Integers
Plain integers.
Examples:
•
42
•
-10
Boolean Flags
Boolean flags can only be 0 or 1; alternatively, “on” or “off”.
Examples:
•
0
•
1
•
off
•
on
Keywords
A keyword is similar to a string, except that it is not put into quotes, and only certain values are
allowed. The accepted set of keywords is different for each command.
When keywords are required as arguments, they can be given in either the short form or long form,
just like mnemonics (e.g.
STATic
could also be abbreviated as
STAT
). When keywords are returned
by a query, they are returned in the long form.
Error Handling
Every command or query might cause an error. Reasons might be:
•
the commands is not valid (e.g. a typo)
•
arguments are incorrect (e.g. missing arguments, too many arguments, invalid argument
type)
•
the operation is not valid (e.g. a commands that refers to a non-existing module)
•
hardware failure (e.g. relay is stuck)
Any errors are pushed into a queue, which can be queried with the
:SYST:ERR?
query (see page
26). Upon an error, a query might return an invalid response, but a command (which has not
response) silently fails. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to query errors after every command
or query. See also page for 36 best practices.
Module Numbering
A mainframe has five slots where modules can be mounted. The left-most slot is the 1
st
slot, the right-
most slot (next to the display and power-switch) is the 5
th
slot.
Note that the SCPI commands use a 0-based scheme, so the left-most slot is identified with index 0.
When a slave mainframe is connected, it can be accessed as if it were the 6
th
through 10
th
slot (i.e. 0-
based indexes 5 through 9).
24
BitifEye Digital Test Solutions GmbH
