Smart.ResourcePicker is the control a test station opens with: which instrument, which channel. It lists the resources the application has found, grouped by interface and named by alias, and reads a typed resource string before it is accepted.

It is the VISA resource name and DAQ channel control of a test-and-measurement front panel, with the application in charge of discovery: the refresh button raises refreshRequest, the application searches its buses and assigns the list, and the picker shows it busy in between. GPIB, LAN, USB, serial, PXI and DAQ names are parsed into their parts, so TCPIP0::10.0.0.5::inst0::INSTR is known to be an instrument at an address and Dev1/ai0:3 a device and a channel range.

The bench

The instruments a discovery found on this bench: a DMM and a power supply on GPIB, a scope on the LAN, a source measure unit on USB and a serial-port balance, one of them switched off. Open the list, type part of a name or an alias to filter it, and press Enter. Refresh runs a simulated discovery that takes a moment and finds one more instrument. With custom entries allowed, a resource string the list does not have is offered once it parses.

Select a resource.

Keyboard: the field is a combobox. Type to filter, Down and Up move through the list, Enter selects, Escape closes. The refresh button is a tab stop of its own. The interface of the resource in force is shown as a tag in the field and read with the name.

Reading a resource string

ResourcePicker.parse() is a static method, usable without an element: a page that stores a resource string can check it and show its parts. Type a string to see what it reads as.