format character. M displays "123.5E+003". m displays
"123.5e+003".

Mt or mt Engineering Multiple Terse Mode. Same as M and m except

that extraneous exponent characters are removed to make
the display as terse as possible. Leading zeros in the
exponent are removed as well as the "+" character. In the
case of a negative exponent, the "-" character is displayed.
Mt displays "123.5E3". m displays "123.5e3". If the number
were 0.123456, then M would yield "123.5E-3". In all cases,
the t must be in lower case.

A SI Abbreviation Mode. Exponents between E+024 and

E-024 are replaced with the appropriate SI prefix
abbreviation. Exponent values that fall outside of this range
are not changed since there are no SI prefixes for these
values. A displays "123.5 k".

At SI Abbreviation Terse Mode. Same as A except that the

space between the number and the SI prefix abbreviation is
removed. At displays "123.5k". In all cases, the t must be in
lower case.

S SI Prefix Mode. Same as A except that the full SI prefix

name is used instead of the abbreviation. S displays “123.5
kilo".

St SI Prefix Terse Mode. Same as S except that the space

between the number and the SI prefix is removed. St
displays "123.5kilo". In all cases, the t must be in lower
case.

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A Visual Basic .NET sample for each formatting code appears in

the following list.

Dim formatProvider as IFormatProvider = EngineeringFormatter.Default

Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 1:{0:M}", 3.123456E-001))
Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 2:{0:m3}", 3.123456E+001))
Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 3:{0:Mt}", 3.123456E-001))
Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 4:{0:mt3}", 3.123456E+001))
Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 5:{0:A}", 3.123456E-001))
Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 6:{0:S}", 3.123456E-001))
Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 7:{0:At}", 3.123456E-001))
Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 8:{0:St}", 3.123456E-001))
Console.WriteLine(String.Format(formatProvider, "Case 9:{0:A5}S", 3.123456E-001))

/* Outputs:
Case 1: 312.3E-003
Case 2: 31.2e+000
Case 3: 312.3E-3
Case 4: 31.2e0
Case 5: 312.3 m
Case 6: 312.3 milli
Case 7: 312.3m
Case 8: 312.3milli
Case 9: 312.35 mS
*/

Agilent T&M Toolkit 123

10 Virtual Waveforms, Timing Classes, Number Formatting, and Engineering Math

The Engineering Math Class

The Engineering Math class is a superset of math functions
consisting of the Microsoft Math class and some additional
methods provided by Agilent that are specific to test and
measurement users.
The Microsoft library is well documented within Microsoft’s
help, so those methods are not discussed. Additionally, Agilent
has added a Complex data type method to many of the Microsoft
methods. Since the nature of the method is identical, these
methods are not discussed here either.

The following table contains a list of methods Agilent has

provided to enhance the Engineering Math Class.

Table 26 Table of Engineering Math Methods

Method Description

Asinh Returns the hyperbolic sine of the parameter passed to the

method. This is an overload supporting the complex and
double data types.

Acosh Returns the hyperbolic cosine of the parameter passed to

the method. This is an overload supporting the complex and
double data types.

Acoth Returns the hyperbolic cotangent of the parameter passed

to the method. This is an overload supporting the complex
and double data types.

Atanh Returns the hyperbolic tangent of the parameter passed to

the method. This is an overload supporting the complex and
double data types.

Atan2 Returns the angle (the inverse tangent), as measued in

radians, that is equal to the first parameter passed to the
method divided by the second parameter passed to the
method. This is an overload supporting the complex and
double data types.

Conjugate This is accomplished by negating the imaginary portion of

the complex number. This is an overload supporting the
complex and double data types.

124 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Virtual Waveforms, Timing Classes, Number Formatting, and Engineering Math 10

Table 26 Table of Engineering Math Methods

Method Description

Magnitude The absolute value of the parameter passed to the method.

This is an overload supporting the complex and double data
types.

Phase Returns the argument of a Complex number expressed in

radians. This is an overload supporting the complex and
double data types.

