Get Started with the GPIB Interface

The GPIB interface is supported through a VISA-GPIB object. The features associated with a VISA-GPIB object are similar to the features associated with a GPIB object. Therefore, only functions and properties that are unique to VISA's GPIB interface are discussed in this section.

Create a VISA-GPIB Object

Create a VISA-GPIB object with the visadev function. Each VISA-GPIB object is associated with:

• A GPIB controller installed in your computer

• An instrument with a GPIB interface

visadev requires the resource name or alias as an input. The resource name consists of the GPIB board index, the instrument primary address, and the instrument secondary address. You can find the VISA-GPIB resource name or alias for a given instrument with the configuration tool provided by your vendor or with the visadevlist function. Define the alias using your VISA vendor configuration tool.

The VISA-GPIB resource name has the format GPIB[board]::primary_address[::secondary_address]::INSTR.

For example, use the VISA-GPIB interface to connect to a National Instruments^® controller with board index 0 and a Tektronix^® TDS1002 digital oscilloscope with primary address 1 and secondary address 0.

visagpib = visadev("GPIB0::1::0::INSTR")

visagpib = 

  GPIB with properties:

         ResourceName: "GPIB0::1::0::INSTR"
                Alias: "OSCOPE_2CH"
               Vendor: "TEKTRONIX"
                Model: "TDS 1002"
           BoardIndex: 0
       PrimaryAddress: 1
     SecondaryAddress: 0
    NumBytesAvailable: 0

  Show all properties, functions

The VISA-GPIB object visagpib represents a connection to your instrument. Click properties in the object display to see a full list of VISA-GPIB properties.

              ResourceName: "GPIB0::1::0::INSTR"
                     Alias: "OSCOPE_2CH"
                    Vendor: "TEKTRONIX"
                     Model: "TDS 1002"
                BoardIndex: 0
            PrimaryAddress: 1
          SecondaryAddress: 0
         NumBytesAvailable: 0

              SerialNumber: "0"
                      Type: gpib
             PreferredVisa: "National Instruments VISA"

                 ByteOrder: "little-endian"
                   Timeout: 10
                Terminator: "LF"
                   EOIMode: on

     BytesAvailableFcnMode: "off"
    BytesAvailableFcnCount: 64
         BytesAvailableFcn: []
           NumBytesWritten: 0

          ErrorOccurredFcn: []
                  UserData: []

You can use dot notation to configure and display property values. For more information about configuring these properties, see visadev Properties.

You can communicate with your instrument using the visadev Object Functions.