Documentation Guidelines
- Updated2023-02-21
- 3 minute(s) read
Documentation Guidelines
Writing useful documentation is an essential step in developing instrument drivers. Proper documentation helps the user understand the instrument driver and its functions. You can create the following types of instrument driver documentation with LabWindows/CVI:
- Online help from within LabWindows/CVI function trees and function panels.
- A .doc file you distribute with the instrument driver files. The .doc file is an ASCII file that contains the online help from the function panels.
- .html files you distribute with the instrument driver files. A .html file is generated from each function panel.
In addition, you can distribute help files such as Microsoft Winhelp (.hlp) files or Microsoft Compiled HTML help (.chm) files with instrument driver files.
Online Help
Users consult the online help of an instrument driver frequently. Include online help at every level of the instrument driver. The available online help types include the following:
- Instrument Driver
- Function Class
- Function Panel
- Function Panel Control
- Function Panel Status Control
The following figures display the types of help information found in the Fluke 45 instrument driver. Use these figures as examples when editing online help for your instrument driver.
Note Add help text when you create or edit the function tree or function panels. Online help text is stored as part of the .fp file. |
Instrument Driver Help
Instrument driver help describes the instrument driver. The following figure shows instrument help for the Fluke 45 instrument driver.
Function Class Help
Function class help briefly describes all the functions and subclasses beneath the selected function class. The following figure shows function class help from the Fluke 45 instrument driver.
Function Panel Help
Function panel help describes the function call. The following figure shows the function panel help from the Fluke 45 instrument driver.
Function Panel Control Help
Function panel control help contains a description of the parameter, the valid range, and the default value. The following figure shows an example of function panel control help from the Fluke 45 instrument driver.
Function Panel Status Control Help
Function panel status control help contains a description of the parameter and the possible error values. Because the possible errors are often too numerous to document effectively, the help should contain guidelines for retrieving error messages as well as error code ranges from various sources. The following figure shows an example of status control help from the Fluke 45 instrument driver.
Documentation Files
LabWindows/CVI can generate function reference help in a .doc file and in .html files. The .doc file is an ASCII text file. All formats contain the following information:
- A brief description of the instrument
- A function tree layout
- Assumptions made by the driver developer
- A list of the LabWindows/CVI libraries that are referenced in the driver
- A description of each function, including the following:
- Syntax
- Purpose
- Parameter types
- Function type
- Error codes
- A description of each attribute
Give the files the same base filename as the .fp file for the instrument driver.
You can generate a .doc file by selecting Options»Generate Documentation»Plain Text in the Function Tree Editor. To generate .html files, select Options»Generate Documentation»HTML.