Real Computes the real portion of a Complex number that is

input as phase and magnitude

Imaginary Computes the imaginary portion of a Complex number that

is input as phase and magnitude

ToRadians Converts Degrees to Radians

ToDegrees Converts Radians to Degrees

Agilent T&M Toolkit 125

10 Virtual Waveforms, Timing Classes, Number Formatting, and Engineering Math

126 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

11
Using Agilent VEE with .NET
Using the VEE Wrapper Wizard 128
How do VEE and .NET Communicate? 131
Can Legacy VEE Code be Adapted to .NET? 134

This chapter describes how to use the VEE Wrapper Wizard and
offers many tips and techniques for making new and old VEE
source code work well with .NET.

The VEE Wrapper Wizard only works with VEE versions 6.03 or higher. If
NOTE you are using version 6.0, the VEE support page on the WWW
(www.agilent.com/find/vee) provides a free 6.0 to 6.01 update under the
VEE Support category, Update Patches link. A version 6.01 to 6.03 update
is included with the Agilent T&M Toolkit product. Versions of VEE earlier
than 6.0 require an upgrade.

Agilent Technologies 127

11 Using Agilent VEE with .NET

Using Agilent VEE with .NET

Using the VEE Wrapper Wizard

Agilent VEE is a a powerful graphical programming
environment for fast measurement analysis results. The VEE
Wrapper Wizard is designed to allow the VEE programmer to
continue working in the VEE environment but be able to use
Agilent T&M Toolkit and Visual Studio .NET as well.

Using the VEE Wrapper Wizard

Step Action Notes

1 Launch the Wrapper Wizard a From the Visual Studio .NET main • Before starting the VEE Wrapper
menu, select T&M Toolkit. Wizard, start VEE and open your
b From the T&M Toolkit menu, select VEE project.
VEE Wrapper Wizard.
c Click Next to continue or Cancel to
quit the wizard.

2 Point the VEE Wrapper Wizard to a Either browse to or type in the full path
your .vee file. to the .vee file you are using.
b Click Next to continue, Cancel to quit
the wizard, or Back to return to the
previous screen.

3 The Wrapper Wizard parses the Click Next to continue, Cancel to quit the • Warnings may appear. These are
file. wizard, or Back to return to the previous typically related to mismatches
screen. between the variable naming
conventions of .NET and the more
relaxed standards of VEE.
• The VEE Wrapper Wizard
automatically converts naming
differences between the VEE and
.NET. You should review each
warning.

128 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Agilent VEE with .NET 11

Figure 52 Selecting User Functions

Using the VEE Wrapper Wizard (continued)

Steps Actions Notes

4 Select the User Functions to a Review the list of available VEE User • The VEE Wrapper Wizard only
include in your VEE Wrapper. Functions and select the ones you includes User Functions.
want to include and clear the ones you • The description that appears in the
do not want to include. User Function Description text box
b Click Next to continue, Cancel to quit comes directly from the VEE
the wizard, or Back to return to the Description text box for the User
previous screen. Function.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 129

11 Using Agilent VEE with .NET

Figure 53 Specify .NET Wrapper Settings

Using the VEE Wrapper Wizard (continued)

Steps Actions Notes

5 Specify the .NET Wrapper settings. a Enter the fully qualified class name for
the generated wrapper class.
b Select a file name for the .NET wrapper
assembly.
c Select whether to automatically
generate XML. It is recommended that
you do generate XML.
d Click Next to continue, Cancel to quit
the wizard, or Back to return to the
previous screen.

6 Compile the .NET Wrapper Click Next to continue, Cancel to quit the
Assembly. wizard, or Back to return to the previous
screen.

130 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Agilent VEE with .NET 11

Using the VEE Wrapper Wizard (continued)

Steps Actions Notes

7 Select code generation options. a Select whether to add the new

References to the project and select
the project.
b Select whether to launch the Code
Paste Tool.
a Click Next to continue, Cancel to quit
the wizard, or Back to return to the
previous screen.

8 Generate code Click Next to continue, Cancel to quit the

wizard, Back to return to the previous
screen, or Finish.

9 Paste Code If you chose to launch the Code Paste

Tool, paste the code from the Code Paste
Tool into your source code.

How do VEE and .NET Communicate?

