Agilent Technologies InfiniiVision 3000 X-Series, Programmer'S Manual

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56 Agilent InfiniiVision 3000 X-Series Oscilloscopes Programmer's Guide
3
Getting Started
Basic Oscilloscope Program Structure
The following figure shows the basic structure of every program you will
write for the oscilloscope.
Initializing
To ensure consistent, repeatable performance, you need to start the
program, controller, and oscilloscope in a known state. Without correct
initialization, your program may run correctly in one instance and not in
another. This might be due to changes made in configuration by previous
program runs or from the front panel of the oscilloscope.
• Program initialization defines and initializes variables, allocates
memory, or tests system configuration.
• Controller initialization ensures that the interface to the oscilloscope is
properly set up and ready for data transfer.
• Oscilloscope initialization sets the channel configuration, channel labels,
threshold voltages, trigger specification, trigger mode, timebase, and
acquisition type.
Capturing Data
Once you initialize the oscilloscope, you can begin capturing data for
analysis. Remember that while the oscilloscope is responding to commands
from the controller, it is not performing acquisitions. Also, when you
change the oscilloscope configuration, any data already captured will most
likely be rendered.
To collect data, you use the :DIGitize command. This command clears the
waveform buffers and starts the acquisition process. Acquisition continues
until acquisition memory is full, then stops. The acquired data is displayed
by the oscilloscope, and the captured data can be measured, stored in