Need help with KS3988 CAMAC crate controller

Question

I have a kinetic systems model # 3988 CAMAC crate controller. I am running LabView 5.1 under Windows 98 and I have been having a hard time writing an application that works with it.
I am using the KS3988 VI found on the national instruments web site.
I am unable to declare the talk and listen addresses of the board.
How can I do this in LabView?
Thanks.
-Kazem

Answer 1

Kazem,
There are two drivers on the NI web site: www.ni.com/idnet for the KS3988. One is a legacy driver from NI and the other was contributed by somebody to the site:
NI
http://zone.ni.com/idnet97.nsf/9b2b33e1993d877786256436006ec498/045f8392cc4d1b01862568ab005fbb49?OpenDocument
Contributed
http://zone.ni.com/idnet97.nsf/9b2b33e1993d877786256436006ec498/3d2caa6ff59fba1d862568ab005fbcb9?OpenDocument
For the NI driver there is an Open and Close VI. The help for the Open VI states:
"This VI must be called first when communicating with the KS 3988. The address of the Crate Controller can be specified through the "GPIB Address" control, and the transfer mode for the KS 3988 set.
The VISA session control and indicator are used programmatically to pass the VISA
Session between VIs. It simplifies dataflow programming by providing an easy method of chaining VIs together, thereby simplifying the diagram's structure."
You should be able to use this VI to specify the GPIB address and the mode you wish to use (Single Transfer, Block Scan, Q-Stop and Q-Repeat). You can also call the Mode VI itself. There is also a Clear Inhibit Initialize VI you can use to perform those functions.
Following this you can use the Write General and Read General VIs and these will use the right mode to write or read with.
After calling the Open VI you can connect the dup VISA session control to the next VI you want to call and keep chaining after that. Be sure to call Close VI at the end of your application so the session resources can be deallocated.
After you download the Instrument Driver, unzip it into the LabVIEW\instr.lib directory and then when you open up LabVIEW the next time you should find the driver with all the VIs in the Instrument Driver menu pallate
. That the best way to find all the VIs and then you can use the Ctrl-H feature and move your cursor over each VI in the menu pallate to find out how to use each one.
Regards,
Kamran - NI