Overview of CustomDSO

CustomDSO is a unique feature of LeCroy X-Stream oscilloscopes which allows the user to customize the user interface. In its Basic mode it allows you to create a system of DSO setups that can be called by a single, user defined, button press. The called setups can themselves include calls to further setups, enabling you to create setup groups of any degree of complexity.

The Plugin mode is an even more powerful feature of CustomDSO which allows the user to create their own graphical user interface.

In this tutorial we will focus on CustomDSO Basic mode.

Equipment Required:

WaveRunner 6 Zi series or equivalent XStream oscilloscope
Passive Probe

Initial Setup

Displays shown in the tutorial are based on the following initial setup on a WaveRunner 6 Zi scope:

  1. Connect the passive probe from the channel 1 input to the Cal test point on the front panel of the oscilloscope.
  2. Recall the default setup: File pull down > Recall Setup> Recall Default.
  3. Turn off channel 2.
  4. Auto Setup the scope: Press Scope Setup, then select Auto Setup from the fly-out menu.
  5. Save this setup to D:\CustomDSO\Exit.lss (File>SaveSetup>Save to File> select destination folder and enter the filename as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1

Opening CustomDSO

CustomDSO is initiated using the Analysis pull down menu (Analysis> CustomDSO) .

Figure 3 shows the CustomDSO setup menu. In the basic mode each of up to eight CustomDSO buttons is associated with a scope setup file. The root of the file name is assigned as the button label. In the example button 1, by default, will call the setup file named custom 1.dso and the button will be labeled custom 1. Each of these setup files can include additional CustomDSO button definitions so that multiple setups can be called in an infinite variety of topologies.

Figure 2:

The initial setup for this tutorial, the input signal is the 1 kHz calibrator square wave

The third selection of the mode control group is PlugIn. The Plugin mode is an even more powerful feature of CustomDSO which allows the user to create their own graphical user interface. PlugIn mode will not be discussed in this tutorial. Additional information on PlugIn mode can be found in LeCroy Application Brief LAB_WM816 (http://cdn.lecroy.com/files/appnotes/lab_wm816.pdf) and the oscilloscope user manual.

There are three checkboxes in the CustomDSO Basic mode:
Enable Action: Will activate the CustomDSO function and enable the CustomDSO buttons
Execute Scripts Asynchronously: Checking the Execute Scripts Asynchronously checkbox allows scripts to run in a separate process. Thus, the oscilloscope application can perform another function while the script is being executed.

Present CustomDSO menus at power up and when menu is closed: Checking this box will cause the eight CustomDSO buttons to continue to be available at the bottom of the screen after you close the CustomDSO dialog. Furthermore, they will appear automatically each time the DSO is powered up.

Figure 3:

The CustomDSO Basic dialog box showing the assignment of setup file custom 1.lss to CustomDSO button 1

Creating a CustomDSO

Check all three boxes. Press Select Action Button 8 In the Action Definition area of the dialog box press the Browse button and navigate to D:\CustomDSO\Exit.lss, which we saved during the initial setup. CustomDSO button number 8 will now be associated with the setup file Exit.lss and the button will be labeled Exit. Touch or click the Test Basic Mode tab, this previews the CustomDSO buttons without having to exit the CustomDSO dialog. Press the close button. At the bottom of the screen you will see the actual CustomDO buttons with button 8 (right most button) labeled Exit.

Let’s set up a CustomDSO to allow a user to measure the amplitude of each of the ten pulses on the screen individually. We will have to create 10 sets of setup files. These will be labeled Measure pulse 1 through Measure Pulse 10.

Open the Measure dialog box (Measure pull down> Measure Setup. Click or touch the Show Table checkbox. This will display the measurement table under the trace display with the two default parameters P1 (ampl C1) and P2 (freq C1). Uncheck the P2 On checkbox to turn off parameter P2.

The P1 parameter is measuring the amplitude of the channel 1 trace. It does this by statistically determining the top and base of the pulses over all the pulses in the acquisition (unless show one value per period is checked) and reporting the difference of the mean top and mean base. We want to measure the amplitude of each pulse individually. We can do this by touching or clicking on the Gate tab and moving the measurement gates to enclose the desired pulse. Change the gate Stop from 10 to 1 division. The gates should now enclose the first (left most) pulse. The help marker shows where the measurement is being made. Touch or click the Always On check box at the bottom – center of the dialog box. This will leave the Help Markers on when the Measure dialog box is closed.

