User`s manual

VXI Technology, Inc.
40 Tektronix to VXI Technology Cross-Ref. Guide
VXIPLUG&PLAY COMMON FUNCTION CALLS
Background
Being part of the SurePath family of switch cards, the VX4351 requires a controller card to
communicate with this device. The SurePath controller card is installed in either the left-most
switch card of a SurePath switching system or in a VX4101 MultiPaq instrument.
If the SurePath controller card is installed in a SurePath family switch, all calls made to a SurePath
switch card are made through tkvx43x0_32.dll. If the SurePath controller is installed in a VX4101
MultiPaq device, then all function calls to a SurePath switch are made through the
tkmpscan_32.DLL. An example is shown below:
1. tkvx43x0_closeRelayVX4351 (id, "M1", 4);
2. tkmpscan_closeRelayVX4351 (id, "M1", 4);
Both function calls perform identical operations, in this case closing relay number 4 on module
M1, however, the first one is called if the VX4351 is part of a SurePath system where the
controller card is installed in another switch card and the second one is called if the controller card
is installed in a VX4101 MultiPaq device.
Rehosting
To replace obsolete components typically requires a great deal of software effort because there are
often many test program sets that need to be changed. VXI Technology has greatly simplified this
task by developing a translation driver set for the SurePath family. The translation driver takes
Tektronix function calls, such as in the example above and converts them to SMIP II calls. The
result is that any code written to operate with the VX4351 can be used, without modification,
when an SM4351A is installed in its place. It is important to note that to use the translation driver,
all cards that were part of the SurePath system must be replaced by equivalent SMIP II modules
(i.e. Tektronix VXI switch cards and VTI switch cards cannot be in the same chassis when using
the translation driver set).
All commonly used functions are supported in the translation driver set. For those functions not
supported, VTI includes the translation driver source code for custom modification or will add the
functions by request. A list of all tkvx43x0 functions related to the VX4351 supported in the
translation driver set are listed in the following table. For tkmpscan supported functions, please
refer to Section 7.4c, VX4101 SurePath Controller.