It would be very useful to provide each driver with the capability to create custom inputs in the GUI that not necessarily all other instruments with the same module share.
An example for this would be the R&S SMA100B. It has options that allow to connect external power sensors like R&S NRP. Right now I do not see a way to properly make the power meter feature available in the SweepMe! GUI.
My current workaround is to manually fiddle with the Python driver, but it is not a good way, obviously.
This is just one example, many instruments have special features that are unique to them.
thanks for the input. So far, the idea was to have a number of Instrument modules that are very specific to a certain type of device group, like SMUs, Signal generators, Monochromators etc. so that a user can quickly change equipment and always has the same look and feel in SweepMe!. Further, these dedicated instrument modules sometimes come with extra buttons or extra features special for these instruments.
We also observe that there are instruments that do not perfectly fit to this scheme. If the missing parameters are very generally used, we add them to the module, but a user needs to request this, e.g. here in the forum.
Some instruments have multiple functionalities. In this case, we sometimes create additional driver e.g. for the module Logger or Switch that cover those. However, this strategy only works if the functionalities do not depend on each other. E.g. a red pitaya STEMlab can be used as signal generator or as oscillocope and has individual drivers for the modules Signal and Scope, respectively.
We have started to add a Parameter Box to some modules like Robot, WaferProber and lately also to SMU to allow users to define additional parameters. The Parameter Box is known from modules like Logger or Switch where it was always possible to create own parameters.
There is still some discussions to which we also invite you whether it is good to stick with some conformity which has some advantages when it comes to handling the software or whether we should allow more flexibility which is good for pro users.
Lately, we also introduced a feature to all modules that makes it possible to add a description which was so far only available for Logger and Switch. Thus, additional parameters can now be described by the driver programmer. https://wiki.sweep-me.net/wiki/Driver_Programming#Documentation
My suggestion for now would be that we also add a Parameter Box to the Signal module as we did it for the SMU module. This box is only shown if additional parameters are set. As we anyway make a final check before drivers are released, we can still check whether parameters are used in a good way or whether it would be better to add permanent fields to a module.
I checked the Parameter Box in Logger and this would definately be a good addition to Signal Generator and maybe even all other modules. I would be happy to get this functionality for using my power sensor, ALC control, Plimit setting .
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