MeasLog

This program makes sequential measurents and saves the results to a semi-colon delimited text file (*.csv) which can be directly loaded into MS Excel and used to produce a nice graph of the measurements. Communication is through GPIB. It's very flexible and rate, time, instrument, query command, parameters to be added to the file etc. are fully selectable. All settings could be saved and are loaded when the program is started.

December 30, 2009  - New version 1.2.2

Changes from 1.2.1 to 1.2.2:

Two minor bugs fixed:

  Some devices could have timing problems at Connect causing Read Error,

  DeviceID, used to identify at Connect, was case sensitive.

Changes from 1.2.0 to 1.2.1:

 BugFixes:

    Changing between Sec and Min now doesn't clear Time Interval (introduced with v1.1),
    All Frames except Sequence now disabled during a running sequence,
    Time is now displayed correctly, also hours,
    Stop sequence now stops the sequence immediately rather than waiting for the current sequence to finish,
    Enabling/disabling of several buttons and boxes corrected,

    Timing Frame now doesn't show 0 seconds if there are no seconds in the sequence (i.e. 1 hour 1 minute 0 seconds to 1 hour 1 minute),
    Path to Excel-file now loads correctly at start,
    No Save question now at quit if nothing changed.
 

New:

    Time from start in log file now in format hh:mm:ss instead of seconds,

    Info button on Test window renamed to Help.

Changes from 1.1.0 to 1.2.0:

 Known Bugs:

  Yes, there are few and I'm working on it. Hopefully a new version will be available soon.

 New:

   GPIB address could now be selected manually (for instruments not responding to ID? or *IDN?,

   Another GPIB device can now be connected without having to restart the program,

   Wildcards can now be used to exclude characters of the query response string and an Info button added,

   Space(s) in the beginning of Exclude strings now permitted.

Changes from 1.0.0 to 1.1.0:

 Changes:

   A total redesign of the main window,

   Changing between Sec and Min for Time Interval now clears Time Interval box,
   Latest Measurement label changed to Current Measurement,

   Stop Sequence now clears progressbar,

   Pressing Enter at any box inside Timing frame triggers Apply,

   The way the Log File path was defined changed,  the path has been split into Path and File Name.

 BugFixes:
   Mini button added,

   Total Minutes didn't clear Number of Sequences if beginning with a 0 (zero),

   Start Sequence button became enabled after first sequence, now stays disabled until finished,

   Seconds and minutes in Time Interval didn't have the same result in sequences i.e. 5 secs vs 0:05 min,

 New:

   Menubar,
   GPIB Communicator added as part of the program for easy testing of commands,
   Open current log file with Excel from a menu,

   About window,

   Show Remaining Sequences,
   Show Elapsed Time,
   Show Remaining Time.
 

Version 1.0.0

   Initial version.

Here are some screen shots of a measurment sequence, every 2 seconds during 40 seconds.

The setup was done on a 1.5 kHz signal using a Tek DC5010 Frequency Counter.

Number of Sequences (= measurements) says 21 because the first one is always done at time = 0.

Operation is not completetly obvious so some explanation may be needed:

Time Interval:  The time between measurements in seconds or minutes. Minutes can be entered as min:sec.

Number of Sequences or Total Minutes: only one could be entered. Click Apply when done.

Log File: The path and name of the file where the data is stored.

              Path: Click Find to open another window and select a folder.

              File Name: Either click Find or enter manually in the text box.

              Some countries use a comma for decimal separator so for Excel to understand the data select the right one for you.

ID String: The ID query command the program sends to identify an instrument.

               Most of Tek's newer instruments are backwards compatible so they understand both but many others don't.

Manual GPIB Address: Select this to manually connect to an available GPIB address in the drop down list which will appear.

                                     This is to be used when an instrument won't respond to either ID? or *IDN?.

Device ID: The expected reply from the selected instrument. It could be partial.

ID response: The actual ID response from the instrument.

Measurement Query: The command query used to force the instrument to send a measurement value.

                                 This could also be defined on the Test window.

Connect:  Click this button and if the instrument is found on the bus it's full ID response is shown in the ID Response text box.

                If more than one instrument could reply to the query only the one with the lowest address will.

GPIB Comm: Can be used to communicate with the instrument to explore commands and queries.

Test:

This screen will show the actual measurent response.

If you want mask away part of it, make a selection in the Query Response text box.

Then click Add

The selection is copied the Exclude text box and will be removed from the response.

To recheck click Refresh.

The Exclude boxes can also be manually entered/edited.

The excluded text is the actual string shown in the Exclude text boxes and not absolute positions in the original string.

Some wildcards can be used, click Help for rules.

When done click OK to save the data and return to the main screen .

Start Sequence: Initiates the sequence.

To enter the measurement data into MS Excel select "Open Current Log File with Excel" in the File Menu.

To do that the correct path to the MS Excel exe file must have been defined.

When loaded into MS Excel it could look like something this after only these few manual steps:

   Select Columns A thru D.

   Format/Columns/Autofit Selection

   Center Alignment

   Select all data in Columns C and D. Selecting A or B instead of C will change the scale of the X-axis.

   Insert/Chart/XY (Scatter)/Chart #3/Finish

You must have a NI GPIB card with the proper drivers installed.  Find  and download National Instruments GPIB card drivers here.

It is expected to work on any PC/win OS (not 3.1) with a correctly installed and working NI card.

Download MeasLog here.   NOTE ! Be sure to uninstall any older version before installing this version.

                                           The ini-file from v1.0 is not be compatible with this version so you'd have to delete it too (v1.1 or v1.2 are OK).

Email me with comments. /Håkan