Support: HTBasic

Make sure that the controller has been configured correctly within the SICL software (Agilent Connection Expert).

After the interface has been configured use the following command in HTBasic:

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS;DEV lan[IP Address]:lan0 ISC 7"

lan0 is the device name. Adjust this setting according to your configuration.

The driver for the LAN/GPIB controller can also be laoded through Device Setup. Just add a new "HPIBS" driver and open the properties page. Change the SICL Device Name if needed:

  lan[address IP]:lan0

If all settings are correct, load the driver using the "Load" button.

Make sure that the controller has been configured correctly within the SICL software (Agilent Connection Expert).

When using a National Instruments compatible controller use the following command in HTBasic:

  LOAD BIN "GPIBNI;DEV xxxx"

When using an Agilent compatible controller use the following HTBasic command:

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS;DEV xxxx"

xxxx is the device name as configured in the driver software of the GPIB hardware manufacturer.

The USBS driver only supports devices which are compatible with the USBTMC and USBTMC-USB488 standards.

Make sure that the controller has been configured correctly within the SICL software (Agilent Connection Expert).

Use the following command in HTBasic:

  LOAD BIN "USBS;DEV xxxx"

xxxx is the device name as configured in the Agilent Connection Expert software.

Install the Agilent I/O Libraries. Then install the driver software for your GPIO interface, after that shut down the computer and install the GPIO hardware. Write down the Device Name. For example, if you have installed a GPIO interface with the device  gpio12, add the following line to your AUTOST file:

  LOAD BIN "GPIOS;DEV gpio12 ISC 12"

Now you can immediately output data to your GPIO interface:

  OUTPUT 12;Data

You can customize the ISC (Interface Select Code), only make sure that there is no conflict  with any exsiting ISC. So you could also use ISC 20 (if available):

  LOAD BIN "GPIOS;DEV gpio12 ISC 20"

HPIBS 

The HPIBS Driver supports HP/Agilent and compatible GPIB cards. Before the driver can be used, the Agilent I/O Libraries must be installed and the interface must be correctly configured for SICL. There are a number of parameters and configuration options which are controlled through the SICL Interface.

GPIB900 

The GPIB900 driver only supports the TransEra GPIB Interfaces Model 900.

GPIBNI 

The GPIBNI Driver supports NI and compatible GPIB cards. Before the driver can be used the National Instruments software must be installed and the interface must be correctly configured in the NI software. There are a number of parameters and configuration options which are controlled through the NI Interface.

Please note: In case the manufacturer of the GPIB interface emulates the National Instruments GPIB driver structure (GPIB-32.DLL) you do not need to install the National Instrument NI-488.2 software.

Use the driver HPIBS for Agilent (or compatible) GPIB interfaces. Make sure that the controller has been configured correctly within the SICL software (Agilent Connection Expert).

After the interface has been configured use the following command in HTBasic:

Load the driver as follows:

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS;DEV sicl_name ISC isc TIME timeout"

sicl_name is the Device Name (SICL Interface ID) in the Agilent I/O Libraries / Agilent Connection Expert. Please note that die the Device name is case sensitive.

isc is the Interface Select Code for the device.

timeout is the maximum wait time until a timeout is generated.

Example: LOAD BIN "HPIBS;DEV gpib0 ISC 7"

As soon as the driver has been loaded you can use the interface:

  OUTPUT 705;"*IDN?"

  ENTER 705;Id$

Please note: You can load the driver within your AUTOST file in order to load it automatically every time HTBasic starts up.

Use the driver HPIBS for National Instruments (or compatible) GPIB interfaces.

Make sure that the GPIB interface as well as the drivers are installed correctly.

Load the driver as follows:

  LOAD BIN "GPIBNI;DEV card_name ISC isc BUS bus [NOTSYS|SYSTEM]"

card_name is the symbolic Name of the interfaces as configured in the NI Software (default: gpib0).

isc is the Interface Select Code

bus is the address of the board on the GPIB bus (when only one card is used you can omit this value)

NOTSYS is used if the interface should be used device mode

SYSTEM installs the interface as System Controller (default)

Example: LOAD BIN "GPIBNI;DEV gpib0 ISC 7"

As soon as the driver has been loaded you can use the interface:

  OUTPUT 705;"*IDN?"

