Are waveform calculations provided in API or must they be coded separate?

[Fast351]

I noticed that the VirtualBench soft panel has multiple waveform calculations (frequency, Vp-p, duty cycle, rise/fall time) shown for the MSO. 

When using NI-Scope on other NI digitizers, these functions are available in the API to be performed on an acquired waveform.

I see no such functions in the C API for the VirtualBench instrument.  Are these calculations being performed outside the API?

As a general note:  I love this instrument.  Great value for the money, but for those of us that have a ton of infrastructure built around existing NI software technologies (NI-DMM, NIDCPOWER, NISCOPE, NIDAQmx for DIO) it sure would be nice to use the same API to control the VirtualBench instrument.  As it is, I have all this functionality working through the C API (thank you for this BTW) but it adds a second driver that has to be maintained.

[ZachHindes]

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@Fast351 wrote:

I noticed that the VirtualBench soft panel has multiple waveform calculations (frequency, Vp-p, duty cycle, rise/fall time) shown for the MSO. 

When using NI-Scope on other NI digitizers, these functions are available in the API to be performed on an acquired waveform.

I see no such functions in the C API for the VirtualBench instrument.  Are these calculations being performed outside the API?

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The VirtualBench programmatic API does not provide these measurements, so your program would need to calculate those or use a 3rd party library of some kind.

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As a general note:  I love this instrument.  Great value for the money, but for those of us that have a ton of infrastructure built around existing NI software technologies (NI-DMM, NIDCPOWER, NISCOPE, NIDAQmx for DIO) it sure would be nice to use the same API to control the VirtualBench instrument.  As it is, I have all this functionality working through the C API (thank you for this BTW) but it adds a second driver that has to be maintained.

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This was a concern we had when designing this API, so it is interesting to hear about your experiences.  If I may ask, how are you using VirtualBench in your applications?  How is that use-case different from how you are using NI-DMM, NI-DCPower, NI-Scope, and NI-DAQmx in other applications?  I'm trying to get a feel for how you're using the different APIs to better understand your use-case and requirements.

[Fast351]

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@ZachHindes wrote:

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@Fast351 wrote:

I noticed that the VirtualBench soft panel has multiple waveform calculations (frequency, Vp-p, duty cycle, rise/fall time) shown for the MSO. 

When using NI-Scope on other NI digitizers, these functions are available in the API to be performed on an acquired waveform.

I see no such functions in the C API for the VirtualBench instrument.  Are these calculations being performed outside the API?

---

The VirtualBench programmatic API does not provide these measurements, so your program would need to calculate those or use a 3rd party library of some kind.

---

As a general note:  I love this instrument.  Great value for the money, but for those of us that have a ton of infrastructure built around existing NI software technologies (NI-DMM, NIDCPOWER, NISCOPE, NIDAQmx for DIO) it sure would be nice to use the same API to control the VirtualBench instrument.  As it is, I have all this functionality working through the C API (thank you for this BTW) but it adds a second driver that has to be maintained.

---

This was a concern we had when designing this API, so it is interesting to hear about your experiences.  If I may ask, how are you using VirtualBench in your applications?  How is that use-case different from how you are using NI-DMM, NI-DCPower, NI-Scope, and NI-DAQmx in other applications?  I'm trying to get a feel for how you're using the different APIs to better understand your use-case and requirements.

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Figured on the waveform calcs.  Not a big deal, I've needed to code that for a while anyway, but as I mentioned, NISCOPE provides some of those measurements....

As for as the use case, we have our own test exec that we use for end of line production functional testers.  This platform provides a great opportunity for an entry level tester with low cost, where the measurements are limited to simpler functions supported by VirtualBench.

Our test exec has drivers for a large group of NI equipment, and the thing I've always liked is that once you built a driver for an instrument, all other instruments in the same "class" (DIO is a good example) talk identically or almost identically.  So you develop a driver for an NI 6509 for example, and the USB-6501, PXI-6515, etc write themselves. 

As I said, it's not a huge deal, just adds another piece of code to maintain.