Settings and Tools Menu

This section contains information that applies to Windows, Linux, and Windows on ARM.

Under the Settings icon () in the upper right of the display, various menu items are available, including settings and tools. The menus are configured slightly differently in Windows and Linux (for example, in Linux the shortcuts to tools are on the main Settings and Tools menu, while in Windows they are nested under a Tools sub-menu). However, the functionality of available commands is the same.

Settings

See below for information on the various settings that are available. Subsections are flagged with a W icon for Windows support and an L icon for Linux support. (References to Keysight 488, PXI, Remote IO Server and Data Analytics settings are Windows-only. All other settings are supported in Linux.)

Remote IO Server settings

If you are unfamiliar with Remote IO Server, read its introduction here: Remote IO Server. Following are options for configuring this software component.

If you change the properties of the Remote IO Server while it is running, the changes will not take effect until you stop and restart the Remote IO Server software.

When the Remote IO Server is started from Keysight Connection Expert or started automatically when booting, the Remote IO Server is started from the Keysight IO Libraries Service under the SYSTEM user. When started in this mode, the server runs even when no users are logged in and its console window is not visible. This is the normal way the Remote IO Server is started. 

When the Remote IO Server is started from C:\Program Files\Keysight\IO Libraries Suite\bin\siclland.exe, the server is started in the user's session. In this case, the server's console window is visible and the server will quit when the user logs out. This method is used primarily for debugging. This is the only mode in which the Log Errors and Log Locks and Connections options (below) are useful.

Enable Remote IO Server

  • Enable Remote IO Server - If you select (check) this option, the Remote IO Server will start (or continue if already running) when you click OK. If you clear (uncheck) the option, the Remote IO Server will not start (or will stop if already running).
  • Auto-Start Remote IO Server on Machine Startup - When this check box is selected, the Remote IO Server starts automatically whenever the operating system on this PC is started. When this check box is cleared, the Remote IO Server does not start automatically.

Configure Remote IO Server

  • Server Timeout - The timeout value, in seconds, used by the Remote IO Server when SICL applications use the default timeout value or have the timeout set to 0 (infinity). The default server timeout value is 120 seconds.
  • Log Errors - When this check box is selected, the Remote IO Server logs errors to the Windows Event Log and to the server's console window. When this check box is cleared, Remote IO Server errors are not logged.

The console window is visible only if you have started C:\Program Files\Keysight\IO Libraries Suite\bin\siclland.exe directly, rather than from Connection Expert.

If you enabled Keysight 488 and then later upgrade your IO Libraries Suite, you must re-enable Keysight 488. Keysight 488 is disabled during the IO Libraries Suite upgrade process.
  • Log Locks and Connections - When this check box is selected, locks and user connections are logged to the Windows Event Log and to the server's console window. When this check box is cleared, locks and connections are not logged.

    The console window is visible only if you have started C:\Program Files\Keysight\IO Libraries Suite\bin\siclland.exe directly, rather than from Connection Expert.

If you enabled Keysight 488 and then later upgrade your IO Libraries Suite, you must re-enable Keysight 488. Keysight 488 is disabled during the IO Libraries Suite upgrade process.
  • Use Keepalive Client Probes - When this check box is selected, the Remote IO Server software will periodically send keepalive client probes to the client PC(s). When this check box is cleared, keepalive client probes are not sent.

    Keepalive client probes can be used to verify that connections to client computers are still active. When enabled, probes are sent once every 2 hours if no other communication has been carried over the connection during that 2-hour period. If there is no response to the first probe, probes are repeated once every second. After a number of probe response failures, the server closes the connection.

    Most people prefer to leave keepalive client probes turned off (check box cleared). This allows temporary connection losses to occur without the connection being closed.

When finished entering the above information, click OK to save the configuration or Cancel to exit without saving the changes.

PXI System settings

If your system includes modular equipment from multiple vendors, you may need to configure these settings to ensure the proper functioning of your system.

Allows you to select either Auto Selected (default Keysight Resource Manager) or a User Selected Resource Manager. If Auto Selected is selected, then Active Resource Manager (see below) is grayed out and is not selectable.

  • Active Resource Manager - Select the active resource manager from the list of available resource managers on your system.
  • Trigger Manager Selection Mode - Allows you to select either Auto Selected (default Keysight Trigger Manager) or a User Selected Trigger Manager. If Auto Selected is selected, then Default Trigger Manager (see below) is grayed out and is not selectable.
  • Default Trigger Manager - The trigger manager manages chassis triggers. For any chassis, the triggers are managed by the following managers, in order of preference:
    • Chassis-specific trigger manager: If the chassis has a chassis-specific trigger manager (installed with the chassis software), that chassis-specific manager manages the triggers.

    • Generic trigger manager: If there is no chassis-specific trigger manager, and the chassis vendor has supplied a generic trigger manager, that generic trigger manager manages the triggers.

