picosdk-c-examples

picosdk-c-examples

picosdk-c-examples is a set of C/C++ examples for PicoScope^® oscilloscopes and PicoLog^® data loggers.

Examples are provided as Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2015 for Windows Desktop solutions and are grouped by driver name. Each driver folder has a linux-build-files sub-folder for building applications on Linux and macOS platforms from a terminal window.

Getting started

Prerequisites

Microsoft Windows

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 (including Express and Community editions) or later.

Linux

• A suitable IDE such as Eclipse
• Alternatively, ensure that the autoconf and libtool packages are installed for your operating system if building applications from the terminal. (for example “sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake make libtool”)

macOS

• A suitable IDE such as XCode

Installing drivers

Drivers are available for the following platforms. Refer to the subsections below for further information.

Microsoft Windows

• Download the PicoSDK (32-bit or 64-bit) driver package installer from our Downloads page.

Linux

• Follow the instructions from our Linux Software & Drivers for Oscilloscopes and Data Loggers page to install the required driver packages for your product.

macOS

• Download the PicoSDK driver package installer (for your MacOS system x86-64 or ARM64) from our Downloads page.

Programmer’s Guides

You can download Programmer’s Guides providing a description of the API functions for the relevant PicoScope or PicoLog driver from our Documentation page.

Building example applications

Microsoft Windows

• Open the solution .sln file for the required driver in Visual Studio
• Select the required configuration and solution platform
• Build the solution

Linux and macOS

For older console examples located in the format /psXXXXCon/psXXXXCon.c

(For example /ps3000aCon/ps3000aCon.c)

• Copy the required source code C file (e.g. ps3000aCon.c) into the corresponding linux-build-files sub-folder for the driver or copy the files to another folder.

• Copy the PicoSDK header file PicoStatus.h into the same folder from-
  /opt/picoscope/include/libps3000a/.
  Note other Pico header files maybe required (PicoDeviceEnums, PicoDeviceStructs.h, PicoConnectProbes.h)

• Open a terminal window from the linux example folder. For example /ps3000a/linux-build-files/:

• Run the following commands:

  • ./autogen.sh
  • make

• Run the executable, for example; ./ps3000aCon

For console examples that have a CMakeLists.txt

(For example /psospa/CMakeLists.txt)

• Open a terminal window from the example folder, for example /psospa:

• Run the following commands:

  • mkdir build
  • cd build
  • cmake ..
  • make

• Run one of the executables, for example; ./psospaBlock, ./psospaRapidBlock, ./psospaStreaming

• See the psXXXX README.md in the example folder for more information and setting up the template example in ./XXXXXTemplate/.
  (psospa template example- ./psospa/psospaTemplate/)

Notes on Examples

Data text files

For newer examples like; psospaBlock, psospaRapidBlock, psospaStreaming
Data text files are written to csv file for format, these can be changed in- PicoFileFunctions.c
By changing the #define values-
#define TEXT_FILE_EXTENSION ".csv"
#define SEPARATOR ","

Obtaining support

Please visit our Support page to contact us directly or visit our Test and Measurement Forum to post questions.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please refer to our guidelines for contributing for further information.

Copyright and licensing

See LICENSE.md for license terms.

PicoScope and PicoLog are registered trademarks of Pico Technology Ltd.

Windows and Visual Studio are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

macOS is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.

Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.

Copyright © 2004-2026 Pico Technology Ltd. All rights reserved.