Add Instruments

auto-detect

One can click on Auto Search to auto-detect the available instruments in NI MAX.

Or manually add an instrument through clicking on Manual Input after filling the address and clicking on Add in the end. For an instrument that supports TCP/IP protocol, address has to be in the form of TCPIP::$IP::$PORT::SOCKET.

Control the Instruments

Once adding instruments finishes, one can click Instrument Settings and Status to query the status of specific instrument or set it. The controllable variables are classified by three types: sweep, set, read.

sweep

For the sweepable variables, it can be swept from the present value to the given value with definite step size and delay.

set

For the settable variables, it can be set by the given value through inputing or simply clicking on a pre-defined optional value.

read

For the readable variables, it can be only queried.

All these variables support selecting unit and whether it will auto update the state itself.

Data Acquiring

Clicking on Instrument -> Data Acquiring to do data acquiring

Workplace : select root folder for saving data. Data will be stored as

root folder/year/month/day/[time] task name.qdt

Task 1 : represent a task script to aquire data. One can click it to edit the script or right click for more options.

microchip : click it to edit circuit for recording measurement configuration.

Run All : run all the available tasks in a top-down order

Pause : suspend the running task

Interrupt : stop the running task

Edit circuit

QInsControl provides a simple record manner for circuit in an experiment. For a samplebase, one can right click to load a sample image and then add some pins to match the real configuration and these pins can be dragged to the position in demand. For other nodes, one can easily right click to add or modify to satisfy the specified requirements.

Edit script

For writing a script with convenience and universality, QInsControl provides several blocks to do this. In general, it is easy to writing an available script with only SweepBlocks and ReadingBlocks. For example

Here, I drive A输出电流 of a K2612 with address address (not specified) from its present value to -100 nA with a step 1 nA and a delay 0.1 s. Then, with the same method I drive it to 100 nA. In this process, for each value I drived to I get a reading from two LI5650 with different address (not specified here). One datum of DATA is in the form of "data1,data2" which can be indexed by 1:2 and assigned to two keys Ix and Iy (or Vx and Vy). By the way, two ReadingBlocks with green borders means annotation @async for faster reading.

CodeBlock

It can be input with any julia codes. It is helpful when dealing with complicated relation between variables and it supports all the grammar of julia language.

StrideCodeBlock

It is similar to CodeBlock, but it can only be input a block title codes such as for end, begin end, function end and so on. It is used to combine block codes in julia with other blocks in QInsControl. Middle click on its icon disables its handler which is used for pausing and interrupting.

BranchBlock

It is only used inside a StrideCodeBlock to be complete. For example, it can be filled with else, catch and so on.

SweepBlock

It is used to sweep a sweepable quantity. One can click to select the specific instrument, address and quantity and input step, destination and delay. A sweepable quantity is generally dimensioned and one have to make sure that a correct unit is selected.

SettingBlock

Similar to SweepBlock but for a settable quantity (a sweepable quantity is also a settable quantity). One can input a string or a number dependent on the unit. When unit type is none, it only supports a string input and a "$(Expr(:incomplete, "incomplete: invalid string syntax"))

ReadingBlock

Index is used to split the data by ",". When data do not include delimiter, leave it blank. mark is used to name the recorded data. When data format includes delimiter, one can use "," to seperate multiple marks which is also unnecessary.

LogBlock

When it is executed, all the available instruments will be logged. (before and after script runing, a logging action will happen, so it is not necessary to add this block in the first and last line of a script) (this block has been removed in recent versions, please just use

@logblock

in a CodeBlock instead.)

WriteBlock

Input the command and write to the specified instrument.

QueryBlock

Input the command and query the specified instrument.

ReadBlock

Read the specified instrument.

SaveBlock

It is used to save a variable defined in the context. mark is an optional input to specify the name to be stored. When it is blank, the name will be the same as the variable. (this block has been removed in recent versions, please just use

@saveblock key var # or @saveblock var

in a CodeBlock instead.)

note

All the blocks that bind to a specified instrument can be middle clicked to enter catch mode. In this mode, the icon is red and the data obtained will be a "" when an error occurs. For ReadingBlock, QueryBlock and ReadBlock, middle clicking at the region used to input marks will change the mode from normal to observable to observable and readable. In observable mode, the mark region is cyan and the obtained data will be stored in a variable named by the input marks and will not be stored in file. In observable and readable region, the mark region is red, all same as observable mode but the obtained data will stored in file. For ReadingBlock, WriteBlock, QueryBlock and ReadBlock, clicking on the block border will enter the async mode. In this mode, block border is green and the generated codes will be marked by @async, this almost always speeds up the measurement. Different mode has different color indicator which can be found in File -> Preferences -> Style -> More Style. Furthermore, this editor supports dragging to reorder blocks and a Ctrl down to dragging a block into a StrideCodeBlock or SweepBlock.

Example

This panel includes a title of the editing task, a HOLD checkbox to set the panel no-close when selected, an inputable region to record something necessary, a button Refresh Instrument list with the same functionality as previous menu, an Edit or View checkbox to change the editing mode and finally a region to write your own script.

This script includes two loop structures. The outter one is constructed by a StrideCodeBlock with code

@progress for i in 1:2

on it. The macro @progress is used to show a progressbar. The inner one is constructed by a SweepBlock. It relates to the instrument VirtualInstr with address VirtualAddress, variable JJ I, step 1 μA, destination 200 μA and delay 0.1s for each loop.

In general, it is unnecessary to write such a complicated script. Most of them are used to support special demands and ensure universality.

plot data

One can right click at blank region to select plots to show.

The data used to plot includes four dimensions X Y Z W. X Y Z is regular dimensions and W is used to be calculated with others. To plot a heatmap, a matrix is necessay but the stored data format is as a vector so that it has to be specified the dimensions of the Z plotting matrix and reverse it in dimension 1 or 2. At the bottom region, one can do some simple data processing, and the selected data have bind to variables x, ys, z, ws. For Y and W dimension, they relate to variables ys and ws respectively and can be accessed by index. For convenience, ys[1] and ws[1] is simply y and w.

One can middle click or right click at plot region to find more options.

project

All elements above together make up one project. One can save and load a project to conveniently reuse scripts, circuit, and plots. One example file demo.daq can be found in example folder.

Data Reviewing

Click on File -> Open File (Open Folder) to open saved files. Here One can review the content stored in the file includes the states of instruments, the script, the circuit, the data and the plots. Right click on the tabbar Plots can modify the plots.