Remote Control Basics > General Programming Recommendations
General Programming Recommendations
Initial instrument status before changing settings

Manual operation is designed for maximum possible operating convenience. In contrast, the priority of remote control is the "predictability" of the instrument status. Thus, when a command attempts to define incompatible settings, the command is ignored and the instrument status remains unchanged, i.e. other settings are not automatically adapted. Therefore, control programs should always define an initial instrument status (e.g. using the *RST command) and then implement the required settings.

Command sequence

As a general rule, send commands and queries in different program messages. Otherwise, the result of the query may vary depending on which operation is performed first (see also Preventing Overlapping Execution).

Reacting to malfunctions

The service request is the only possibility for the instrument to become active on its own. Each controller program should instruct the instrument to initiate a service request in case of malfunction. The program should react appropriately to the service request.

Error queues

The error queue should be queried after every service request in the controller program as the entries describe the cause of an error more precisely than the status registers. Especially in the test phase of a controller program the error queue should be queried regularly since faulty commands from the controller to the instrument are recorded there as well.

 


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