IBFIND

Board-Level/Device-Level

Purpose

Open and initialize a board or a user-configured device descriptor.

Format

C

Interactive Control (Usage Notes)

Input

Output

Description

ibfind is used to acquire a descriptor for a board or user-configured device; this board or device descriptor can be used in subsequent traditional NI-488.2 calls.

ibfind performs the equivalent of an ibonl 1 to initialize the board or device descriptor. The unit descriptor returned by ibfind remains valid until the board or device is put offline using ibonl 0.

If ibfind is unable to get a valid descriptor, a -1 is returned; the ERR bit is set in Ibsta and Iberr contains EDVR.

Note Unit descriptors are allocated on a per process basis, so it is not possible to share them between processes. If you pass a unit descriptor from one process to a second process, all NI-488.2 calls using that descriptor in the second process will return EDVR.

Using ibfind to obtain device descriptors is useful only for compatibility with existing applications. New applications should use ibdev instead of ibfind. ibdev is more flexible, easier to use, and frees the application from unnecessary device name requirements.

Possible Errors