Using NI-488.2 Communicator

You can use the NI-488.2 Communicator to verify that you can establish simple communication with your GPIB instrument. The NI-488.2 Communicator is an interactive utility that allows you to write commands to your instrument and read responses back from your instrument. It provides detailed information about the status of the NI-488.2 calls and you can use it to print sample C source code that performs a simple query to a GPIB instrument.

To start NI-488.2 Communicator, complete the following steps:

1. >  Start Measurement & Automation Explorer.
2. In Measurement & Automation Explorer, expand the Devices and Interfaces directory by clicking on the + next to the folder.
3. Right-click on the GPIB interface that your GPIB instrument is connected to.
4. Select Scan for Instruments from the drop-down menu that appears.
5. After the scan is complete, select your GPIB instrument in the left pane of the Measurement & Automation Explorer window.
6. Right-click on your instrument and select Communicate with Instrument from the drop-down menu that appears.
   The NI-488.2 Communicator dialog box appears.
7. Type a command in the Send String field and do one of the following:
• To write a command to the instrument then read a response back, click on the Query button.
• To write a command to the instrument, click on the Write button.
• To read a response from the instrument, click on the Read button.
• To configure special requirements for end of string (EOS) modes for your device, click on the Configure EOS button.