Keithley Instruments
6485-852B04
Release Note for Version B04
IVI Instrument Driver for the Model 6485/6487/6514
3/01/2005

 

IMPORTANT: To work properly with the driver, your instrument must have a compatible version of firmware.  Refer to section 2 (System Requirements) below for specific details regarding the required firmware version for your instrument.  Visit Keithley.com for upgrade instructions if your instrument’s firmware is not a compatible version.  The instrument’s firmware version is shown on the display when the instrument is first powered up, immediately to the right of the model number.

 

This document provides additional information for the installation and use of the 6485-852B04 6485/6487/6514 driver for LabView and LabWindows CVI, Visual Basic, and C/C++.

 

Table of Contents

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1      Introduction

1.1       Included in this release

1.1.1        KE6485 IVI Driver

1.1.2        Installation Locations

1.2       Additional available software

2      System Requirements

2.1       Supported Operating Systems and System Software

3      Installation

3.1       Keithley I/O Layer Installation

3.2       Upgrading from a previous version of the 6485 IVI Instrument Driver

3.3       Instrument Driver Installation

3.3.1        Installing the driver from CD

3.3.2        Installing the driver from the Web

4      Using the 6485 IVI Instrument Driver

4.1       Virtual Instruments

4.2       Create your own Virtual Instruments

4.3       Logical Names

4.4       VISA resources

4.4.1        GPIB

4.4.2        RS232

4.4.3        Example of using VISA resources:

4.5       Driver Speed up solutions

4.5.1        QueryInstrStatus

4.5.2        RangeCheck

4.5.3        Caching

4.6       Using the Example Programs

4.7       Using the driver with LabView

5      Known problems and issues

5.1       Serial Baud rate

5.2       KE6485_WriteInstrData

5.3       Invalid Data Type Error

6      Copyright Notice

 

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1         Introduction

1.1      Included in this release

 

The components described below are provided as part of the KE6485 IVI Instrument Driver for the 6485 Picoammeter, 6487 Picoammeter with voltage source, and 6514 Electrometer.  Some shortcuts for them are added to the Keithley Instruments folder on your Start Menu.

1.1.1      KE6485 IVI Driver

 

Version B04 of the KE6485 driver supports the 6485 Picoammeter, 6487 Picoammeter with voltage source, and 6514 Electrometer.

 

The Instrument driver conforms to the IVI DMM Class specification. The driver uses the Keithley I/O layer (VISA) to communicate with your instrument. IVI (Interchangeable Virtual Instruments) and VISA (Virtual Instrument Software Architecture) provide a common foundation for application development across multiple communication buses and multiple instrument vendors.  This software driver supports many Application Development Environments under Windows, such as Visual Basic, C/C++, LabView, LabWindows/CVI, and TestPoint. Numerous examples and an on-line help utility are provided to help programmers build their custom applications.

 

Important note: The Keithley Configuration Utility and Keithley I/O Layer software are no longer bundled with the driver as a single installation package.  The Keithley I/O layer may be downloaded from the Keithley Web site along with the driver.  The Keithley I/O software should be installed before the driver itself is installed, if possible.

 

1.1.2      Installation Locations

 

Version B04 will try to detect the presence of the IVI Shared Components and the National Instruments IVI Engine. Depending upon the versions it finds the installer could put the driver files in either of two locations, listed below. If the installer finds the IVI shared components but no NI IVI engine then it will abort the installation and ask the user to install the NI IVI Compliance package first.

 

If the installer finds there is no IVI shared components on the system then the following files will be installed to the following locations:

 

Ke6485_32.dll             C:\VXIPnP\WinNT\bin

Ke6485.fp                   C:\VXIPnP\WinNT\Ke6485

Ke6485.sub                 C:\VXIPnP\WinNT\Ke6485

Ke6485.txt                   C:\VXIPnP\WinNT\Ke6485

Ke6485.h                     C:\VXIPnP\WinNT\include

Ke6485.lib                   C:\VXIPnP\WinNT\lib\bc

Ke6485.lib                   C:\VXIPnP\WinNT\lib\msc

 

* Win95 would replace WinNT on Windows 9X systems.