VEE Pro provides an ActiveX Automation Server that makes VEE
UserFunctions available for use by other applications. Those
UserFunctions are stored in a .vee file. The Agilent T&M Toolkit
provides classes, methods, and properties that enable communication
with the Automation Server in VEE. These VEE communication tools
are available when you add a GeneratedWrapper class to your .NET
application. The GeneratedWrapper class is created when you run the
VEE Wrapper Wizard.

Several classes are involved withVEE Pro’s communication. An

overview of the most important classes follows:
• The VeeLibrary object knows the name and location of your
.vee program file. It has a collection of all the UserFuctions available
in that program. It creates and owns an instance of the
VeeCallServer to handle the actual communication with VEE Pro.
• The VeeCallServer object controls VEE's configuration (such
as the window geometry).

Agilent T&M Toolkit 131

11 Using Agilent VEE with .NET

• The GeneratedWrapper is the principal object you use to

write code that communicates with VEE Pro. For
programming convenience, the GeneratedWrapper presents
each VEE UserFunction as a separate method, complete with
IntelliSense help. Because the GeneratedWrapper class
inherits from the VeeLibrary class, it also provides a way to
access all the public members of VeeLibrary and
VeeCallServer.

Configuring and Using the Callable VEE Server

VEE’s Callable VEE Server is an ActiveX Automation Server
available in version 6.x and greater. Some helpful hints for
configuring and using the Callable VEE Server follow.
For the Server Host, either the VEE Pro development
environment or VEE Pro RunTime can host the Callable VEE
Server. If VEE Pro RunTime is installed on a system without the
development environment, VEE Pro RunTime registers itself as
the Callable VEE Server. On systems containing both VEE Pro
RunTime and the development environment, you can change
the Callable VEE Server host from the command line. To make
VEE Pro RunTime the Callable VEE Server, execute:

<vee_run_install_dir>\veerun.exe /regserver
To make the VEE Pro development environment the Callable
VEE Server, execute:
<vee_pro_install_dir>\vee.exe /regserver

When in the operator mode, the Callable VEE Server does not
always display a VEE window. In many cases, the VEE server
performs its tasks without displaying a window. The following
conditions cause the VEE server to display a window when it
runs:
• The DebugEnabled property is True.
• The called UserFunction uses a Panel view as its operator
interface and specifies Show Panel on Execute.
• A dialog box (from the Data menu) executes, requesting
operator input.

132 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Agilent VEE with .NET 11

There are some I/O configuration items you should consider:

• The Callable VEE Server does not support loading embedded
I/O configurations. This means that the Callable VEE Server
only uses the global I/O configuration file. VEE searches for
the global I/O configuration file as follows:
1 If an environment variable named HOME exists, VEE
always looks for the I/O configuration file there. A blank
I/O configuration file is created if one doesn’t exist in the
%HOME% directory.
2 If no HOME environment variable is defined, then VEE
looks for the I/O configuration file in:
<%USERPROFILE%>\Local Settings\Application Data\Agilent\VEE Pro
• The remote instance of the Callable VEE Server is also
affected if HOME is not defined as an environment variable.
In this case, the "Identity" selection of the “dcomcnfg” utility
affects which I/O configuration file is used.
• When using "The interactive user" setting as the Identity
Selection, the current user’s I/O configuration file is used.
For example, if JDoe is logged on at the time the Callable
VEE Server started, the Callable VEE Server looks for the
I/O configuration file:
..\JDoe\Local Settings\Application Data\Agilent\VEE Pro\vee.io
• If you use "The launching user" setting or "This user" as the
Identity Selection, Windows NT normally loads the
"Default User" profile. If you use either of these settings,
you should copy the “vee.io” and “vee.rc” files from your
profile directory:
<%USERPROFILE%>\Local Settings\Application Data\Agilent\VEE Pro
to

..\Default User\Local Settings\Application Data\Agilent\VEE Pro\vee.io

If you are using VEE Pro RunTime to host the Callable VEE Server, change
NOTE all directory references above to VEE Pro RunTime.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 133

11 Using Agilent VEE with .NET

To verify your configuration settings, install VEE Pro 6.03 or

higher on the client computer. Then, using a command prompt
window, change directory to:
<vee_pro_install_dir>\examples\CallableVEE\VBScript

and execute:
cscript GetServerInfo.vbs \\<remote_host_name>
If this script fails, see the Troubleshooting section of online
Help.

