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Merging Repeated Capabilities

When two repeated capabilities exist in an IVI-COM driver, it may be the case that the two repeated capabilities represent the same physical entity on the device. In such cases, the repeated capabilities may be merged into a single repeated capability.

Consider the case of an IVI-COM driver that supports the IviScope instrument class. The driver will contain a repeated capability called "Channel", since this repeated capability is defined in the IviScope instrument class. If the driver developer adds support for the IviDigitizer instrument class, then Nimbus will create an additional repeated capability called "IviDigitizerChannel", since the IviDigitizer instrument also defines a repeated capability called "Channel". (Nimbus adds the "IviDigitizer" prefix to the repeated capability name to distinguish it from the one defined in the IviScope instrument class.) The result is a driver with two separate repeated capabilities -- one called "Channel", representing the repeated capability defined in IviScope, and another called "IviDigitizerChannel" representing the repeated capability defined in IviDigitizer. In most cases, these represent the same physical channel on the instrument. The Merge command should then be used to combine these two repeated capabilities into one.

When two repeated capabilities are merged, Nimbus does the following:

  1. Moves any methods or properties on the source repeated capability to the target repeated capability. Note that this is only done automatically for collection-style repeated capabilities. Methods and properties on parameter or selector-style repeated capabilities must be manually moved to the target repeated capability before executing the Merge command.

  2. Changes the associated repeated capability of all methods and properties on the source repeated capability to be associated with the target repeated capability.

  3. Deletes the source repeated capability along with any physical names defined on the repeated capability.

Note Note

Only repeated capabilities of the same style can be merged. For instance, you cannot merge a collection-style repeated capability with a parameter-style repeated capability

To merge two repeated capabilities:

  1. From Solution Explorer, double-click on the Driver Settings Editor node to bring up the Driver Settings Editor.

  2. Select the Repeated Capabilities page and right-click on the source repeated capability that you wish to merge. This is the repeated capability that will be deleted.

  3. Select Merge and then choose the target repeated capability.

    Caution note Caution

    This operation will result in the source repeated capability being deleted from the driver, so you will be prompted to confirm that you wish to proceed.

Download a complete CHM version of this documentation here.