User guide

Chapter 1. Programming Fundamentals

Program Editor: Create and edit

programs, save them, and then

download them from the Terminal

module.

Terminal Emulator: Communicate directly with the

6000 controller. Download files containing

stand-alone commands and/or complete programs

or subroutines. Check system responses. Upload

programs from the 6000 controller.

Command Syntax

Overview

The 6000 Series language provides high-level constructs as well as basic motion control

building blocks. The language comprises simple ASCII mnemonic commands, with each

command separated by a command delimiter. Upon receiving a command followed by a

command delimiter, the 6000 controller places the command in its internal command queue.

Here the command is executed in the order in which it is received. The command may be

specified as immediate by placing an optional exclamation point (!) in front of the command.

When a command is specified as an immediate command, it is placed at the front of the

command queue, where it is executed immediately.

The command delimiter can be one of three characters, a carriage return, a line-feed, or a colon

(:). Spaces and tabs within a command are processed as neutral characters. Comments can be

specified with the semicolon (;) character — all characters following the semicolon until the

command delimiter are considered program comments.

There is no case sensitivity with the command language. For instance, the command TSTAT

is the same as the command tstat.

Some commands contain one or more data fields in which you can enter numeric or binary

values or text. The A command (syntax: A<r>,<r>,<r>,<r>) is an example of a

command that requires you to enter numeric values (e.g., the A5,6,7,8 command assigns

acceleration values of 5, 6, 7, and 8 units/sec

to axes #1, #2, #3, and #4 respectively). The

DRIVE command (syntax: DRIVE<b><b><b><b>) is an example of a command that

requires binary values (e.g., the DRIVE11ØØ command enables drives #1 and #2 and disables

drives #3 and #4). The STARTP command (syntax: STARTP<t>) is an example of a

command that requires text (e.g., the STARTP powrup command assigns the program called

“powrup” as the start-up program).