  ENTER 705;Id$

Please note: You can load the driver within your AUTOST file in order to load it automatically every time HTBasic starts up.

Use the GPIOS driver for HP/Agilent/TAMS GPIO interfaces.

Before the driver can be used, the Agilent I/O Libraries must be installed and the interface must be correctly configured for SICL. There are a number of parameters and configuration options which are controlled through the SICL Interface. Use the IO configuration program (iocfg32.exe) in order to configure the interface. Write down the "Device Name".

Load the driver as follows:

  LOAD BIN "GPIOS";DEV name ISC isc"

name is the SICL Name as configured in the I/O Libraries

isc is the Interface Select Code

Example: LOAD BIN "GPIOS;DEV gpio ISC 12"

  OUTPUT 12;Data  ! Data to send

  ENTER 12;Read   ! Data to read

Info: You can customize the ISC (Interface Select Code), only make sure that there is no conflict  with any exsiting ISC.

HTBasic Version 9.0 and above supports more than one instance of the HPIBS driver.

Example: 

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS;DEV gpib0 ISC 7"

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS;DEV gpib1 ISC 8"

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS;DEV gpib3 ISC 13" 

In older HTBasic versions you must copy and rename several copies of the HPIBS driver in order to use more than one GPIB interface.

Example: 

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS;DEV gpib0 ISC 7"

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS2;DEV gpib1 ISC 8"

  LOAD BIN "HPIBS3;DEV gpib3 ISC 13"

The following GPIB interfaces are compatible with HTBasic.

Download: Compatibility list as pdf file     Last Update: May 2009

It is possible to control measurement devices using TCP/IP over LAN.

For this purpose the Agilent SICL I/O library is neccessary. This library comes with a DLL (sicl32.dll) which allows you to communicate to devices over LAN.

The following functions are used:

DLL LOAD "SICL32"  

DLL GET "SHORT Sicl32:iopen" AS "Iopen"  

DLL GET "SHORT Sicl32:iwrite" AS "Iwrite"  

DLL GET "SHORT Sicl32:iread" AS "Iread" 

DLL GET "SHORT Sicl32:iclose" AS "Iclose"

An example program which shows the communication between HTBasic and an Agilent 16000 Logic Analyzer can be found here.

The net use command can be used to redirect an LPT port to a shared printer, even if the shared printer is on the same PC. The only way to redirect an LPT port to a TCP/IP address is through a local printer share (to the TCP/IP port) because the net use commands requires a UNC path.

This can be done by following these steps:

- Make sure your USB printer is shared on the network. (If you are not connected to a network you can workaround this

   by using a network loop back plug. To create a loop back plug the pins are looped from pin 1 to pin 3, and from pin 2 to

   pin 6.)

- Open a command prompt window (attention Windows Vista/7 user: open the command prompt as administrator !)

- At the command prompt type

     net use lptx \\machine_name\share_name

   and press ENTER

   Machine_name is the name of the machine on which the printer is shared, the share_name is the shared name of the printer, and the x with lpt is the number of the LPT port you wish to print from. The selected LPT port can be a LPT port that physically either resides on the machine or not.

For example:

    net use lpt1 \\abc1234\lj5 /persistent:yes

(To make the net use connection survive power cycles and reboots, include the "/persistent:yes" at the end of the net use statement.)

Press the Enter key. If the command was successful, a message should return that reads, "The command completed successfully." It may take several seconds depending on the size of the network and/or network traffic.

Verify that the connection was successful by printing a directory from the DOS or command prompt. For example, if lpt1 was captured, type: dir > lpt1 

Once the printer has been successfully mapped to LPT1 you can then send HPGL or PCL commands through ISC 26.

To perform a DUMP GRAPHICS when displaying HTBasic BPLUS widgets or Dialogs you used to have to start HTBasic with the -gr command switch:

  HTBWIN.EXE -gr off

A new command has been added to allow DUMP GRAPHICS of a Basic Plus widget:

  CONFIGURE SYSTEM ("DUMP;PLUS")

Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000 do not include a filter for importing HPGL format graphics files. However, a 32-bit HPGL filter now available from Microsoft Product Support Services can be used with all 32-bit versions of Microsoft Word.

