WinGPIB - Windows GPIB App (multi-purpose)

[Grandchuck]

Looks like I have permission.

[IanJ]

Looks like I have permission.

Ahhh, there's the issue I think.
Your first sceenshot showing the error shows a username of:

C:\Users\cschuler\Documents\WinGPIBdata\

But the screenshot showing the folder permissions gives:

C:\Users\cschu\Documents\WinGPIBdata\

Have you got two users accounts on that PC maybe?.....The quick fix would be to copy the files to both locations, and make sure both have FULL ACCESS.

Ian.

[Grandchuck]

You nailed it!  Made some new folders in users and bingo.

Now, the question is why does this puppy seem to have two user accounts?  Not your problem but I'll bet this is going to bite me in the butt again.

Big THANK YOU Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

Having recently been playing with a Keithley 2001 7.5digit DMM......thought I'd share some interesting WinGPIB settings I have been playing with.

PRE-RUN
:SENS:VOLT:DC:DIG 8.5; - Puts the DMM in 8.5 digit mode. You can use DIG 9 also which renders the same 8.5 digits.
:SENS:VOLT:DC:NPLC 10; - NPLC range is 0.01 to 10
:DISP:WIND2:TEXT:DATA "Ian Johnston";STAT ON; - A bit of fun, puts your own text on the lower row on the display.
INIT:CONT OFF - Turn off to avoid INIT error -213 i.e. sets INIT IGNORED.

AT-RUN
:READ?

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.51 in Post #1 available for download.
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I have made 3 mods with this release as follows.
Please note I have not tested them completely fully, but they do appear ok.

I have doubled the amount of profiles, each Device now has 6off profiles available, 12off total.
When you load this new version your original profiles should stay intact under Profiles 1 to 3.


I have also given the app the ability to run PRE-RUN commands without running the sample timer.
To do this just simply make the AT RUN commands entry blank. Then hit the RUN button as usual, and once the PRE-RUN commands are sent to the Device the app will return to STOP mode.
Thsi is useful if you just simply want to send your device multiple commands and then send it nothing else.

And finally, I have added vertical scroll bars to the PRE-RUN and AT STOP boxes as they are multi-line and so should make it easier to edit them.

Ian.

[arvee]

Hello Ian,

Thank you very much for your program.
I installed V3.50 but it complained about visa32.dll and would not run.
After going back to V3.46 everything is fine.
With 100 ms delay in the response of the Arduino the csv file looks much better. The Arduino was too fast for your program.
There a few minor bugs and remarks.
1. After a measurement is stopped the last result is visible in the log. The result does not appear in the csv file. It does appear in the next csv file.
2. The title names PRE-RUN, AT RUN, AT STOP are better placed above their input fields, not below.
3. There are many semicolons :: in the GUI text. They serve no graphical purpose and less is better.
4. The Sample Rate unit is seconds and "- SAMPLE RATE" could be replaced by "SAMPLE PERIOD s".
Thanks again.

[IanJ]

Hello Ian,

Thank you very much for your program.
I installed V3.50 but it complained about visa32.dll and would not run.
After going back to V3.46 everything is fine.
With 100 ms delay in the response of the Arduino the csv file looks much better. The Arduino was too fast for your program.
There a few minor bugs and remarks.
1. After a measurement is stopped the last result is visible in the log. The result does not appear in the csv file. It does appear in the next csv file.
2. The title names PRE-RUN, AT RUN, AT STOP are better placed above their input fields, not below.
3. There are many semicolons :: in the GUI text. They serve no graphical purpose and less is better.
4. The Sample Rate unit is seconds and "- SAMPLE RATE" could be replaced by "SAMPLE PERIOD s".
Thanks again.

Thanks for your comments......

Regarding visa32.dll, have a look at this thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/3458a-logging-via-windows-app-revisited/msg2304651/?topicseen#msg2304651

The title names next to PRE-RUN etc have already been moved in V3.50.

The colons I will take a look at for the next release, same with "SAMPLE RATE" changed to "PERIOD (secs)".

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.52 in Post #1 available for download.
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- Tidy up of the GUI.
- Removed the backup/restore for the user settings, it's too buggy now that I had updated to 12off profiles. I am working on a much simpler solution......if only I could get "ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection....." to work!

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.53 in Post #1 available for download.
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Whilst working on the backup/restore functionality (still a WIP) I hit on a nice idea to be able to edit the various commands/profiles without actually connecting to a Device.
There is an EDIT MODE check box which enables the various profiles profided there is no Device connected.

[Update: Re-uploaded, forgot to set tootlip for new checkbox]

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

The import/export facility is gonna be quite a lot of work so I'm not going to bother at the moment.
In the meantime, here's how to copy the configuration file containing all your device settings etc from one PC to another, or simply if you just want to back it up.

