Visual Basic .NET - Industrial Analog Out Bricklet

This is the description of the Visual Basic .NET API bindings for the Industrial Analog Out Bricklet. General information and technical specifications for the Industrial Analog Out Bricklet are summarized in its hardware description.

An installation guide for the Visual Basic .NET API bindings is part of their general description.

Examples

The example code below is Public Domain (CC0 1.0).

Simple Current

Download (ExampleSimpleCurrent.vb)

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Imports System
Imports Tinkerforge

Module ExampleSimpleCurrent
    Const HOST As String = "localhost"
    Const PORT As Integer = 4223
    Const UID As String = "XYZ" ' Change XYZ to the UID of your Industrial Analog Out Bricklet

    Sub Main()
        Dim ipcon As New IPConnection() ' Create IP connection
        Dim iao As New BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut(UID, ipcon) ' Create device object

        ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT) ' Connect to brickd
        ' Don't use device before ipcon is connected

        ' Set output current to 4.5mA
        iao.SetCurrent(4500)
        iao.Enable()

        Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit")
        Console.ReadLine()

        iao.Disable()

        ipcon.Disconnect()
    End Sub
End Module

Simple Voltage

Download (ExampleSimpleVoltage.vb)

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Imports System
Imports Tinkerforge

Module ExampleSimpleVoltage
    Const HOST As String = "localhost"
    Const PORT As Integer = 4223
    Const UID As String = "XYZ" ' Change XYZ to the UID of your Industrial Analog Out Bricklet

    Sub Main()
        Dim ipcon As New IPConnection() ' Create IP connection
        Dim iao As New BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut(UID, ipcon) ' Create device object

        ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT) ' Connect to brickd
        ' Don't use device before ipcon is connected

        ' Set output voltage to 3.3V
        iao.SetVoltage(3300)
        iao.Enable()

        Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit")
        Console.ReadLine()

        iao.Disable()

        ipcon.Disconnect()
    End Sub
End Module

API

Since Visual Basic .NET does not support multiple return values directly, we use the ByRef keyword to return multiple values from a function.

All functions and procedures listed below are thread-safe.

Basic Functions

Class BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut(ByVal uid As String, ByVal ipcon As IPConnection)

Creates an object with the unique device ID uid:

Dim industrialAnalogOut As New BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon)

This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected.

Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.Enable()

Enables the output of voltage and current.

The default is disabled.

Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.Disable()

Disables the output of voltage and current.

The default is disabled.

Function BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.IsEnabled() As Boolean
Returns:
  • enabled – Type: Boolean, Default: false

Returns true if output of voltage and current is enabled, false otherwise.

Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.SetVoltage(ByVal voltage As Integer)
Parameters:
  • voltage – Type: Integer, Unit: 1 mV, Range: [0 to 10000]

Sets the output voltage.

The output voltage and output current are linked. Changing the output voltage also changes the output current.

Function BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.GetVoltage() As Integer
Returns:
  • voltage – Type: Integer, Unit: 1 mV, Range: [0 to 10000]

Returns the voltage as set by SetVoltage().

Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.SetCurrent(ByVal current As Integer)
Parameters:
  • current – Type: Integer, Unit: 1 µA, Range: [0 to 24000]

Sets the output current.

The output current and output voltage are linked. Changing the output current also changes the output voltage.

Function BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.GetCurrent() As Integer
Returns:
  • current – Type: Integer, Unit: 1 µA, Range: [0 to 24000]

Returns the current as set by SetCurrent().

Advanced Functions

Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.SetConfiguration(ByVal voltageRange As Byte, ByVal currentRange As Byte)
Parameters:
  • voltageRange – Type: Byte, Range: See constants, Default: 1
  • currentRange – Type: Byte, Range: See constants, Default: 0

Configures the voltage and current range.

Possible voltage ranges are:

  • 0V to 5V
  • 0V to 10V

Possible current ranges are:

  • 4mA to 20mA
  • 0mA to 20mA
  • 0mA to 24mA

The resolution will always be 12 bit. This means, that the precision is higher with a smaller range.