Can Legacy VEE Code be Adapted to .NET?

Absolutely! The T&M Toolkit can generate a wrapper that lets
you access the UserFunctions in any (Version 6.03 or greater)
VEE Pro program, without requiring you to modify the VEE
program. However, if you are willing to revisit your legacy VEE
programs, there are some steps you can take to enhance the
interaction between your VEE code and your Visual Studio .NET
applications.

What can be Accessed in VEE?

Keep in mind that the Callable VEE Server cannot access the
"Main" portion of a VEE program. Only UserFunctions and
things embedded within UserFunctions are accessible when
calling VEE from a .NET application. Structure your VEE
program so that all the features you want to access are built as
UserFunctions.

Naming UserFunctions and Parameters

When naming UserFunctions and their input and output
terminals, follow the .NET naming rules. In summary: the first
character of a name should be a letter, and a name should
contain only letters, numbers, and underscores. It is also
helpful to use meaningful names. The VEE Wrapper Wizard
automatically alters names that do not conform to .NET naming
rules. You are not required to change non-conforming names,
but you might prefer your own alterations to the automatic
alterations.

134 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Using Agilent VEE with .NET 11

If you know the expected data type for your input parameters, it
is helpful to make those constraints part of your program. In
VEE, double-click the input terminal to open the Input Terminal
Information dialog. Set the Required Type and Required Shape to the
expected values. This lets your .NET application see the actual
data type. Without this constraint, .NET applications see the
terminals as the generic type "object."

Agilent T&M Toolkit 135

11 Using Agilent VEE with .NET

136 Agilent T&M Toolkit

Agilent T&M Programmers Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started

12
Product Support
Help Sources 138
Agilent Developer Network 143
Support Service Contracts and Options 144

This chapter describes the sources of help within Agilent T&M

Toolkit, the Agilent Developer Network, and the support
options.

Agilent Technologies 137

12 Product Support

Help Sources

Online Help
Agilent T&M Toolkit has an extensive set of Help files. These
files include tutorials, samples, and documentation for all of the
class libraries and stand-alone products.

The Agilent T&M Toolkit Help follows the Visual Studio .NET
help guidelines, have the same look-and-feel, and are tightly
integrated into the .NET help system. See Figure54 on
page139.

138 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Product Support 12

Figure 54 Agilent T&M Toolkit Help Contents

Agilent T&M Toolkit 139

12 Product Support

Dynamic Help
With Visual Studio .NET, Microsoft has released a new help
feature, Dynamic Help. This feature is both powerful and simple
to use. Dynamic Help is typically docked in the lower right
corner of your display. If it is not there, go to the .NET main
menu, select Help > Dynamic Help.

Dynamic Help contains a list of help references for the features

you are currently using. In Figure55 on page141, you see a
Dynamic Help window with three books, Help, Samples, and
Getting Started. Under the Help book is a reference to the 2D
Graph Control, DataVisualization.StripChart. The cursor was on
this control and, since a help topic is available for this control,
dynamic help provides quick access to it. As the cursor shifts to
a different control, feature, or word, Dynamic Help dynamically
changes.

140 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Product Support 12

Figure 55 Visual Studio .NET Dynamic Help

Agilent T&M Toolkit 141

12 Product Support

F1 Help
Agilent T&M Toolkit supports F1 help. This means you can
press F1 and, if a help topic exists for the control, word, phrase,
etc., the help topic is displayed. See Figure56 .

Figure 56 With XYGraph Active, F1 is Pressed

142 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Product Support 12

Agilent Developer Network

The Agilent Developer Network (ADN) gives you access to the
connectivity resources you need, in one place, easily accessible,
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You'll find drivers,
tools, sample code, documentation, and expertise, as well as a
Web-based community of T&M professionals to help you get
your job done. You save time, maintain your productivity, and
get results.
You can register for a FREE membership in ADN at
http://www.agilent.com/find/adn.