On your old PC (I'm using Win10) go to:

C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\PDVS2_GPIB.exe_Url_somegreatlonglistoflettersnumbers\1.0.0.0\

and in there is a file called user.config

Copy that file out and put it in the similarly named folder in your new PC. The large folder name will be different.

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.54 in Post #1 available for download.
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I have been working on the PlayBack Chart.

- The GUI has had a bit of a makeover, re-arranging various stuff including group related items together more logically.

- Added an option to save four different Y-axis settings. Make your own or when you see one you like you can select from 1 of 4 profile checkboxes and hit SAVE. Load them by selecting a checkbox and hitting LOAD.

Don't forget that you can use the Plaback Chart as a pseudo LIVE chart. Just load the CSV file you are currently logging to and select the "Auto Refresh" checkbox.

PS. Some folks have suggested I should make the Playback Chart re-sizeable as it doesn't fit on their low res screens. Unfortunately, to do this is a LOT of re-work so unfortunately I won't be doing it. Apologies.

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.55 in Post #1 available for download.
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- Fixed a few bugs on the PlayBack Y-axis graph scale as it wasn't displaying or positioning entirely correctly, and the Y-axis Tidy checkbox was not working properly on selecting a saved Y-axis scale.
- Added the ability to displaystatistics for Device 1 (for now) i.e. difference between MIN and MAX from the CSV. Handy to know the range of your data (Y-axis)

Eventually, I'd like to replace the graph/charting solution here as MS Chart (Microsoft's own) isn't all that great, it's only very basic and I've had to hack it a good bit to get it to do what I want......which isn't great because when you change one bit of code it can effect another quite non-intuitively.

Sample screenshot of revised PlayBack Chart below. Brand new PDVS2mini undergoing partial burn-in from first power up, 11hrs total.

Ian.

EDIT: V3.55b uploaded, I have made some more GUI changes (tidy up) of the PlayBack Chart.
EDIT: V3.56 uploaded, I have made some more GUI changes (tidy up) of the PlayBack Chart.
EDIT: V3.58 The PlayBack chart now displays Max-Min range of values for each of the loaded graphs. The Zoom tools appear to work, so the number reflects the portion of the graph being displayed.
There is also X1000 & X1000000 checkboxes added which multiplies the number, i.e. Handy for the voltnuts who want to see a mV or uV figure (per sample below the Min-Max range of values for Device1 = 13.47uV).
PS. Again, not fully tested.

[Keith956]

Ian, it's great to see time on the playback chart X axis. Could this also be added to the live chart? I realise that the scale would be backwards, i.e. the right hand side would be T=0, and that the scale would change until the max number of X points had been displayed. But it would be very useful.

It would also be nice to have realtime drift i.e. say dV/dt for the last n (user-definable) seconds based on a least-squares fit. I know I can get this all from saved csv data, but...

[IanJ]

Ian, it's great to see time on the playback chart X axis. Could this also be added to the live chart? I realise that the scale would be backwards, i.e. the right hand side would be T=0, and that the scale would change until the max number of X points had been displayed. But it would be very useful.

It would also be nice to have realtime drift i.e. say dV/dt for the last n (user-definable) seconds based on a least-squares fit. I know I can get this all from saved csv data, but...

Yep, I'll have at both of these.

Remember also, that if you check the AUTO REFRESH box on the PlayBack Chart it effectively becomes a 'live' chart albeit every 5 secs update.

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.59 in Post #1 available for download.
[Virus acanned using BitDefender AntiVirus]

I had a requirement today to run logging for a specific length of time, then stop........so I have made some changes to the Data Log/CSV tab and have implements the ability to Enable CSV writing based on either on the number of entries required, or length in time (minutes).

Note that if you stop and start logging to CSV in one session then your No. Of Lines will keep increasing, but your No. Of Entries display will reset to zero each time. In the screenshot below I only had 1 session hence both counters are the same.

Also fixed a small bug with the CSV entries/lines counters being 1 count out.

As ever, it's only preliminary tested but appears to work, albeit I haven't tried it in dual device mode (Dev1 & Dev2 at same time).

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.60 in Post #1 available for download.
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Add ability to append text to the filename when you EXPORT copy.......handy for adding some sort of descriptive info about the CSV and to save you doing it manually after export.
PS. Limited to 35 additional characters.

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.61 in Post #1 available for download.
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Been meaning to add this for a loooong time. I have added a GPIB Command Line inteface via a new TAB.
After you connect to a Device you can then pop onto the Command Line tab and send any GPIB commands to your device. There are two command lines, one for each device and can be used at the same time (per piccy below).

There are two checkboxes so you can select the type of command you want to send, i.e. Query & Reply or just Send only.

