Fluke 8508A User Manual page 80

8508A
Users Manual
which are known as "Program Message Unit Separators". Thus the semi-colon cannot be
used for any other purpose.
As you can see from the diagram, multiple Program Message Units can be sent if they are
separated using semi-colons (shown in the repeat path). The starting circle is used only
for the diagram to indicate the start of a complete Program Message.
Use of Italics
Notice that the names of some elements are shown here in italics which indicate "non-
literal" text (i.e., names given to particular elements) The actual characters to be sent, are
shown in plain-text capitals.
Upper/Lower Case Equivalence
The Multimeter will not differentiate between upper and lower case characters in literal
program text.
Numeric Representation
The Multimeter accepts a "Flexible Numeric Representation" (Nrf), when receiving
numbers.
Decimal numeric responses from the Multimeter are in either Nr1 or Nr3 format. In this
manual, all syntax diagrams for query contain the response format.
The Program Message Terminator
The message terminator for the 8508A Reference Multimeter is the hexadecimal number
0A , characterized in IEEE 488.2 as NL. Alternatively, the EOI (end or identify) line can
be set true with the last byte to be sent. This is represented on the syntax diagram by
/^END/.
The Program Message Unit
Program Message Units (PMUs) can be "Terminal" or "Non-terminal". The final PMU in
any Program Message is always Terminal (includes the terminator), whereas all
preceding PMUs within the Program Message are obviously Non-terminal. Most of the
commands in this handbook are described in the form of non-terminal message units:
To save space, the name 'program header separator' is abbreviated to 'phs'.
4-6
;
Program Message Unit
Syntax Diagram of a Simple Program Message
Program Header
Non-Terminal Program Message Unit
Program Message Terminator
Program header separator
adj199f.eps
,
Data Element
adj352f.eps