    • Default trigger manager: If there is no chassis-specific trigger manager and no generic trigger manager from the vendor of this chassis, the default trigger manager manages the triggers.

You can select the default trigger manager from the list of installed generic trigger managers.

Note: The generic Keysight KtMTrig is available for programmatic control of trigger management for Keysight chassis. It is not a Trigger Manager itself but it is an IVI driver "wrapper" based on the PXI-9 Trigger Management Specification managed by the PXI Systems Alliance.

Keysight 488 GPIB settings

Enable Keysight GPIB Cards for 488 Programs

This option is of interest to Keysight 488 programmers and those who run programs developed with Keysight 488 or another vendor's compatible library. See the Keysight 488 Help for detailed information and warnings regarding this option.

If you enabled Keysight 488 and then later upgrade your IO Libraries Suite, you must re-enable Keysight 488. Keysight 488 is disabled during the IO Libraries Suite upgrade process.

Keysight VISA settings

These options are of interest to VISA programmers and those who run programs developed with VISA. These three options may also appear under a VISA Options submenu item in IO Control, when VISA is installed.

Select VISA Logging Option

VISA logging has three possible settings:

  • Debug Window – Messages are logged using Windows OutputDebugString(). This is useful in debuggers. If you are using Visual Studio to debug your VISA program, you can see these messages in the Visual Studio Output window by selecting Show output from: Debug.

  • Event Viewer – Information messages are logged to the Windows Event Viewer. (Errors are logged as information messages because VISA handles the errors.) The Event Viewer may be run as an IO Libraries Suite utility; click the IO Control icon, , Utilities, Event Viewer. In Event Viewer, click Applications and Services Logs, then KeysightIOLibraries, to see the logged VISA messages.

  • Off – (Default) No logging is done.

VISA logging can also be changed from the IO Control. Click the IO Control icon , then VISA Options, then VISA Logging. Click Debug Window or Event Viewer or Off.  

The occurrence of a logged message does not necessarily indicate a problem with the user program. For example, a message may be logged as part of the instrument discovery process.

Select Default VISA Lockwait Option

When True (Windows) or Enable (Linux) is selected, VISA lockwait is enabled. When False is selected (Windows) or the enable slider is turned off (Linux), VISA lockwait is disabled. The default is False / off.

This sets the default value for the Keysight-specific VISA ViBoolean local (per-session) attribute VI_KTATTR_LOCKWAIT.

Programmatically, when a lock-abiding VISA call is made on a session to an exclusively locked resource:

  • If VI_KTATTR_LOCKWAIT is VI_FALSE (False is selected), the call is immediately returned with a VI_ERROR_RSRC_LOCKED.

  • If VI_KTATTR_LOCKWAIT is VI_TRUE (True is selected), the call waits for the session timeout interval for the lock to be released and the device to become available. If the device does not become available, a VI_ERROR_TMO is returned instead of  VI_ERROR_RSRC_LOCKED.

VISA lockwait can also be changed from the IO Control. Click the IO Control , then VISA Options > Default VISA LockWait, then click True to enable or False to disable.

Default PXI Address Form

This setting controls the format Connection Expert will use to display PXI instrument addresses. The format selection also controls the default format returned by the viFind() VISA attribute. However, VISA will accept either address format, regardless of this setting.

  • Use Interface/Bus/Device/Function Format – Select this format to display PXI addresses in a format that includes the PXI interface. For example, the address PXI0::1-2.0::INSTR refers to function 0 on PXI device 2 on bus 1 on interface 0.

  • Use Legacy Bus/Device/Function Format – Select this format to display PXI addresses in the legacy format used by most PXI vendors. For example, the address PXI1::2::0::INSTR refers to function 0 on PXI device 2 on bus1. The PXI interface is assumed to be zero in this address format. This is the default.

The PXI address form can also be changed from the IO Control. Click the IO Control , then VISA Options > Default PXI address form, then click one of the selections shown above.

Auto Discovery settings

This option allows you to enable or disable Auto Discovery for GPIB (default interface GPIB0) and LAN (default interface TCPIP0) instruments. The Keysight Discovery Service scans the interface buses on your PC automatically to look for new instruments. This process is called Auto Scan. Refer to Auto-Discover and Auto-Scan for details.

Appearance settings

Title bar - Use System Title Bar (needs restart) - By default, this option is off (disabled). Enable this option only if you are accessing your Connection Expert machine using VNC and re-sizing the Connection Expert window causes open programs to crash. Enable the option, click OK, and restart Connection Expert to correct the issue.

IO Libraries Suite Updates settings

In this screen, you'll see the currently-installed version number of the IO Libraries Suite. If there is a newer version available, you'll see that information and you will have the option to click Download New Version.

By default, if you start Connection Expert and a newer version is available, you will see this screen before being directed to Instruments View as usual.