This file is supplied to allow you to import HPGL graphics files into Word 97 or later versions (or any other program that uses the common 32-bit graphics filters).

The HPGL filter does not ship with Word 97 or later versions.

Link to the Microsoft download pages

GESCAPE code 104 changes line thickness only for HPGL plotters.

To make lines on the CRT appear thicker, put multiple lines next to each other. You can't make lines thinner on the CRT, but you could also use GRAPH-XT to create stunning, high quality graphics instead.

HTBasic for Windows

ISC 10   defaults to LPT1

ISC 26   defaults to LPT1 or LPT2

HTBasic for DOS

ISC 10 defaults to LPT1

ISC 12 defaults to LPT2

The Graphic Description Language HP-Pcl5 contains an HPGL language interpreter that in theory permits printers supporting this language to double as a plotter.

In Practice, before sending HPGL instructions to the printer, you must first put the printer into Plotter mode.

In an HTBasic Program, you would use the PLOTTER IS statement with the PCL5 parameter specifying the port with which the printer is connected. This should automatically put the printer into plotter mode.

Example: PLOTTER IS 26;"HPGL;PCL5" 

At the end of plotting, add the instruction PLOTTER IS CRT, "INTERNAL" Which in addition to specifying the crt as printing device, will put the printer back into PCL5 mode.

Note: There are a number of printers that only support the PCL3 language and can not be used as a plotter. 

There are at least two methods that allow using multiple printers in an HTBasic program.

Interactive Method

In this method, it is the operator who will choose the printer he wishes to print to. The program simply opens a Printer Selection Dialog Box, which allows the user to select the desired printer. This is done using a printer control statement: CONTROL PRT,102;1 !Shows Printer Selection Dialog

On top of just selecting a printer, the operator has access to all the properties associated with the selected printer.

Static method

This condition allows the programmer to indicate in HTBasic all the possible printers that might be used. This is done from the HTBasic Device Setup found under the File menu. Each printer that is declared in windows can be added to the list of available printers in HTBasic. Each printer them gets associated with an ISC (Interface Select Code) that can be used in the program to indicate which printer the operation will print to.

Example: DUMP DEVICE IS 20   ! Select the printer at ISC 20

The -ALT switch can be used to run an AUTOST program other than the one named "AUTOST" in the current directory. For example, the following statement will start HTBasic running and will use a file named STARTUP.BAS in the root directory of drive C, regardless of what the current directory is:

  C> HTBWin -ALT C:\STARTUP.BAS

To start HTBasic without running any files, direct the -ALT switch to a nonexistent file name for example:

  C> HTBWin -ALT junk

The following template program can be modified so that the @Oldbdatfile points to your HP workstation bdat file. It converts the file to a format that can be used in HTBasic. The program creates a new file and place the properly formatted data into the new file.

  DIM Oldbdat$[256]

  ASSIGN @Oldbdatfile TO "a:\oldbdat.bdat";FORMAT MSB FIRST

  ENTER @Oldbdatfile;Oldbdat$

  CONFIGURE BDAT LSB FIRST

  CREATE BDAT "c:\newbdat.bdat",1

  ASSIGN @Newbdatfile TO "c:\newbdat.bdat" 

  OUTPUT @Newbdatfile;Oldbdat$ 

  ASSIGN @Oldbdatfile TO *

  ASSIGN @Newbdatfile TO * 

 END

The Serial Number will be required to buy an Update to HTBasic at a reduced price. To find this number, type the following command into HTBasic:

  SYSTEM$("SERIAL NUMBER")

Each time HTBasic starts up, it searches in the current directory for a program named "AUTOST". If this program exists, it is automatically loaded and executed. This permits you to load all the necessary drivers that configure HTBasic as you desire and to launch the startup program of your choice.

To change the AUTOST, simply load it and make the desired changes, then RE-STORE the program. 

Nothing stops you from declaring two methods for Enter/Output for the same address, one functioning in ASCII Mode, and the other in Binary.

  REAL Mesures(1:100)

  ASSIGN @I_asc TO 712;FORMAT ON   ! mode ASCII for commands 

  ASSIGN @I_bin TO 712;FORMAT OFF  ! mode binary for answers

  OUTPUT @I_asc;"READ?" 