Agilent T&M Toolkit 143

12 Product Support

Support

Support Included with All T&M Toolkit Products

Installation
Agilent ensures the software is correctly installed.

Activation - Product Key

Agilent ensures the software is correctly activated.

Start Up
Agilent ensures that, once the software is installed and
activated, it works correctly subject to the terms of the
Warranty enclosed with your software.

Where You can Find Support

If you do not know where the nearest support center is, use the
World Wide Web to go to http://www.agilent.co/find/assist.

144 Agilent T&M Toolkit

 Index

A creating a DLL drag and drop

using the New Project wizard, 17 an instrument session, 38
Accessing low-level instrument creating a new instrument session, 38 dragging and dropping an instrument, 38
commands, 69 creating a new project, 16 driver session, 34
adapting legacy VEE code for .NET, 134 creating new projects Driver Wrapper Wizard
adding using the wizard, 16 checking for standards compliance , 64
a new trace, 103 creating traces, 103 reviewing any parse or compile
a waveform to your program, 114 creating waveforms, 114 errors, 64
markers to traces, 104 steps to create a wrapper, 61
ADN, 143 supported driver standards, 60
Agilent Developer Network, 143 D supported drivers, 60
arrays default trace , 102 troubleshooting, 63
X,Y pairs, 95 PlotDefaultTrace method, 102 DSP filters, 84
ASRL connect string, 73 diagnosing instrument connection dynamic help, 140
problems, 42 graphic, 141
B digital signal processing
filters, 84 E
Bartlett window, 84 various windows, 84
Bessel function DirectIO editing markers, 104
I0, 86 buffer management, 68 engineering formatter
J0, 86 converting instrument formats to data format specifiers, 122
J1, 86 types, 66 general format, 121
modified version of the first kind, 86 defined, 66 significant digits , 121
of the first kind, 86 instrument formats, 66 engineering math
of the second kind, 86 instrument session management API methods, 89
Y0, 86 API methods, 68 examples
Y1, 86 API properties, 68 accessing the DirectIO.Gpib, 82
Blackman window, 84 instrument sessions, 68 engineering number formatting, 123
DirectIO session, 34 function waveform generator
C DirectIO.GPIB properties, 116
properties, 71 using the high resolution timer, 119
changing or adding instruments to a DirectIO.Gpib exponential regression, 91
configuration, 32 exponents, 121
remote operation, 71
changing the default configuration file, 31 DirectIO.Serial, 69
collection editor
markers, 104
connect string, 73 F
data flow control, 73
traces, 104 methods, 74 F1 help, 142
complex Fast Fourier Transform, 84
properties, 73
converting to other data types, 82 FFT and IFFT
DirectIO.Tcpip, 69
imaginary comparer, 82 performance, 84
magnitude comparer, 83 properties, 75, 76
discovering instruments, 24 formatting numbers, 121
methods, 80 Fourier, 84
discrete mathematics , 87
not native to .NET, 80 FREE ADN, 143
phase comparer, 83 beta, 87
binomial, 87 Function Waveform Generator
properties, 80 methods, 118
combination, 87
Complex graph, 99 properties, 117
context menu, 108, 110 factorial, 87
controlling instruments, 42 gamma, 87
permutation, 87
steps to, 43
displaying I/O traces, 49