 

 

If the IVI shared components are found on the system then the following files get installed to the following locations:

 

Ke6485_32.dll             C:\Program Files\IVI\bin

Ke6485.fp                   C:\Program Files\IVI\Drivers\Ke6485

Ke6485.sub                 C:\Program Files\IVI\\Drivers\Ke6485

Ke6485.txt                   C:\Program Files\IVI\\Drivers\Ke6485

Ke6485.h                     C:\Program Files\IVI\include

Ke6485.lib                   C:\Program Files\IVI\lib\bc

Ke6485.lib                   C:\Program Files\IVI\lib\msc

 

 

1.2      Additional available software

 

ExceLINX for the 6485/6487/6514 is a Microsoft Excel add-in for the 6485 Picoammeter, 6487 Picoammeter with voltage source, and 6514 Electrometer. Within minutes of installing ExceLINX on a PC, users can acquire data dynamically within Excel, and then employ the familiar Excel graphics, charting, and analysis capabilities. No Programming is required to use ExceLINX - a few mouse clicks are all it takes to configure the instrument, set parameters, triggers, etc.  Check Keithley.com or call 1-888-KEITHLEY (534-8453) for more information.

2         System Requirements

 

Pentium-class PC.

 

6485 firmware release B02 or later. DDC Mode is not supported by the driver.

 

6487 firmware release A02 or later. DDC Mode is not supported by the driver.

 

6514 firmware release A11 or later.  DDC Mode is not supported by the driver.

 

Keithley I/O Layer software KIOL-850 version B02.3 or later.

 

NOTE: It is strongly recommended that your computer and instrument be powered by an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) when running a critical application.

2.1      Supported Operating Systems and System Software

 

Windows XP Professional service pack 1 or later

Windows 2000 Service pack 3 or later

Windows NT Service pack 6a or later

Windows 98 Second edition only

Note: Windows 95 is not supported.

 

Chinese Windows 98 (Second Edition), 2000, and XP Pro are supported.

 

Japanese Windows 98 (Second Edition), 2000, and XP Pro are supported.

 

Note that Windows 95 is not supported in any language.

LabVIEW versions 5.1 through 7.1 are supported.

3         Installation

3.1      Keithley I/O Layer Installation

Before installing the KE2700 instrument driver, download and install the Keithley I/O Layer, KIOL-850, following the instructions in the I/O layer readme file to install and configure the software, and to connect your instrument to your computer.

 

3.2      Upgrading from a previous version of the 6485 IVI Instrument Driver

 

If you have an earlier version of the driver software installed on your computer, uninstall it by following the steps below before installing this version.

 

Using the Add/Remove Programs Wizard in Control Panel, uninstall the following components:

 

Keithley 6485 IVI Driver.

Keithley I/O Layer.

NI-VISA x.x.x Runtime (If present) (x.x.x will be the VISA version)

 

Reboot your computer.

3.3      Instrument Driver Installation

3.3.1      Installing the driver from CD

 

The Instrument Driver is included on the Software CD provided with the Instrument, or it can be downloaded from www.keithley.com.

 

If you have a previous version of the Instrument Driver installed on your computer, uninstall it as described above before installing the new version.

 

Before installing from the CD, it is recommended you visit www.keithley.com to see if a newer version of the driver is available.

 

Insert the Software CD in your computer.  The installation utility should start automatically.  If it does not start automatically, run the setup.exe file in the root directory of the CD.

 

Follow the instructions on the screen to install the software.

 

When the installation is complete, reboot your computer.

3.3.2      Installing the driver from the Web

 

If you have a previous version of the Instrument Driver installed on your computer, uninstall it as described above before installing the new version.

 

Download the driver software from the Keithley Web site, www.keithley.com.  The software is a single compressed file, approximately 24 MB in size, and should be downloaded to a temporary directory.

 

Run the downloaded file from the temporary directory.

 

Follow the instructions on the screen to install the software.

 

When the installation is complete, reboot your computer.

4         Using the 6485 IVI Instrument Driver

 

To connect to the instrument via the driver you need to first call KE6485_init or KE6485_InitWithOptions. The first parameter for either function is a VISA resource string, which indicates to the I/O layer which communication device you want to use to connect to the instrument and in most cases the address of the instrument.  This can be specified using a Virtual Instrument name, a Logical Name, or a VISA Resource string.  We recommend that you do not use the VISA resource string form, since it builds hardware and bus dependencies into your code.  If you use the Virtual Instrument Name or the Logical Name form, the Keithley Configuration Panel can be used to select a different bus or address with no code changes required.

4.1      Virtual Instruments

 

The Keithley I/O Layer installer creates several virtual instruments that you can use to automatically connect to an instrument.

 

If you are using a National Instruments GPIB card, select KE6485_GPIB14 as your device. By default, the logical name KE6485ExampleInstr is also assigned to this device.  This logical name is used by the example programs but can also be used by user programs.

 

If you are using a Keithley Instruments or CEC ISA or PCI GPIB card, select KE6485_GPIB1_14 as your device.

 

If you are using a Keithley Instrument or INES PCMCIA GPIB card, select KE6485_GPIB2_14 as your device.

 

If you are using COM Port 1, select KE6485_COM1 as your device.

