The GXFPGA package is supplied with a separate ATEasy driver for each board types. For example, the GX3500 is supplied with GXFPGA.drv ATEasy driver. The ATEasy driver uses the GXFPGA.dll to program the board. In addition, each driver is supplied with an example that contains a program and a system file pre-configured with the ATEasy driver. Use the driver shortcut property page from the System Drivers sub-module to change the PXI HW slot number or VISA resource string before attempting to run the example.
Using commands declared in the ATEasy driver are easier to use than using the DLL functions directly. The driver commands will also generate exceptions that allow the ATEasy application to trap errors without checking the status code returned by the DLL function after each function call.
The ATEasy driver contains commands that are similar to the DLL functions in name and parameters, with the following exceptions:
The nHandle parameter is omitted. The driver handles this parameter automatically. ATEasy uses driver logical names instead i.e. FPGA1 for GX3500.
The nStatus parameter was omitted. Use the Get Status commands instead of checking the status. After calling a DLL function the ATEasy driver will check the returned status and will call the error statement (in case of an error status) to generate exception that can be easily trapped by the application using the OnError module event or using the try-catch statement.
Some ATEasy drivers contain additional commands to permit easier access to the board features. For example parameters for a function may be omitted by using a command item instead of typing the parameter value. The commands are self-documented. Their syntax is similar to English. In addition, you may generate the commands from the code editor context menu or by using the ATEasy’s code completion feature instead of typing them directly.