Go to the Measure tab of the measurement dialog box and touch or click on the Statistics On checkbox

The display should appear like figure 4. Save this panel setup in D:\CustomDSO as:
Measure Pulse 1.lss

Figure 4:

Setting up an amplitude measurement of the first pulse in the acquisition

Touch or click on the P1 field of the measurement table. This should open up the P1 measurement tab again. Go to the right hand tab labeled Gate and set the Start value to 1 and the Stop value to 2. This will measure the second pulse amplitude. Save this setup as Measure Pulse 2.lss.

Repeat this process for the setting shown in the following table:

Setup FilenameStart Gate LocationStop Gate Location
Measure Pulse 3.lss 23
Measure Pulse 4.lss 34
Measure Pulse 5.lss 45
Measure Pulse 6.lss 56
Measure Pulse 7.lss 67
Measure Pulse 8.lss 78
Measure Pulse 9.lss 89
Measure Pulse 10.lss 910

Save each of the setups using the assigned filename.

When you have created all the setup files recall setup Measure Pulse 1 (File>Recall Setup> Browse to D:\ CustomDSO\Measure Pulse 1.lss> Recall Now!).

Open the CustomDSO dialog box (Analysis>CustomDSO>Basic). Assign setup files Measure Pulse 2 -6 to CustomDSO buttons 2 through 6.
Assign button 7 to a not yet created setup More.lss.
Button 8 should still be assigned to Exit.lss.
Save this setup as Measure Pulse 1.lss.

We have now defined all eight CustomDSO buttons in Measure Pulse 1.lss. This needs to be done for setups Measure Pulse 2 -6. We can do this quickly by editing the set up files directly.

Minimize the scope application (File> Minimize). Open the Windows Explorer and browse to D:\CustomDSO\Measure Pulse 1. lss. Right click on this file and Open with Notepad.

The setup file will appear like Figure 5. The third group of commands from the top cover the CustomDSO setup. Highlight and copy all the commands beginning with Set CustomDSOG to CustomDSO PluginInstalledG and copy them.

Figure 5:

The content of the setup file

Open each of the other Measure Pulse (2-6) setup files and replace the existing CustomDSO setup as defined above with the one from Measure Pulse 1. Save each file with the updated CustomDSO section.

All the setup files now have the same CustomDSO files assignments which are needed to recall amplitudes for pulses one through six. We have yet to add pulse seven through ten. Before we do that close the dialog box. You should see the CustomDSO buttons labeled Measure

Figure 6:

The initial CustomDSO button assignments

Pulse 1 through Measure Pulse 6, More, and Exit. Press any of the CustomDSO buttons marked Measure Pulse 1 through 6. Note the measurement markers indicates the location of the pulse being measured (it will be immediately to the right of the measured pulse).

Press Measure Pulse 1. Save this setup as Return.lss in D:\CustomDSO.

Recall setup Measure Pulse 7.lss using File>Recall Setup> Browse to Measure Pulse 7.lss> “Recall Now!”.

Use the Save Setup function to save the current setup as More.lss. The More button will change the CustomDSO buttons selections from the first group (pulse 1 through 6) to the second group (7 through 10). In this manner we can create additional layers of CustomDSO setups.

Open the Custom DSO dialog box, select basic Mode.
Redefine CustomDSO button 1 to be associated with Measure Pulse 7.lss.
Similarly, redefine buttons 2 through 4 to associate them with Measure Pulse 8.lss through Measure Pulse 10.lss respectively.

We will deactivate buttons 5 and 6 by unchecking the Enable Action button associated with those buttons as shown in figure 7. Edit the filename associated with those buttons to be “D:\CustomDSO\.”. This will reduce the text on those unused buttons to a simple “.”.

Figure 7:

Using the Enable Action Check box to grey out the unused CustomDSO buttons

Associate buttons 7 with the file Return.lss and button 8 with Exit.lss. The Return button will return the CustomDSO labels to Measure Pulse 1 through Measure pulse 6 selections. The Exit button will turn off CustomDSO.

After all these edits are made save the setup to Measure Pulse 7.lss.

As we did with the first set of CustomDSO setup files we will use NotePad to copy the CustomDSO settings from Measure Pulse 7.lss to Measure Pulse through Measure Pulse 10.lss.

Close the dialog box and exercise all of the CustomDSO buttons. Note that pressing the Exit button will turn off CustomDSO and return the scope to our initial setting. To restart CustomDSO use the Analysis pull down and associate any of our panel setups with any CustomDSO button. Exit the CustomDSO dialog and press that button, all the other button definitions will be restored.

This completes this tutorial