BenHW 0.9.0

BenHW .NET SDK

C# SDK for controlling Bentham spectroradiometer hardware.

Overview

The BenHW .NET SDK provides a modern, type-safe C# interface to the BenHW DLL for controlling Bentham Instruments hardware including monochromators, detectors, amplifiers, and other optical components.

Features

• Multi-targeting: Supports .NET Framework 4.8 and .NET 8
• Type-safe: Strong typing with structs for multi-value returns
• Exception-based error handling: Automatic error detection and meaningful exceptions
• Automatic DLL loading: Finds and loads the appropriate 32-bit or 64-bit DLL
• IDisposable: Proper resource management with automatic DLL unloading

Installation

Via NuGet

dotnet add package BenHW

Or via Package Manager Console:

Install-Package BenHW

Manual Installation

1. Download the SDK package
2. Reference BenHW.dll in your project
3. Ensure the BenHW DLLs (benhw32_cdecl.dll or benhw64.dll) are in the dlls subdirectory

Quick Start

using BenHW;

// Create instance (automatically loads DLL)
using (var hw = new BenHW.BenHW())
{
    // Build system model from configuration file
    string errorMsg = hw.BuildSystemModel("system.cfg");
    
    // Load setup attributes
    hw.LoadSetup("system.atr");
    
    // Initialize hardware
    hw.Initialise();
    
    // Select wavelength
    int settleDelay = hw.SelectWavelength(500.0);
    
    // Take a measurement
    double reading = hw.Automeasure();
    Console.WriteLine($"Reading: {reading}");
    
    // Get/Set operations
    hw.Set("mono", Tokens.MonochromatorCurrentWL, 0, 550.0);
    double wavelength = hw.Get("mono", Tokens.MonochromatorCurrentWL, 0);
    
    // Close (automatically called by Dispose)
    hw.Close();
}

Error Handling

The SDK uses exceptions for error handling. All BenHW errors throw specific exception types:

try
{
    hw.SelectWavelength(1000000.0); // Invalid wavelength
}
catch (BI_invalid_WL_Exception ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Invalid wavelength: {ex.Message}");
}
catch (SdkException ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"SDK error: {ex.Message} (code: {ex.ErrorCode})");
}

License

Copyright (c) Bentham Instruments Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Support

For support, contact Bentham Instruments Ltd or visit our website.