What advantage/s does this offer over using SCPI commands from within the webserver command page to get .bin files that can be converted to .csv for dropping straight into Excel ?
There's a .bin to .csv utility available in the webserver to install on your PC and then convert the exported .bin files.
An outline of this .bin to .csv utility is in a video here:
https://siglentna.com/video/binary-to-csv-x-e/
Good question!
One benefit of this script over the Siglent tool could be the file format. Its a bit how you use it.
The Siglent tool combines the value of parameters and the actual wave data in the same csv file. This can make it harder to choose a datatype for each column. Also the first records need to be skipped.
With the XML file format they're separated, and only the wave data is within a table. This is also a true Excel table, which gives benefits. The data can also easily be refreshed. The parameters of the waveform can be placed anywhere else.
Using scripts the capture is automated using filenames of choice. The scope can be setup, but also a signal generator or psu.
Also calculations can be done. Averaging multi frame acquisitions, resulting in higher bit depths are already supported and can be saved to another xml format. But why always use Excel to do the processing? For a lot of stuff it is not the right tool. Processing data using a script that can interact with the scope can be beneficial too.
Also scripts can be used to document things by writing a log. That can be handy when doing a lot of tests.
I think it's mostly a difference between automated and semi-automated. In some situations it makes all the difference, in some it doesn't.
Automating stuff comes with some investment, like learning the tool and the scripting language. I bring this tool forward to see whether it could have its (tiny) place in the e-community. It sure has its place in how I enjoy my hobby. This particular script is a way to find out whether it could be of use to owners of the same scope. The idea was initiated by someone asking when the Siglent tool would show the time (related) to the trigger moment. I then thought, the script should support that! And why not share it.