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Screencast

 A screencast demonstration using the advanced send command syntax is available. Click here to see the video.

Overview

When communicating with certain equipment or embedded devices, it may be desirable to send command instructions to the connected device in data byte formats other than ASCII.  
Indigo supports a feature called Advanced Send Commands that allow you to express these alternate byte representations in a command string and Indigo will interpret the expression and transmit the appropriate data bytes.  

The  Advanced Send Command syntax supports the following data byte formats:   

  • ASCII
  • HEXADECIMAL
  • DECIMAL
  • OCTAL
  • BINARY

Session Properties

First, the session must be configured to allow Advanced Send Commands.  
This feature can be enabled/disabled in each session.  

Navigate to the session properties and select the Settings tab and make sure the Advanced Send Command setting is enabled.

Syntax

To send Advanced Data Commands to the connected session, you must submit them using a syntax that Indigo can recognize to interpret the intended data bytes for transmission.

Please note the following requirements for sending Advanced Send Commands:

  1. All Advanced Data Command expression strings must be encapsulated in double quote characters.  
    The double quotes instruct Indigo that the data expression being submitted is an Advanced Send Command.  
  2. Each data byte in the command expression (with the exception of ASCII characters) must be separated by commas.  
  3. When using the Advanced Send Command feature it is important to note that unlike normal command instructions sent to the connected device, Indigo will not automatically append any terminating characters to the instruction command (By default this is a carriage return byte and line feed byte).  If your command instruction requires some form of termination, you will have to include the appropriate termination characters/bytes within the Advanced Send Command expression.

Below are examples of the send command: "HELLO" in each supported data byte representation

Data Type:

Advanced Send Command Syntax:

ASCII

ASCII strings are expressed by encapsulating the sequence of characters inside single quotes.

ASCII characters can be individually expressed by encapsulating each character
inside single quotes and each character separated with a comma.

Decimal

Decimal data bytes are expressed as numeric values with no prefix or suffix identifier characters.

Hexadecimal

Hexadecimal data bytes can be expressed as hex byte values with a 'h' suffix identifier character.

Hexadecimal data bytes can be expressed as hex byte values with a '$' prefix identifier character.

Hexadecimal data bytes can be expressed as hex byte values with '0x' prefix identifier characters.

Octal

Octal data bytes can be expressed as a numeric value with a 'o' suffix identifier character.

Binary

Binary data bytes can be expressed as strings of zeros and ones with a 'b' suffix identifier character.

Mixed

Data bytes in the Advanced Send Command do not have to be expressed in only one data format.  
You can mix the data byte formats, the command interpreter will decipher each byte separately

This example mixes binary, decimal, ASCII, and hexadecimal bytes into a single command expression.

Usage

You can use the Advanced Send Command syntax for any data submitted via the command bar at the bottom of the session window.  They can also be used in Macro Commands and in Command Library commands.  
A screencast demonstration usage of the Advanced Send Command syntax is available. Click here to see the video.