sub sendData {
  my $request = $_[0];
  $responseData = ""; #class member var
  print SOCKET "$request\n" . "\000" or die "print SOCKET: $!";
  
  $responseData = <SOCKET>;
  $responseData =~ tr/\x80-\xFF//d;  #strip non printing chars > 127
  $responseData =~ tr/\x00-\x08//d;  #strip non printing chars > 0-8
  
  print "resp: $responseData\n";
}


sub sendCommand{
  my $command     = $_[0];
  $command .= "\n";  #terminate command with newline.
  
  $responseData = "";    # member var
  $commandResponse = ""; # member var
  sendData(BuildWriteXML($command));
  checkError($responseData);  #make sure above was successful.
  $responseData = "";
 
  sendData(BuildReadXML());  #retrieve response to above command
  checkError($responseData);
  $commandResponse = $responseData;
}