Controlling and Querying the VSA

The 89600 VSA runs on your Windows workstation. Starting the VSA opens a GUI (Graphical User Interface) window on your workstation. You can control the application using menus and dialog boxes in the window, or you can control the application via the VSA's programming APIs.

Using the Programming APIs

The 89600 VSA provides two interfaces for controlling the VSA: the .NET API 1) Access Preamble Indicator, or 2) Application Programming Interface and the SCPI interface. With these interfaces, you can automate measurements and access measurement data. You can control the VSA with any programming language that can interact with the CLR (common language runtime), including:

• C, C#, VB.NET programs
• MATLAB
• Labview
• Keysight VEE

For more on programming interfaces, see Programming the 89600 VSA.

Using Macros

Macros are C# or VB.NET programs that are structured in a particular format and are invoked by the 89600 VSA process. To create a macro, you can either type the code yourself or you can enable macro recording to create a macro based on the parameters that you change.  

For more information, see About Macros.