Lambda SR1, Operation Manual, Page: 241 / 317

SR1 Operation 241
© 2014 Stanford Research Systems
2.7 Automation Menu
Automation refers to controlling the operation of SR1 through some means other than the front-panel
interface. There are two basic types of automation, remote and local. Remote automation refers to
control of the instrument from a remote computer through one of SR1's 3 physical interface ports: IEEE-
488 (GPIB), Serial (RS-232), and ethernet (VXI-11). There are two methods by which the instrument can
be controlled remotely: the GPIB command interface and the SR1 Basic command interface. The GPIB
command interface consists a set of GPIB commands which are sent as ASCII text strings over one of
the three physical interfaces. Arguments to the commands and responses from SR1 are also sent as
ASCII text strings.
The SR1 Basic interface (a binary interface based on the Microsoft COM standard) presents the
instrument as a set of objects containing properties and actions which can be manipulated by the user.
The SR1 Basic interface can only be accessed via the ethernet port and is particularly suited to control
by programs written in Visual Basic, Microsoft Office, and other COM enabled languages.
Local Automation, or scripting, refers to control of the instrument via scripts executed locally on the
instrument. Scripts interact with the instrument only through the SR1 Basic interface. The Automation
Menu provides access to the Scripting Window, a complete development environment for writing and
debugging scripts that provides simple, visual access to the SR1 Basic interface.
A complete description of the GPIB command interface is given in the "SR1 GPIB Programming
Reference." A complete description of the SR1 Basic interface is given in the "SR1 Basic Programming
Reference." Refer to these documents for details of individual commands and functions.
The automation menu contains the following options:
Remote Ifc Opens the remote interface debug panel. This panel allows monitoring of
remote commands sent to and by SR1 over each of the remote interfaces.
Run Script... Allows a script to be run directly without opening the script development
window.
Scripting Opens the script development window.
Scripting Log Opens a scripting log panel. The scripting log is a form which scripts can
write to.
Enable Learning Starts "Learning Mode". Keypresses will automatically be recorded in the
current script.