Model 2651A High Power System SourceMeter® Instrument Reference Manual
Section 3: Functions and features
2651A-901-01 Rev. A / March 2011
3-75
The following programming example illustrates how to use the
$$
character code to display the
message “You owe me $8” on the top line:
display.clear()
display.setcursor(1, 1)
display.settext("You owe me $$8")
If the extra
$
character is not included, the
$8
would be interpreted as an undefined character code
and will be ignored. The message “You owe me” will instead be displayed.
NOTE
Be careful when embedding character codes in the text string; it is easy to forget that the character
following the
$
is part of the code. For example, assume you want to display “Hello” on the top line
and “Nate” on the bottom line, and so you send the following command:
display.settext("Hello$Nate")
The above command displays “Hello” on the top line and “ate” on the bottom line. The correct syntax
for the command is as follows:
display.settext("Hello$NNate")
Returning a text message
The
display.gettext()
function returns the displayed message (
text
) and can be used in five
ways:
text
= display.gettext()
text
= display.gettext(
embellished
)
text
= display.gettext(
embellished
,
row
)
text
= display.gettext(
embellished
,
row
,
columnStart
)
text
= display.gettext(
embellished
,
row
,
columnStart
,
columnEnd
)
Where:
embellished
Returns text as a simple character string (
false
) or includes character codes (
true
)
row
The row to read text from (
1
or
2
); if not included, text from both rows is read
columnStart
Starting column for reading text
columnEnd
Ending column for reading text
Sending the command without the
row
parameter returns both lines of the display. The
$N
character
code will be included to show where the top line ends and the bottom line begins. The
$N
character
code will be returned even if
embellished
is set to
false
.
With
embellished
set to
true
, all other character codes that were used in the creation of each
message line will be returned along with the message. With
embellished
set to
false
, only the
message will be returned.
Sending the command without the
columnStart
parameter defaults to column 1. Sending the
command without the
columnEnd
argument defaults to the last column (column 20 for row 1, column
32 for row 2).
