How do I communicate with my instrument?

NI-488.2

How do I communicate with my instrument?

Refer to the documentation provided by your GPIB instrument manufacturer. The command sequences for GPIB instrument communication are specific to each GPIB instrument. The documentation for your GPIB instrument should include the GPIB commands that you need to use to communicate with your instrument.

In most cases, device-level traditional NI-488.2 calls are sufficient for instrument communication. Typically, you will use ibdev to open a handle to your GPIB instrument. Once you have a handle, you can use ibwrt to send commands to your instrument and ibrd to get data from your instrument. When you are finished, use ibonl to close the handle.

For simple instrument communication, use the NI-488.2 Communicator. For more information, refer to the Using NI-488.2 Communicator topic.

To view an example of the Interactive Control utility communicating with a GPIB instrument, refer to the Getting Started with Interactive Control topic.

For instructions on how to develop your application, refer to the Developing Your NI-488.2 Application topic.


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