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Publish Date: Sep 6, 2006

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Getting Started with Measure and Serial

26 ratings | 2.42 out of 5
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Overview

This document overviews the installation procedure and general use guidelines for using Measure with Serial hardware. This information is available in the Measure Serial Control User Manual.

Table of Contents

  1. Hardware Installation and Configuration
  2. Measure Installation
  3. Measure Example with Serial

Hardware Installation and Configuration

Please consult our Serial Communication Starting Point for assistance with installing and configuring your Serial hardware.

Measure Installation


  1. Insert your Measure CD into your CD-ROM Drive.
  2. Select Start>>Run from the taskbar in Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me or File>>Run from the Program Manager in Windows 3.x.
  3. Type D:\SETUP in the Run blank, and click OK.
  4. Select a location for the setup program to install Measure...you may want to simply accept the default installation location.
  5. Deselect any of the Measure Add-ins that you wish not to install.
  6. Click OK
The Measure setup program copies the program files and on-line help files to the directory that you choose and creates a program group. It also automatically configures Microsoft Excel to load the Measure Add-ins you installed when you launch Excel.

  1. Insert your Measure CD into your CD-ROM Drive.
  2. Select Start>>Run from the taskbar in Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me or File>>Run from the Program Manager in Windows 3.x.
  3. Type D:\SETUP in the Run blank, and click OK.
  4. Select a location for the setup program to install Measure...you may want to simply accept the default installation location.
  5. Deselect any of the Measure Add-ins that you wish not to install.
  6. Click OK.

The Measure setup program copies the program files and on-line help files to the directory that you choose and creates a program group. It also automatically configures Microsoft Excel to load the Measure Add-ins you installed when you launch Excel.
See Also:
Measure Serial Control User Manual

Measure Example with Serial


Provided your Serial hardware is installed and configured properly, and your Measure software is installed properly, you are now ready to perform a simple test to ensure your Measure Serial system is functioning correctly. Please follow the simple steps below to test your software and hardware.

  1. Run Microsoft Excel.
  2. Click on the Serial pull-down menu and choose Instruments.
  3. Click the New button and make sure that the Port Settings (COM port, baud rate, parity, etc.) are correct for your Serial hardware setup. Consult the Serial Communication Starting Point webpage if you are unclear as to how to make these settings.
  4. Click the Test button.
  5. Type a valid command for your instrument in the Transmit blank and push 'Enter' on your keyboard to see if you get a response. The response will be a maximum of 50 characters in length.
  6. Provided your Instrument passes this test, click the OK button. Click OK again.
  7. Now click on the Serial pull-down menu and choose Tasks.
  8. Provided your instrument is capable of generating output, click the Capture button.
  9. In the Transmit this command string: blank, type a valid command for your instrument.
  10. Specify an appropriate range for the acquired values in the Store the result in this range: blank. You can do this by clicking in the blank, then highlighting a certain number of cells in your Excel worksheet.
  11. In the Wait for this end-of-line string: blank, make sure to specify the proper End-of-Line (EOL) character that your Instrument sends with its data.
  12. Click OK.
  13. Click the Run button. You should see the acquired value(s) appear in the cell(s) you specified.

    Please consult the Measure Serial Control User Manual for more information about other functionality (parsing input strings, sending multiple commands, etc.) available with Measure.
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    This tutorial (this "tutorial") was developed by National Instruments ("NI"). Although technical support of this tutorial may be made available by National Instruments, the content in this tutorial may not be completely tested and verified, and NI does not guarantee its quality in any way or that NI will continue to support this content with each new revision of related products and drivers. THIS TUTORIAL IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND AND SUBJECT TO CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS AS MORE SPECIFICALLY SET FORTH IN NI.COM'S TERMS OF USE (http://ni.com/legal/termsofuse/unitedstates/us/).