8 GCS Commands
118
Version: 1.2.1
MS249E
C-863.12 Mercury Controller
Example:
In a terminal, e.g., PITerminal, the identification string of a controller with address 2 (here: a C-
863.11) is queried using the *IDN? command.
Send:
2 0 *IDN?
or
Send:
2 *IDN?
The response in either case is:
0 2 (c)2011 Physik Instrumente(PI) Karlsruhe, C-863.11,0,1.2.0.0
Exception:
The target address can be omitted if the target controller has the address 1, even if this
controller is part of a daisy chain. If the target address is not specified when addressing a
controller, the target and sender addresses will also not be specified in the response from the
controller.
Example:
Send:
*IDN?
The controller with address 1 (here: a C-863.11) responds with:
(c)2011 Physik Instrumente(PI) Karlsruhe, C-863.11,0,1.2.0.0
Send:
1 *IDN?
The same controller responds with:
0 1 (c)2011 Physik Instrumente(PI) Karlsruhe, C-863.11,0,1.2.0.0
See "Adapting DIP Switch Settings" (p. 51) on how to set the controller address. The controller
address can be in the range of 1 to 16, address 1 is default. The PC always has the address 0.
With the broadcast address 255, all controllers in a daisy chain can be addressed at the same
time, but no responses are sent to the PC.
8.4
Variables
For more flexible programming, the C-863.12 supports variables. While global variables are
always available, local variables are only valid for a specified macro. Typically, variables are used
when working with macros.
Variables are present in volatile memory (RAM) only. The variable values are of the STRING data
type.
The following conventions apply to variable names:
▪
Variable names may not contain special characters (espe
cially not “$”).
▪
The maximum number of characters is 8.