I have only done basic testing, more work to do and to tidy it up a bit.

Notes:
- If you hit RETURN on an empty line nothing is sent.
- You can go back onto previous lines and hit return again to resend a previous command, albeit any new replies will appear at the very bottom.
- There is no processing whatsoever on the reply data from your device.

Still To Do:
- Fix one small bug is that the first command you send is ignored, but from then on it'll react accordingly.....not sure what is causing this at the moment.
- Although there are scroll bars, I want to add in a button to clear the command line window.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.62 in Post #1 available for download.
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Found the issue with the first command being sent via the Command Line returning nothing.........it was actually updating the data on the command line on the 2nd send with the data from the 1st send....so was all out of sync.
Anyways, this is now fixed, plus I have also added a CLEAR button above the command line interface.

Ian.



EDIT: V3.63 now posted.....just a wee tidy up of the Command Line and Device 1/2 tabs.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

New version V3.64 V3.65 in Post #1 available for download.
[Virus acanned using BitDefender AntiVirus]

I noticed that the data from my Keithley 2001 using the :READ? command anyways gives a return of the following 3 examples.
1.2345678E+00NVDC,+47.354841SECS,+01096RDNG#,00EXTCHAN
+12.34E-03NVAC,+211.709381SECS,+05638RDNG#,00EXTCHAN
+0.01539E+00NOHM,+269.504250SECS,+06843RDNG#,00EXTCHAN

So, I have added a way to be able to filter out the data as follows:
1.2345678E+00
+12.34E-03
+0.01539E+00

And, just incase other test instruments have something similar I have made the filter customizable, and in the case below the Keithley 2001 data can be split at the first "N" character.

The settings are saved via the individual profiles.
The Command Line tab read operations will ALWAYS show raw data only.

PS. I could probably make the filter much more customizable, but thats for another day.

Ian.

Disabled:-


Enabled:-


Update: V3.65 uploaded to Post #1, just some tweaks to the GUI.
Update: V3.66 uploaded to Post #1, just some tweaks to the GUI (the EDIT mode further refined).
Also updated my own GPIBchannels.txt file to Post #1 also.

[doktor pyta]

Has anyone succeeded using Ian's software with GPIB-USB-HS (National Instruments) or Prologix?
I saw the debate but it was without a conclusion.
I'm asking because I really suck at (any) programming but I'd love to use these nice charts.

[Micke]

Hi!

I use a GPIB-USB-HS (National Instruments) without problems, I use NI-VISA (rather old version, think it is v17.5) and NI-MAX is v18.5

[pwlps]

Hi,

There was indeed this guy who wanted to implement Prologix in the library but we haven't hear from him since.  And I don't have any experience with Prologix boards and don't own any so I did not follow this work anymore.

As for the GPIB-USB-HS it works very well via NI-Visa.  BTW let me mention an undocumented feature:  in 32bit apps it can be controlled without NI-Visa too if you select ADLink as interface. This is because the NI driver also installs the gpib32.dll (for compatibility with older software I guess) and ADLink relies on this dll.   However I don't know if Ians app is currently provided in 32 or 64 bits.

Pawel

[IanJ]

Hi,

There was indeed this guy who wanted to implement Prologix in the library but we haven't hear from him since.  And I don't have any experience with Prologix boards and don't own any so I did not follow this work anymore.

As for the GPIB-USB-HS it works very well via NI-Visa.  BTW let me mention an undocumented feature:  in 32bit apps it can be controlled without NI-Visa too if you select ADLink as interface. This is because the NI driver also installs the gpib32.dll (for compatibility with older software I guess) and ADLink relies on this dll.   However I don't know if Ians app is currently provided in 32 or 64 bits.

Pawel

The target Cpu at the moment is x86, so 32-bit.
I'm using VS 2019, but just away to upgrade ro VS 2022 so not sure if anything will change.

UPDATE:
VS 2022 is having an issue with Microsoft PowerPacks.dll as it is showing up a shapecontainer error when trying to view the form designer on another of my projects. MEH!......not happy!
I also tried loading WinGPIB and there a different set of errors.
I'll have to stick with VS 2019 for a while I guess.

Ian.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

Dogratian has a new SHT30 temperature/humidity sensor which will be available shortly.
This sensor is compatible with WinGPIB - Select USB-TnH (SHT30). It's the one I use daily.

https://www.dogratian.com/index.php/sensors/usb-tnh-sht30

Available for purchase here (just as soon as he has stock):-
Ebay - https://www.ebay.com/sch/dogratian/m.html

UPDATE: Dogratian now has stock.

Ian.

[doktor pyta]

Is there any idea why my new Dogratian USB-PA (BME280) is not recognized by V3.66 ?
I have no problem talking with it using terminal commands.