Instrument control enhancements using Microsoft Windows 3.0

The various ways of controlling instrumentation over the IEEE-488 interface using a personal computer in a Microsoft Windows 3.x environment are described. Instrument and software manufacturers have employed the data transfer capabilities within Windows and have added software and drivers so that Windows applications can be used in an instrumentation environment. The dynamic data exchange (DDE) and the dynamic link library (DLL) capabilities of Windows are discussed, together with methods by which programmers can employ these tools to gather and transfer data. DDE protocol commands are summarized, and a DDE flowchart example is provided.<>