Tektronix 46W-74051-0 Test Automation User Guide

: June 15, 2024
: Tektronix

Table of Contents

What is a Programmatic Interface?
Installation and Prerequisites Overview
Example Code: Saving a Screenshot
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

Getting Started
with C++ for Test Automation
GETTING STARTED GUIDE

What is a Programmatic Interface?

A programmatic interface (PI) is a boundary or set of boundaries between two computing systems that can be programmed to execute specific behaviors. For our purposes, it is the bridge between the computer that runs on every piece of Tektronix test quipment and the application written by the end user. To narrow this even further, it is a set of commands that can be sent remotely to an oscilloscope and the system on that oscilloscope that processes and executes them. The PI Stack (Figure 1) shows the flow of information from the host controller down to the instrument. The application code written by the end user defines the behavior of the target instrument. This is usually written in one of the development platforms popular in the industry, such as Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, C++, or C#. This application will send SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instrumentation) commands, which are the standard format for almost all test and measurement equipment, to the VISA layer. In some cases, the application will call a driver, which will then send one or more SCPI commands to the VISA layer.

Figure 1: The programmatic interface (PI) stack shows the flow of information between a host controller and instrument.

Installation and Prerequisites Overview

This guide will provide you with a source code file to build a C/C++ project with to connect to your oscilloscope to save a screenshot to its local storage and send a copy to your local computer.
The steps outlined in the guide will walk you through the basic installation of free tools, ending with the execution of the code to yield a screenshot specifically on our MSO 5-Series. This code is also compatible with the 2, 4, 5, 6-Series scopes.
A note on the script: We have included code that should be compatible with C as lower common denominator, surely you could do this easier with more modern C++, but we wanted to demonstrate with basic C where possible.
Please download or copy our script from the Tektronix GitHub: Hard Copy Example

We will go through the following:

IDE (Integrated Development Environment) Installation – Visual Studio Community Edition – Free
a. Note: This guide will be using the VS compiler, not a true C compiler like mingw
VISA Installation
a. NI-VISA
Starting a project with Visual Studio
Linking VISA into the project
Running the example code

Visual Studio Community Edition
Install Visual Studio Community Edition

Download & Install Visual Studio Community Edition
a. Make sure you install the C/C++ Compiler from the Workloads tab.

VISA
Install a VISA Client

Download and install NI-VISA
a. Follow the steps outlined in our “VISA Getting Started Guide | Tektronix” guide for downloading and installing NI-VISA.

Example Code: Saving a Screenshot

Setting up the project

Open visual studio community edition and start a new project.
Select “Empty Project.” And in the next screen, enter your project name and folder.
If you do not see the solutions explorer on the right, you can display it with CTRL+ALT+L.
Download and import source.c you got from the Tektronix GitHub into your project by either ‘right clicking on the project name > Add > Existing Item’ and browse to the included source.c file. You can also use the keyboard shortcut SHIFT+ALT+A. This step will also create the ‘Source Files’ folder if it is not present by default.
Open the source.c file. You should see many errors since the VISA libraries are not linked yet.

Linking VISA Libraries

You should see numerous errors like ‘cannot find Source file,’ ‘identifier undefined,’ etc.

Right click on the Project Name and navigate to properties.
In properties, navigate to Linker > Input > Additional Dependencies, drop down option> Edit and add the path to your NI Visa Library (default: C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\Win64\Lib_x64\msc\nivisa64.lib)
In the same project properties window, go to C/C++ > General > Additional Include Directories> Add a new line > Browse to your NI VISA headers folder (default: C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\Win64\Include )
If you do not see C/C++ tab, you need to make sure you have a .c file opened in the Visual Studio.
Hit Apply / Ok to exit out of the properties window.
The errors/syntax highlighting will be cleared now.

Running the Example

Edit the following lines according to your instrument.
• Line 15: Resource String. Enter your instrument’s IP address.
• Line 19: Target path where the screenshot will be saved. Please ensure this path/folder exists on your local computer.
• Line 20: This will be the filename of the saved screenshot on your local computer.
• Line 60: is a direct hardcode to the scope, make sure this directory exists.
When ready, compile and run your code with CTRL + F5 (Or press the open green triangle).
If your code compiles correctly your code should run and end with the code 0 (0x0) message.

A note on repeat runs:

You will need to delete the generated files on the scope and the local copy. Alternatively, you can build in some code to add the date and time to the filename to make them unique each run.
You could also implement changes to increment the file names instead of hardcoding them in this quick example.

With this guide we have covered the basics for a small automation task with C/C++. The linking of VISA libraries is one of the most challenging pieces to getting C based languages working with automation.
If you found this useful, you might also want to check out our other language guides on www.tek.com/testautomation.

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European toll-free number. If not
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Rev. 02.2022

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