5½ Digit Multimeter Reference Manual Appendix C: Communication inter
2110-901-01 Rev. C/August 2013 C-13
Instrument driver examples
All Keithley drivers come with examples written in several programming languages that show you how
to do the most common things with the instruments.
Install the driver. The examples are in the Microsoft
®
Windows
®
Start menu, under Keithley
Instruments > Model Number (where Model Number is the instrument model number).
IVI shared components
The IVI shared components are a similar concept to the VISA shared components. The IVI
Foundation provides class drivers for:
• All the supported instruments (DMM, Scope, Fgen, and so on)
• The configuration store
The IVI shared components also create the installation folders and registry keys that all IVI drivers
and support files use for installation.
Interchangeable Virtual Instruments (IVI) style drivers
The major problem with VXIPnP drivers was that the API was not specific to the instrument. For
something as standard as measuring DC volts on a digital multimeter (DMM), it would be a good idea
if there were a set of standard functions to do this.
The IVI Foundation
(http://www.ivifoundation.org) defined a set of application programming interfaces
(APIs) for the following instruments: DMM, function generator, DC power supply, scope, switch,
spectrum analyzer, RF signal generator and power meter. They are currently working on class APIs
for some other instrument types.
There are two types of IVI drivers: IVI-COM drivers use Microsoft
®
COM technology to expose driver
functionality, while IVI-C drivers use conventional Microsoft
®
Windows
®
DLLs to export simple C-
based functions.
For more information about IVI drivers and the differences between the COM, C, and .NET interfaces,
see Making the Case for IVI
(http://pacificmindworks.com/docs/Making%20the%20Case%20for%20IVI.pdf).
NI CVI runtime engine
IVI-C drivers that are created using National Instruments (NI
TM
) LabWindows/CVI environment
depend on either the CVI runtime (cvirte.dll), or the instrument support run-time (instrsup.dll), and
must be present on the system for them to run.
NI IVI Compliance Package
The National Instruments (NI
TM
) IVI Compliance Package is a software package that contains IVI
class drivers and support libraries that are needed for the development and use of applications that
leverage IVI instrument interchangeability. The IVI Compliance Package also is based on and is
compliant with the latest version of the instrument programming specifications defined by the IVI
Foundation.
The NI ICP installer installs the IVI shared components, CVI runtime engine, and the instrument
support runtime engine.
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