User manual

MAUI Oscilloscopes Remote Control and Automation Manual
Program Message Format
GPIB program messages are composed of commands and/or queries separated by semicolons and
ending with a terminator:
<command/query>; . . . ;<command/query> <terminator>
Note: A terminator is required but is not shown in examples because usually it is automatically
added by the interface driver routine writing to GPIB.
The general form of a command or a query consists of an optional header path, followed by a command
header, followed by one or several parameters:
[header path:]<header>[?] [<parameter>,...,<parameter>]
The following rules apply:
l There is a space between the header and the first parameter.
l Commas separate parameters.
l The question mark [?] is optional and turns the command into a query.
l You can use uppercase or lowercase characters, or both, in program messages; the oscilloscope
does not distinguish between them. An exception is the MESSAGE command, which can faithfully
transmit strings containing both lowercase and uppercase letters.
Commands and queries are executed in the order in which they are received through remote
transmission.
Commands and Queries
Program messages are made up of one or more commands or queries:
o
Commands direct the oscilloscope to change its state, for example, its timebase or vertical
sensitivity.
o
Queries ask the oscilloscope to return data, such as a measurement, register value or state
information. They are recognized by ? following the header.
Usually, you will use the same characters for a command and a query, the query being identified by "?" as
the final character. The portion of the header preceding the question mark is repeated as part of the
response message.
For example, to change the timebase to 2ms/div, send this command to the oscilloscope:
TIME_DIV 2E-3
To ask the oscilloscope about its timebase setting, send this query:
TIME_DIV?
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