Agilent T&M Toolkit 145

 Index

G instrument configuration K
changing or adding to, 32
generating code, 36 deleting from, 33 keyboard shortcuts
generating waveforms, 114 instrument control, 42 enabling, 107
GPIB Instrument Explorer graphs, 108
connection string, 71 and RS-232, 27
remote operation, 71 defined, 22 L
graph generating code, 36
appearance, 106 icon key, 39 linear regression, 91
a marker legend, 106 instrument discovery, 24 logarithmic regression, 91
a trace legend, 106 key tasks of, 22
axes, 107 setting instrument properties, 30 M
grid, 107 starting, 22
margins, 106 with Interactive IO, 28 magnitude comparer, 83
Instrument IO Magnitude Spectrum graph, 100
plot area, 106
history window, 45 managing instrument configuratoins, 31
ticks, 107 markers
specifying the resource name, 43
title, 106 introduction to, 97
using to control instruments, 43
keyboard shortcuts, 108 Instrument Session Wizard, 34 linking, 99
min/max values, 107 mean, 88
abbreviated version, 38
mouse shortcuts, 109 generating code, 36 median, 88
smoothing mode, 106 instrument sessions mode, 88
adding or creating, 34 monitoring the call stack, 48
H managing, 68 mouse shortcuts
Interactive IO enabling, 107
Hamming window, 84 main display, 44
Hanning window, 84
hardware requirements, 13
what it does, 42 N
Inverse Fast Fourier Transform, 84
help New Project Wizard
IO Monitor
dynamic, 140 choosing an I/O layer to monitor, 54 how to use, 16, 17
F1, 142 defining the main display, 51 when one compiler is installed, 17
online, 138 number formats, 121
displaying results, 49
removing, 12 events, 49 number formatting specifiers, 122
technical support, 144 I/O streams monitored, 50
high resolution counters, 119 improving I/O performance, 56 O
trace points, 56
I using, 50 online help
viewing data details, 53 T&M Toolkit, 139
I/O layers IVI-C online help, about, 138
choosing what to monitor, 54 using in .NET, 60
I/O streams
SICL, 50
IVIplug&play P
using in .NET, 60
VISA, 50 panning, 108
VISA-COM, 50 keyboard shortcuts , 108
I0 in the Bessel function, 86 J mouse shortcuts, 109
imaginary comparer, 82 J0 in the Bessel function, 86 phase comparer, 83
installing Phase Spectrum graph, 101
J1 in the Bessel function, 86
how to, 11 PlotAll method, 105
PlotDefaulttTrace method, 102

Agilent T&M Toolkit 146

 Index

power curve regression, 91 timing cross correlate, 85

probability functions, 87 delay, 119 types
Root Mean Squared, 87 limits of delay, 119 Bartlett, 84
standard deviation, 87 precision of, 119 Blackman, 84
variance, 88 progress updater, 120 Hamming, 84
progress updater, 120 traces Hanning, 84
how to use, 120 collection editor, 104
Rectangular, 84
properties, 120 creating, 103
project types default trace, 102 window size, 84
defined, 18 full description, 101 wizards
Instrument Session, 34
introduction to, 96
PlotDefaultTrace method, 102 the Driver Wrapper Wizard, 60
R the New Project Wizard, 16
representations, 102
the VEE Wrapper Wizard, 128
Rectangular window, 84 setting properties, 104
regression tracing and debugging I/O, 48
exponential, 91 transferrable learning, 66 X
linear, 91 troubleshooting
logarithmic, 91 driver wrappers, 63 X,Y data and arrays, 95
power curve, 91 XY graph, 95
RMS - See Probability, Root Mean U
Squared, 87 Y
uninstalling, 11
Y graph, 97
S using existing drivers, 60
Y0 in the Bessel function, 86
SetData method, 105 Y1 in the Bessel function, 86
V
setting and plotting data, 105
setting instrument properties, 30 VEE Z
smoothing mode, 106 adapting legacy code for .NET, 134
zooming, 108
software requirements, 14 communication basics, 131
statistics , 87 configuring the callable VEE keyboard shortcuts , 108
Strip Chart, 98 server, 132 mouse shortcuts, 109
setting the timing interval, 98 verifying your communication
support, 144 configuration, 134
system requirements VEE Wrapper Wizard
hardware requirements, 11 avoiding naming problems, 134
software requirements, 14 how to use, 128
I/O configuration concerns for
T .NET, 133
what can be read by .NET, 134
T&M Toolkit
defined, 8 W
installing, 11
reasons to use, 8 Waveform graph, 96
uninstalling, 11 waveforms
what it contains, 8 creating programatically, 114
technical support windowing functions
all products, 144 data set comparison, 85
convolve, 85

Agilent T&M Toolkit 147

Index

148 Agilent T&M Toolkit