Instrument Control Toolbox

Functions Grouped by Category

This section contains brief descriptions of all toolbox functions. The functions are divided into these two groups:

• Base functions
• Object-specific functions

A number of other M-file helper functions are provided with this toolbox to support the functions listed below. These helper functions are not documented since they are not intended for direct use.

Base Functions

Base functions apply to all supported instrument objects (GPIB, VISA-VXI, and so on). For example, the fscanf function is supported for all instrument objects. The base functions are organized into the following categories based on usage.

Creating Instrument Objects
gpib	Create a GPIB object
serial	Create a serial port object
visa	Create a VISA object

State Change
fclose	Disconnect an instrument object from the instrument
fopen	Connect an instrument object to the instrument
record	Record data and event information to a file

Reading and Writing Data
fgetl	Read one line of text from the instrument and discard the terminator
fgets	Read one line of text from the instrument and include the terminator
fprintf	Write text to the instrument
fread	Read binary data from the instrument
fscanf	Read data from the instrument, and format as text
fwrite	Write binary data to the instrument
query	Write text to the instrument, and read data from the instrument
readasync	Read data asynchronously from the instrument
stopasync	Stop asynchronous read and write operations

Getting and Setting Properties
get	Return instrument object properties
set	Configure or display instrument object properties

Getting Information and Help
instrhelp	Return instrument object function and property help
instrhwinfo	Return information about available hardware
propinfo	Return instrument object property information

Graphical Tools
instrcomm	Graphical tool for communicating with an instrument using text data
instrcreate	Graphical tool for creating and configuring an instrument object

General Purpose Functions
clear	Remove instrument objects from the MATLAB workspace
delete	Remove instrument objects from memory
disp	Display instrument object summary information
flushinput	Remove data from the input buffer
flushoutput	Remove data from the output buffer
instraction	Display event information when an event occurs
instrfind	Return instrument objects from memory to the MATLAB workspace
instrreset	Disconnect and delete all instrument objects
instrschool	Interface for displaying toolbox tutorials
isvalid	Determine if instrument objects are valid
length	Length of instrument object array
load	Load instrument objects and variables into the MATLAB workspace
obj2mfile	Convert instrument object to MATLAB code
save	Save instrument objects and variables to a MAT-file
size	Size of instrument object array

Function Reference

Object-Specific Functions