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String Variables

Since there are so many ways to code numbers, the HP

1650B/XB

handles almost all data as ASCII strings. Depending on your host

language, you may be able to use other types when reading in responses.

Sometimes it is helpful to use string variables in place of constants to send

instructions to the HP 1650B/51B. The example below combines variables

and constants in order to make it easier to switch from MACHINE1 to

MACHINE2 In BASIC, the

operator is used for string concatenation.

10 LET Machine$ = ":MACHINE2" !Send all instructions to machine 2

20 OUTPUT XXX; Machine$ & ":TYPE STATE" !Make machine a state analyzer

30 !Assign all labels to be positive

40 OUTPUT XXX;

Machine$

":SFORMAT:LABEL

'WAN

1'.

POS"

50 OUTPUT XXX; Machine$ & ":SFORMAT:LABEL 'CHAN 2'. POS"

60 OUTPUT XXX; Machine$ & ":SFORMAT:LABEL 'OUT', POS"

99 END

If you want to observe the headers for queries, you must bring the

returned data into a string variable. Reading queries into string variables

requires little attention to formatting. For example:

ENTER XXX;Result$

places the output of the query in the string variable Result%

Note

Inthelan

guage used for this book (HP BASIC 4.0), string variables are

case sensitive and must be expressed exactly the same each time they are

used.

HP 1650B/HP 1651B

Programming Reference

The output of the instrument may be numeric or character data

depending on what is queried. Refer to the specific commands for the

formats and types of data returned from queries.

Introduction to Programming an Instrument

1-15

HP 1650B User Manual

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