The following constants are available for this function:

For voltageRange:

  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.VOLTAGE_RANGE_0_TO_5V = 0
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.VOLTAGE_RANGE_0_TO_10V = 1

For currentRange:

  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.CURRENT_RANGE_4_TO_20MA = 0
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.CURRENT_RANGE_0_TO_20MA = 1
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.CURRENT_RANGE_0_TO_24MA = 2
Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.GetConfiguration(ByRef voltageRange As Byte, ByRef currentRange As Byte)
Output Parameters:
  • voltageRange – Type: Byte, Range: See constants, Default: 1
  • currentRange – Type: Byte, Range: See constants, Default: 0

Returns the configuration as set by SetConfiguration().

The following constants are available for this function:

For voltageRange:

  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.VOLTAGE_RANGE_0_TO_5V = 0
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.VOLTAGE_RANGE_0_TO_10V = 1

For currentRange:

  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.CURRENT_RANGE_4_TO_20MA = 0
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.CURRENT_RANGE_0_TO_20MA = 1
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.CURRENT_RANGE_0_TO_24MA = 2
Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.GetIdentity(ByRef uid As String, ByRef connectedUid As String, ByRef position As Char, ByRef hardwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef firmwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef deviceIdentifier As Integer)
Output Parameters:
  • uid – Type: String, Length: up to 8
  • connectedUid – Type: String, Length: up to 8
  • position – Type: Char, Range: ["a"C to "h"C, "z"C]
  • hardwareVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
  • firmwareVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
  • deviceIdentifier – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Returns the UID, the UID where the Bricklet is connected to, the position, the hardware and firmware version as well as the device identifier.

The position can be 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g' or 'h' (Bricklet Port). A Bricklet connected to an Isolator Bricklet is always at position 'z'.

The device identifier numbers can be found here. There is also a constant for the device identifier of this Bricklet.

Virtual Functions

Virtual functions don't communicate with the device itself, but operate only on the API bindings device object. They can be called without the corresponding IP Connection object being connected.

Function BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.GetAPIVersion() As Byte()
Output Parameters:
  • apiVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]

Returns the version of the API definition implemented by this API bindings. This is neither the release version of this API bindings nor does it tell you anything about the represented Brick or Bricklet.

Function BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.GetResponseExpected(ByVal functionId As Byte) As Boolean
Parameters:
  • functionId – Type: Byte, Range: See constants
Returns:
  • responseExpected – Type: Boolean

Returns the response expected flag for the function specified by the function ID parameter. It is true if the function is expected to send a response, false otherwise.

For getter functions this is enabled by default and cannot be disabled, because those functions will always send a response. For callback configuration functions it is enabled by default too, but can be disabled by SetResponseExpected(). For setter functions it is disabled by default and can be enabled.

Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is sent and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.

The following constants are available for this function:

For functionId:

  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_ENABLE = 1
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_DISABLE = 2
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_SET_VOLTAGE = 4
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_SET_CURRENT = 6
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_SET_CONFIGURATION = 8
Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.SetResponseExpected(ByVal functionId As Byte, ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)
Parameters:
  • functionId – Type: Byte, Range: See constants
  • responseExpected – Type: Boolean

Changes the response expected flag of the function specified by the function ID parameter. This flag can only be changed for setter (default value: false) and callback configuration functions (default value: true). For getter functions it is always enabled.

Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is sent and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.

The following constants are available for this function:

For functionId:

  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_ENABLE = 1
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_DISABLE = 2
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_SET_VOLTAGE = 4
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_SET_CURRENT = 6
  • BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.FUNCTION_SET_CONFIGURATION = 8
Sub BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.SetResponseExpectedAll(ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)
Parameters:
  • responseExpected – Type: Boolean

Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration functions of this device at once.

Constants

Const BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.DEVICE_IDENTIFIER

This constant is used to identify a Industrial Analog Out Bricklet.

The GetIdentity() function and the IPConnection.EnumerateCallback callback of the IP Connection have a deviceIdentifier parameter to specify the Brick's or Bricklet's type.

Const BrickletIndustrialAnalogOut.DEVICE_DISPLAY_NAME

This constant represents the human readable name of a Industrial Analog Out Bricklet.