To disable this feature, select Do Not Suggest Future Updates, then click OK to save. You can always use the Settings dialog or Keysight.com to view and download available updates.

To access the readme file for your operating system and other detailed information about available updates to IO Libraries Suite, go to http://www.keysight.com/find/iosuite. The Trials and Licenses tab contains readme links and downloads for both Windows and Linux.

Note for Windows users: If IO Libraries Suite is running on a Keysight instrument, update checking may be disabled. You should not update IO Libraries Suite on an instrument unless you are certain the new version is supported with that instrument model; to find information on supported versions for your instrument, contact Keysight (http://www.keysight.com/find/contactus) or visit the Technical Support page for your instrument.

 

Localhost settings

Loopback: 

These settings, implemented with the support of software servers and hardware servers, affect the listening ports of the HISLIP servers running on the local machine. By default, neither box is checked, meaning you can access HISLIP servers from local or remote PCs, which would be controlled by firewall settings.

If you select one or both ports using the check boxes, this means you can only access the HISLIP servers that are listening on that port (or ports) from the local PC, which would bypass firewall rules.

  • Block LAN access to HiSLIP on port 4880
  • Block LAN access to HiSLIP on port 4885

Tools

Under the Settings icon () in the upper right of the display, you can launch several utilities and access other tools. Please note that in Linux tool shortcuts are on the main Settings and Tools menu, while in Windows they are nested under a Tools sub-menu. However, the functionality of available commands is the same.

  • Interactive IO
  • IO Monitor
  • Alias Manager
  • Message Log
  • VISA Conflict Manager

To run IO Libraries utilities, view the Message Log or the VISA Conflict Manager:

Interactive IO

Interactive IO is a software utility that lets you interactively send commands to instruments and read the responses without writing any program code. You can use Interactive IO to:

  • Quickly verify connectivity to your instrument
  • Troubleshoot communication problems
  • Become familiar with the instrument's command set
  • Rapidly prototype commands and check the instrument's responses before writing code

Interactive IO contains a number of commonly used commands to simplify communicating with instruments.

Select the instrument that you want to configure. Click the Interactive IO icon in Connection Expert.

Alternately, you can start Interactive IO from Keysight IO Control by clicking Utilities > Interactive IO.

See the Interactive IO Help for usage instructions.

Interactive IO does not operate with PXI (modular) instruments. Windows users with PXI instruments, use the instrument's soft front panel instead of Interactive IO.

IO Monitor

IO Monitor is a utility that traces messages generated by Keysight's IO Libraries:

  • VISA
  • SICL
  • VISA COM
  • IVI-COM instrument drivers released after September 18, 2010

These I/O and instrument driver messages can be used to analyze communication between test & measurement instruments and the controller PC.

You can start IO Monitor by selecting an instrument in the Instruments view and then clicking the IO Monitor icon , or by clicking the IO Control icon and then clicking Utilities > IO Monitor. See the IO Monitor Help for usage instructions.

Interactive IO does not operate with PXI (modular) instruments. For PXI instruments, use the instrument's soft front panel instead of Interactive IO.

 

 

Alias Manager...

Aliases are supported in both Windows and Linux, although the Alias Manager menu item and dialog are specific to the Windows product. For detailed information on VISA and SICL Aliases and the Keysight Alias Manager for both operating systems, see: Aliases and Alias Manager

 

Message Log...

For detailed information on the Connection Expert Message Log, see: Connection Expert Message LOG

 

VISA Conflict Manager

Connection Expert's VISA Conflict Manager allows you to see and modify the VISA/VISA COM and VISA.NET implementation settings on your system; it provides access to the IVI VISA Conflict Manager (see 64-bit VISA Architecture). It shows a combined view of your test system. This view shows only interfaces – individual instruments are not listed.

The VISA Conflict Manager affects only 64-bit VISA behavior (that is, the behavior of VISA in a 64-bit application running on a 64-bit system). VISA COM and VISA.NET settings are effective for both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

When you select VISA Conflict Manager from the menu, you may see a message displayed for several seconds while Connection Expert gathers the VISA configuration data.

For more information, see: VISA Conflict Manager

Show Welcome Screen

The Welcome screen plays a short (approximately one minute) video introduction to the Keysight IO Libraries Suite with Connection Expert.

To replay the Welcome screen video:

  1. Click .

  2. Select Show Welcome Screen. The video starts automatically.

Uncheck the "Show welcome at startup" at the bottom of the video player to prevent the video from playing each time you start Connection Expert.

About Connection Expert

The About Keysight Connection Expert dialog lists the application's software version, copyright, and in Windows, 64-bit/32-bit VISA information. Windows is shown on the left and Linux on the right.

To close the About box, click OK or Close.

See Also

Using Keysight VISA with Another Vendor's VISA (32-Bit).

Keysight's 32-Bit Software Compatibility Architecture

64-Bit VISA Architecture 

Remote IO Server Software Overview

 

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