AFG1000 Series Arbitrary Function Generator Programmer Manual
5
Command Syntax
Command Entry
Follow these general rules when entering commands:
Enter commands in upper or lower case.
Precede any command with white space characters. White space characters
include any combination of the ASCII control characters 00 through 09 and
0B through 20 hexadecimal (0 through 9 and 11 through 32 decimal).
The instrument ignores commands that consists of just a combination of white
space characters and line feeds.
SCPI Commands and Queries
The instrument uses a command language based on the SCPI standard. The SCPI
(Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) standard was created by a
consortium to provide guidelines for remote programming of instruments.
These guidelines provide a consistent programming environment for instrument
control and data transfer. This environment uses defined programming messages,
instrument responses and data formats that operate across all SCPI instruments,
regardless of manufacturer.
The SCPI language is based on a hierarchical or tree structure. The top level of
the tree is the root node; it is followed by one or more lower-level nodes.
Create commands and queries from these subsystem hierarchy trees. Commands
specify actions for the instrument to perform. Queries return measurement data
and information about parameter settings.
Creating Commands
SCPI commands are created by stringing together the nodes of a subsystem
hierarchy and separating each node by a colon.
To create a SCPI command, start with the root node and move down the tree
structure adding nodes until you reach the end of a branch. Most commands and
some queries have parameters; you must include a value for these parameters. If
you specify a parameter value that is out of range, the parameter will be set to a
default value. The command descriptions, list the valid values for all
parameters.
Creating Queries
To create a query, start at the root node of a tree structure, move down to the end of
a branch, and add a question mark.
Query Responses
The query causes the instrument to return information about its status or settings.
When a query is sent to the instrument, only the values are returned. When the
returned value is a mnemonic, it is noted in abbreviated format.
Parameter Types
Every parameter in the command and query descriptions is of a specified type.
(See Table 3.) The parameters are enclosed in brackets, such as <value>.
