Read buffer size

Whenever a query (write() command sending a string with a trailing "?") is sent to the SCPI server, the reply is stored in a buffer and can be retrieved using a read() command. With some programming languages the maximum number of characters that can be retrieved by a read command is defined and if the reply length exceeds this value, the remaining part will flow into the next read request.

Using Python and the PyVisa package, the provided read() and query() methods take care automatically of this potential problem. These methods read and store the provided data iteratively in chunks till the end. Please refer to the PyVisa documentation for further details.

With other languages and/or libraries it might be necessary to define a read buffer size large enough. Please be aware of this potential issue and refer to the used language/library documentation.