  ENTER @I_bin;Mesures(*)

If you store your program code on a workstation there is always the risk that people change your program code or even sell your application or re-use parts of your intellectual property.

There are several possibilies to protect your source code:

1. Use the runtime version on all workstations

2. Use the SECURE command before you distribute your application

3. Use SUBs and compile these SUBs using the Numeric Compiler

4. Use external DLLs for critical functions

5. Use the Secure Library for HTBasic (USB dongle library)

This Windows bug occurs in some non English versions of Windows when a file is located inside a directory that contains spaces in the directory name.  To correct:

1. Go to My Computer, click Tools, then Folder Options, File Types

2. Locate the .prg or .bas file extension in the list of Registered File Types and highlight it by single clicking your selection

3. Click advanced, then edit. 

4. Under the heading "Application used to perform action:" you will find the following by default, the exact directory or

    drive may vary in your individual setup C:\Program Files\HTBwin95\HTBwin.exe  -alt %1. 

5. Simply change the line so that %1 is in quotes. 

The final product should read C:\Program Files\HTBwin95\HTBwin.exe  -alt "%1"

First it is very important that the string array declared on the HTBasic side is the Exact size of the string array declared in the DLL.

In HTBasic a String is stored differently than in C++.

Instead of putting a NULL char at the end of the string HTBasic adds two characters to the string which contain the size of the string.

To pass a string array to a DLL you would pass the first element of the array which is received as a pointer to the array in the DLL. Next you need to add 2 to the size of each string in the array in the DLL to compensate for the extra two characters added on by HTBasic. This will allow you to access normally the string array in the DLL.

To send a string array back to HTBasic the opposite needs to happen. Each string in the array needs two have two extra characters containing the size of the string so that HTBasic knows the size of the string and can access them correctly.

Two functions have been written in a file called HTBasicStrings.cpp which allow the strings to be passed to and from the DLL. To download this file click here

All the system information is available through different DLL Functions. The difficulty is not reading the information, but finding the appropriate function in the different Microsoft documentation that gives you the information you are looking for.

The following example shows how to get system information from your machine:

  ! Load the kernel32.dll

  DLL LOAD "KERNEL32"

  ! Declare the function that gets the computer name

  DLL GET "stdcall void KERNEL32:GetComputerNameA" AS "Getcptname"

  ! Declare the function that reads the available drives

  DLL GET "stdcall long KERNEL32:GetLogicalDrives" AS "Getdrives"

  ! Variable Declaration

  DIM Computer_name$[80]

  LONG Buffersize

  Buffersize=MAXLEN(Computer_name$)

  LONG Bitmask

  INTEGER I

  ! Read the name of the machine

  Getcptname(Computer_name$,Buffersize)

  ! Get the available drives

  Bitmask=FNGetdrives

  PRINT "Computer Name = ";Computer_name$

  PRINT "Drives Available = ";

  FOR I=0 TO 15

     IF BIT(Bitmask,I) THEN PRINT CHR$(NUM("A")+I);": ";

  NEXT I

  DLL UNLOAD ALL

END

Yes, using versions 8.0 or Greater of HTBasic. One of the major modifictations of HTBasic 8.0 was the ability to use DLL?s from HTBasic. One of the DLL?s found in the DLL Toolkit provided with HTBasic is the HTBMail DLL. This DLL allows the sending of e-mail from HTBasic

The following program, along with the associated DLL can be found in the DLL ToolKit/Samples/HTBMail folder.

Example:

  DIM Subject$[256]

  DIM Body$[256]

  DLL LOAD "HTBMAIL"

  DLL GET "void HTBMAIL:Sendmail"

  Address$="sales@htbasic.com"

  Subject$="E-mail sent from HTBASIC"

  Attachment$=""

  Body$="Hello, How are you?"

  Sendmail(Address$,Subject$,Attachment$,Body$)

  DLL UNLOAD ALL

END

To perform a DUMP GRAPHICS when displaying HTBasc BPLUS widgets or Dialogs you used to have to start HTBasic with the -gr command switch:

HTBWIN.EXE -gr off

A new command has been added to allow DUMP GRAPHICS of a BASIC Plus Widget: CONFIGURE SYSTEM ("DUMP;PLUS")