VISA scan/screen capture utility

[jhenderson0107]

Here's  https://share.elkengineering.net/-U3YjecZVq6  a minimal Windows utility to scan connected instruments using NI/Agilent VISA (GPIB, USB, ethernet, etc) and display screen shots and ID details.  Supports many brands/models, but notify this thread if your instrument is omitted.  Hope you find it useful. 

Revision v1.0.0.5: Add support for Agilent 53310A MDA
Revision v1.0.0.6: Adds ability to save rendered screen to file

[Hexley]

Here's https://www.dropbox.com/s/fj1vu2b95y8ipu4/ConnectionManager.exe?dl=0 Supports many brands/models, but notify this thread if your instrument is omitted.

Nice work, and thanks for posting.

If it's not too much work, one useful enhancement could be to support the "SCDP" screen dump command that Siglent uses for some of its products. See colorado.rob's work as mentioned in this message for more information:  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/the-siglent-sdg2042x-thread/msg2346945/?topicseen#msg2346945 .
 

[jhenderson0107]

Updated v1.04 adds screenshot support for Siglent SDGs. 

[KungFuJosh]

Hi,

I tried connecting the app to my Siglent SDG2122X AWG, and I'm not able to get a connection over TCPIP. I've specified  xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:Port and I've tried xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Port also, but it can't find the device. For the Siglent, the two port options are 5024 (telnet) and 5025 (scpi?).

I noticed in the log it appears to search using the *INSTR query. I tried that over telnet and the SDG does not give any response to that query. Is it possible to try searching using *IDN? instead? Can the search query be specified or overridden in the settings.ini file?

Thanks,
Josh

[jhenderson0107]

Josh -

In my experience, LAN devices are rarely (if ever) properly auto-detected by the Agilent Connection Manager or NI Measurement Explorer.  This is unlike unlike USB and GPIB devices, which typically auto-detect properly.   I suspect this is because scanning and auto-detection of LAN devices could be very time-consuming.

For LAN devices, you must first manually add the device to the instrument tree.  Afterwards, it will be detected by my utility and will render a screenshot as illustrated in the attachments. 

[KungFuJosh]

I was trying to get it to work with just your utility and the nivisa runtime. I didn't realize I needed another app to make the connection. I'll try setting that up.

Thanks!

[KungFuJosh]

For anybody else trying to do this, here's what I had to do:

Installed Keysight Connection Expert (IOLibSuite_18_3_29517) which includes visa drivers, so you don't need others.

Add the IP in the TCPIP settings (port number is already listed) in Keysight Connection Expert.

Open the connection manager app, hit Discover, and keep the IP address box EMPTY. It will then discover the device added from the Keysight app.

Hitting the Render button pops a screenshot from the AWG on the computer screen.


Question: does/can it save the image somewhere, or do we have to screenshot the render?

Thanks,
Josh

[jhenderson0107]

Question: does/can it save the image somewhere, or do we have to screenshot the render?

Yes, use the Clip button atop the rendered image to copy the image to the Windows clipboard, then paste it into your target application as desired.  See attached image. 

[jhenderson0107]

For anybody else trying to do this, here's what I had to do:

Installed Keysight Connection Expert (IOLibSuite_18_3_29517) which includes visa drivers, so you don't need others.  Add the IP in the TCPIP settings (port number is already listed) in Keysight Connection Expert

To clarify, use of the Connection Expert or NI Discovery tools are required only for LAN -connected instruments.  USB, GPIB devices are added to the Visa instrument libraries automatically. 

[jhenderson0107]

Open the connection manager app, hit Discover, and keep the IP address box EMPTY. It will then discover the device added from the Keysight app.

To clarify, the IP address box is used to specify the address of the instrument server rather than a specific instrument.  The server is the PC into which USB, GPIB and RS232 devices are physically connected and on which the Visa server feature has been enabled. 

Imagine you have a PC (running Visa server) located in a remote lab to which many instruments are connected, running experiments.  You could connect to and control any of those instruments by entering the IP address of the server in the IP address box. 

[KungFuJosh]

Question: does/can it save the image somewhere, or do we have to screenshot the render?

Yes, use the Clip button atop the rendered image to copy the image to the Windows clipboard, then paste it into your target application as desired.  See attached image.

If you ever feel like adding the feature, saving directly to a jpg file would be great.

Thanks for all the additional info!

Now that I have this, Siglent will finally release a firmware with a simple screenshot capture. 🤣🤣

[jhenderson0107]

If you ever feel like adding the feature, saving directly to a jpg file would be great.

Feature added.  Updated link in original post of this thread. 

[KungFuJosh]

If you ever feel like adding the feature, saving directly to a jpg file would be great.

Feature added.  Updated link in original post of this thread.

That was fast! Thank you.

[coromonadalix]

Snif  sadly doesn't seems to work on my Siglent SDS1104X-E  or Rigol  DS1104Z   in usb tmc  mode ??  can not use  rj45

says the scopes doesn't have screen capture support ??

they both identify ...

[alm]

If you ever feel like adding the feature, saving directly to a jpg file would be great.

Why would you ask for JPEG and not PNG for a screen capture