How do I use the programmer manual for my instrument?

How do I use the programmer manual for my instrument?

TekVISA Download Link: TEKVISA CONNECTIVITY SOFTWARE

Hello and welcome to Tektronix, today I’m presenting the last part in the 3-part series on using TekVISA. I’ll be giving a basic overview of programmer manuals and how to use them to find the correct way to use programming commands.

Each of our scopes have a programmer manual that contains all of the commands that can be used to control the instrument programmatically. Programmer manuals are available on our website at www.tek.com. To find the manual for the MDO4104-6 that I’ve been using I’ll go to our website, and type mdo4000 programmer manual in the search bar and press enter or click Go. The MDO4000 uses the same programming commands as the MSO/DPO4000B, so there is one programmer manual for all of them. [To find the programmer manual for your specific scope, enter the scope series (for DPO2024B type DPO2000B, for DPO7254C type DPO7000C) and then type “programmer manual” afterward.] It is the second result in the search list. Download and open the manual.

Each programmer manual contains detailed information on how to set up communications, determine correct syntax, interpret status registers, and find commands and examples.

In this video we will look at the horizontal:recordlength command to see how commands are structured and used in general. In the programmer manual, go to the Syntax and Commands section in the table of contents and click on Horizontal Command Group, then click on horizontal:recordlength. This will take you to the summary for this command. Each command summary is divided into secionts: group, syntax, arguments, and examples. These can be incredibly helpful, especially for commands that have multiple arguments. This command is in the horizontal group, it has both a set and query form, and a single argument for the set form.

Let’s try to use it to control our scope. Go to OpenChoice Instrument Manager, select OpenChoice Talke/Listener, and enter horizontal:recordlength? in the top field and click Query. This should return a value of 10000 (ten thousand) in the bottom pane if your scope is in the default setup. To change this value, edit your command so that it the argument is 1E6 (or one million) horizontal:recordlength and click Write. To confirm that the command worked, send the query again to see what the returned record length is. As we can see, the command changed the record length from 10000 (ten thousand) to 1000000 (one million). Commands can be sent to change settings, set up measurements, export data, and write entire scripts and programs. This procedure can be followed for most commands, and each command is described in detail in the programmer manual for each respective scope. 

YouTube Part 1/3: http://youtu.be/ob1wTNI0tnw

YouTube Part 2/3: http://youtu.be/38Q4eCcZv-8

YouTube Part 3/3: http://youtu.be/0FZ6DXP6USE

FAQ Part 1: /support/faqs/what-tekvisa-and-how-can-i-use-it-communicate-and-control-my-instrument

FAQ Part 2: /support/faqs/how-do-i-use-tekvisa-send-commands-my-instrument

FAQ Part 3: /support/faqs/how-do-i-use-programmer-manual-my-instrument