User manual

Section 13: Instrument Control Library (ICL) Series 3700 System Switch/Multimeter Reference Manual
13-98 3700S-901-01 Rev. C / July 2008
display.gettext()
Function
Reads the text presently displayed
Usage
There are five ways to use this function:
text = display.gettext()
text = display.gettext(embellished)
text = display.gettext(embellished, row)
text = display.gettext(embellished, row, column_start)
text = display.gettext(embellished, row, column_start,
column_end)
embellished Set to false to return text as a simple character string. Set to true to
include all character codes.
row Set to 1 or 2 to select which row to read text. If not included, text from both rows
are read.
column_start Set to starting column for reading text. Default is 1.
column_end Set to ending column for reading text. Default is 20 (Row 1) or 32 (Row
2).
NOTE The range of valid column numbers depends on which row is specified. For
Row 1, valid column numbers are 1 to 20. For Row 2, valid column
numbers are 1 to 32.
Remarks
Sending the command without any parameters returns both lines of the display. The
$N character code will be included to show where the top line ends and the bottom line
begins.
With embellished set to true , all other character codes will be returned along with the
message. With embellished set to false, only the message and the $N character code
will be returned. See display.settext() (on page 13-106) for details on the character
codes.
The display will not be switched to the user screen. Text will be read from the active
screen.
Also see
display.getcursor() (on page 13-95)
display.setcursor() (on page 13-105)
display.settext() (on page 13-106)
Example
Returns all text in both lines of the display:
text = display.gettext()
print(text)
Output: User Screen $N
The above output indicates that the message "User Screen" is on the top line. The
bottom line is blank.