 

If you are using COM Port 2, select KE6485_COM2 as your device.

 

An example of using a Virtual Instrument Name to connect to an instrument connected to COM Port 1 is:

 

KE6485_init("KE6485_COM1", VI_TRUE, VI_TRUE, handle)

4.2      Create your own Virtual Instruments

 

If you want to create your own virtual instruments then use the Configuration Panel or Wizard. Open the Configuration Panel by selecting Start> Programs> Keithley Instruments> Keithley Configuration Panel, and wait for the Wizard to start.  Follow the Wizard instructions to create a new configuration or modify an existing one.

4.3      Logical Names

 

You can also define logical Names for your devices using the configuration panel.  One logical name is created by default: KE6485ExampleInstr.  This default logical name is used by the example programs supplied with the driver, and is associated with the KE6485_GPIB14 device by default.

4.4      VISA resources

4.4.1      GPIB

 

For GPIB instruments, you would use a resource string of the following format:

 

"GPIBx::yy::INSTR".

x is the GPIB card number.

yy is the GPIB address of the instrument.

4.4.2      RS232

 

For RS232 instruments, the VISA resource string has the following format:

"ASRLx::INSTR" where x is the COM Port number.

4.4.3      Example of using VISA resources:

 

To connect to a 6485 at GPIB address 14 via GPIB1:

 

KE6485_init("GPIB1::14::INSTR", VI_TRUE, VI_TRUE, handle)

4.5      Driver Speed up solutions

 

Using the KE6485_InitWithOptions function there is a parameter, called OptionString, where you can enable/disable certain features of an IVI driver.

4.5.1      QueryInstrStatus

 

If this feature is enabled the driver will query the instrument after every function call to see if there where any errors. This is useful while you are writing your application but once it is finalized then you can disable this feature to gain extra performance.

4.5.2      RangeCheck

 

If enabled the IVI engine will check to see if the parameters you are passing in are within range. Disabling this feature in the final application will also gain some performance increase.

4.5.3      Caching

 

The driver has the option of caching all the settings it sends to the instrument so that it doesn't send a setting to the instrument a second time if it hasn't changed. By default this is enabled.

4.6      Using the Example Programs

 

The KE6485 Driver includes a number of example programs written in Visual Basic, LabView, and C.  The examples demonstrate how to perform common functions using the driver. The example programs are hard coded to use the logical name: KE6485ExampleInstr for the device identifier. By default, this logical name is associated with the KE6485_GPIB14 device, which is a 6485 at GPIB address 14 using a National Instruments GPIB interface card for communications.  If you are using a different bus, address, or interface card, you must reassign the logical name to the correct device using the Keithley Configuration Panel.  For example, if you are using a CEC GPIB card instead of a National Instrument GPIB card, you would use the Keithley Configuration Panel to delete the logical name from the KE6485_GPIB14 device, and add it to the KE6485_GPIB1_14 device.

4.7      Using the driver with LabView

 

If LabView is already installed on your computer when the driver is installed, the LabView VIs will be installed in the proper subdirectory of the LabView directory so that they are directly accessible from within LabView.

 

If LabView is not installed on your computer when the driver is installed, the LabView VIs will placed in a subdirectory of the Keithley Instruments directory.  Once LabView has been installed, the VIs must be copied to the proper subdirectory under LabView before they can be used.  This directory is typically:

 

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabView X\inst.lib\KE6485

 

Depending on the particular driver, there may be separate versions of the VIs for LabView 5.x and 6.x, in which case they will be installed into separate directories.  Copy the appropriate version of the VIs into the National Instrument directory tree.

5         Known problems and issues

5.1      Serial Baud rate

The instrument driver works correctly only if the serial baud rate is set to 9600. This problem is only in the driver and will be fixed in the next release. This does not affect GPIB connections.

 

5.2      KE6485_WriteInstrData

When using this function you must append a linefeed character to the end of the command that you send to the instrument. In LabVIEW and C add a “\n” whilst in Visual BASIC add the “Chr(10)” or “vbLf” command to the end of the string.

 

5.3      Invalid Data Type Error

Where ever you see the following data types in the Visual BASIC help file: ViChar, ViChar[], ViString or ViConstString use the VB data type STRING. If you use one of these data types your VB program will run but when the code executes it will generate an error, "Invalid data type for automation". All the VB examples use the correct data type.  (PR19585)

 

6         Copyright Notice

 

The VISA software supplied with the Instrument Driver is Copyright (c) 2001-2004 National Instruments Corporation.  All Rights Reserved.

 

The KE6485 Series instrument driver is Copyright (c) 2001-2005 Keithley Instruments.  All Rights Reserved.

 

End of Release notes.