Keysight VISA Options

These options are essential for VISA programmers and those who run programs developed with VISA.

Also See:

Interface Group View

Setting	Description
VISA Logging Option	VISA logging has three possible settings: Debug Window – Messages log using Windows OutputDebugString(), which is helpful during debugging. In Visual Studio, you can view these messages in the Output window by selecting 'Show output from: Debug' while debugging your VISA program. Event Viewer – Information messages are logged in the Windows Event Viewer, with errors logged as information messages because VISA handles them internally. You can access the Event Viewer through the IO Control utility. Off – (Default) No logging is done. You can change VISA logging settings via IO Control. Click the IO Control icon, then select VISA Options > VISA Logging. Choose Debug Window, Event Viewer, or Off."
Default VISA Lockwait Option	When True, VISA lockwait is enabled. When False, 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.

Setting

Description

VISA Logging Option

VISA logging has three possible settings:

Debug Window – Messages log using Windows OutputDebugString(), which is helpful during debugging. In Visual Studio, you can view these messages in the Output window by selecting 'Show output from: Debug' while debugging your VISA program.
Event Viewer – Information messages are logged in the Windows Event Viewer, with errors logged as information messages because VISA handles them internally. You can access the Event Viewer through the IO Control utility.
Off – (Default) No logging is done.

You can change VISA logging settings via IO Control. Click the IO Control icon, then select VISA Options > VISA Logging. Choose Debug Window, Event Viewer, or Off."

Default VISA Lockwait Option

When True, VISA lockwait is enabled. When False, 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.