IVI Instrument Specific Drivers Overview

IVI instrument specific drivers contain the information to control a particular instrument model, including the command strings, parsing code, and valid ranges of each setting for that particular instrument. IVI instrument drivers apply an attribute-based approach to instrument control to deliver better run-time performance and more flexible instrument driver operation.

In the remainder of this help file the term specific driver refers to an IVI instrument specific driver A specific driver gives you the following benefits over a traditional instrument driver:

• State Caching—State caching prevents the specific driver from sending redundant commands to the instrument. If you try to set an attribute to a value that is already configured, the specific driver skips sending the command. You can disable state caching.
• Range Checking—Range checking verifies that a value you specify for an attribute is within the valid range for the instrument, without performing costly I/O or causing an instrument error. You can disable this feature for faster execution speed.
• Status Query—The status query feature automatically checks the status of the instrument after each operation. You can disable this feature for faster execution speed.
• Simple Simulation—You can develop application code for an instrument driver even when the instrument is not available. In simulation mode, the instrument driver generates simulated data for output parameters.
• Multithread Safety—You can use the IVI instrument driver in multithreaded applications. Multiple execution threads can use the same IVI instrument session without interfering with each other.