Instrument sessions are ActiveX objects that enable software modules to share one of the following types of instrument API handles easily:

• An instance handle for an instrument driver, such as an IVI-C or VXIplug&play driver
• An ActiveX reference for an instrument driver, such as an IVI-C driver
  Note   Session Manager does not support IVI-COM drivers.
• An instance handle or ActiveX reference for an I/O library object, such as a VISA session
• An instance handle for a virtual device the NI Switch Executive defines

You can use an instrument session to obtain a single instrument API handle or the same API handle multiple times in different software components. The instrument session initializes the API handle when you first request the handle and closes the handle when you release the last reference to the session. Typically, you do not explicitly initialize or close the instrument API handle.

During configuration, you assign each instrument session a unique name. To reference an instrument session, specify the unique name of the session.