GPIB naar Tektronix

[BartvStC]

I have a GPIB connection with a Tektronix AFG320 (two-channel arbitrary function generator) and a VI from Tektronix
that sets the frequency, amplitude, offset and phase of a sine waveform.
Suddenly this program was not able anymore to adjust these 4 parameters.
Nobody could find the problem, until a technician from our calibration department had the bright idea to change the
regional settings from a comma to a dot. Then the program worked again.
Can somebody explain this to me. I don't understand anything from it.  

[RikPrins]

Hello Bart,

A lot of instruments use comma's as separators for data elements. By default LabVIEW follows the regional settings when it vomes to decimal separators. So when a comma is set in Windows, LabVIEW will use that. The problem is that when you are goining to parse data which comes from an instrument or send commands/parameters  to the instrument LabVIEW or the instrument will see a comma as a data element separator instead of the decimal separator. It can even happen that LabVIEW or the instrument will not find any data elements because it does not fit its expactations.

If you want LabVIEW to always use a dot as the seperator you can set this in the options of LabVIEW:

Tool>>Options>>Front Panel  Remove the checkmark in front of: "Use localized decimal point"

Regards,

RikP - National Instruments Applications Engineering

[Albert.Geven]

Hi Bart and Rik

NI in its American wisdom found it very important to follow Microsoft and hoped to please all European partners to show a comma by default!
Alas no instrument and almost every technician that is using LabVIEW ever uses a localized decimal point.

The only problem left is that still new users are struck by this unlucky idea to make it the default behaviour (to localize and to follow MS)

Please please change this in the next installation of LabVIEW !