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Remote Commands
GB1400 User Manual C-3
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.