Raw I/O

VISA.NET Raw I/O (also called unformatted or non-formatted I/O) writes and reads raw data to and from a device, but gives the calling program responsibility for all the details of formatting and managing how complete buffers of data are sent to or received from an instrument. Raw I/O does not perform formatting or format buffer management.

In some circumstances where asynchronous I/O can increase performance, it may be advantageous to use Raw I/O. However, Formatted I/O formatting and buffer management are highly optimized, and in most cases will perform at least as well as code that performs the same tasks using Raw I/O.

Raw I/O is accessed via the IMessageBasedSession.RawIO property, which is available from any message-based session.

In This Section

Reading explains how to use Raw I/O to read data from a device.
Writing explains how to use Raw I/O to write data to a device.
Asynchronous I/O provides an overview of asynchronous communication with an instrument.

Refer to the API reference for information about other properties and methods in the IMessageBasedSession and IMessageBasedRawIO interfaces.