HP 54522A - Page 217

Disk Menu
Load Scope
File Format Softkey
The second softkey from the top isthe file format softkey. The file
format softkey is displayed only when waveform is selected as the file type.
The three file formats are internal, text verbose, and text Y values.
Internal The internal format is a binary file format, which if you try to
read it in a word processing program, you will see meaningless
information. However, this is the preferred waveform-storage method
because the files take up one-third as much disk space as text files. You
can always convert them to text files at a later date. Internal format files
have a .WAV file extension. The internal format is also compatible with
the HP-IB preamble and data query commands.
Waveform files stored using the internal format contain the vertical and
horizontal scaling parameters of the original waveform. Therefore, you can
go into the waveform save menu and turn on the display for the waveform
memory that the file was loaded into. Then, you can perform measurements
on the waveform, compare it to other waveforms, rescale it horizontally, or
use it as an operand in a math function.
Text Verbose The text verbose format is an ASCII file format that uses
alphanumeric characters to represent the waveform. You can load text
files into a word processing program.
Text verbose waveforms have the file extension .TXT. You may notice that
text files use about three times more disk space than files stored to a disk
using the internal format. Figure 12-1 shows an example of the text verbose
format.
12-6