Example Code

Description

Overview

This document explains how to programmatically read the serial number of a device which is supported by the NI-VISA driver.

Introduction

It is possible to extract a device's serial number using a VISA property node.  The property to use is the Interface Information:Interface Description property.   This property returns a string with a description of the device referred to by the VISA session.  For example, the string returned for an NI-USB-485 is ASRL3 (COM10 - NI USB-485/1 SN:XXXXXX, Communications Port), where XXXXXX is the serial number of the device. You can parse this string to use any of the information in your application. The attached VI parses the string to isolate the serial number.

Note: The VISA attribute Interface Information:Interface Description is device-dependent. COM ports will not have a serial number. The serial number will appear as it does in NI Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). If NI MAX does not display the serial number, then this property node will not work. In that case, please refer to the device's manual for accepted commands to the instrument.

Additional Resources

• Remove Old VISA Resources from NI MAX and LabVIEW
• Programmatically Retrieving A VISA Resource Name in LabVIEW