Tektronix 071-0590-00 user manual Datathres?

Remote Commands

Command Types: Set and Query

There two basic types of GB1400 commands: set commands and query commands. Set commands are used to make setup changes or to cause a status change, for example to start or stop a test. Query commands ask the instrument to respond with the contents of a status register or the value of a given setup parameter.

GB1400 commands may have only a query form or only a set form, however most commands have both. When a command has both a set and query form, the name or "mnemonic" used for the query form will be identical to its corresponding set command form, except for an added "?". For example the following are the mnemonics for the set and query form of the data threshold command:

q	DATA_THRES	(set command)
q	DATA_THRES?	(query command)

Note that in this User's Guide, query commands may be referred to as simply "queries", while set commands may be referred to as simply "commands".

Command Line Format

Command Names (Headers)

Every GB1400 command starts with a command header. Headers are character strings that contain either an entire command name, or a legal abbreviation of a command name. Legal command name abbreviations must include the leading significant characters in the command name. For example, in the save_word command only the first two letters are significant. Therefore the save_word command header may contain any of the following character strings:

save_word save_wor save_wo save_w save_ save

sav sa

The minimum abbreviation for each command name is identified in the Command Descriptions section later in this chapter. The use of command abbreviations is often useful when you are operating a GB1400 Generator or Analyzer manually from a terminal. However when including command names in control programs it is recommended that the full command names always be used as command headers. This improves readability and reduces the chance that a control program will be incompatible with future versions of GB1400 software which may include additional commands.

GB1400 User Manual C-3