"martin griffith" <martingriffith@XXyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message 
news:5da1g1pme1tvkktvkduqau1a5dh11srk58@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:35:56 -0500, in comp.arch.embedded Gary Peek
> <mylastname@mycompanyname.com> wrote:
>
>>martin griffith wrote:
>>> I tried to make a little 5 button VB program to chat down the serial
>>> port, but its seems I need "the professional VB package" to talk to
>>> the comms port
>>>
>>> Is there a simple way to make a elementary GUI on a XP machine that
>>> doesnt have a steep learning curve and can talk to the serial port
>>
>>If you want a programming language on which you can expand
>>and write other applications I can heartily recommend PowerBasic.
>>
>>There are plenty of example programs on their forums that are
>>close to what you need too.
> Thanks Gary, Guy Macon recommended that as well.
>
> I'll look into it, but I'll see how far I get with Python first
>
>
> martin

I've not used Python, but I highly recommend Tk/Tcl.  It is fun,
easy to use and tutorials are available!
And it now includes Expect, which can help create automated
serial transactions.   (Like the old Modem/BBS scripts...)

You may have gotten Python from ActiveState, which also has
Tk/tcl.

www.ActiveState.com

Rufus

Rob wrote:

> You can generally get a free copy of Delphi from a CD on the front of a
> computer magazine.
> 

You might also try the open source Delphi semiclone Lazarus:
<http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/>

Paul Burke

In order to run the serial port in Windows (including Visual Basic) yo
need to obtain mscomm32.ocx

You can get it from this URL
http://www.yes-tele.com/mscomm.html

There is also a good description of the control here.

Next you need to register it. From the Start button and the run, enter
regsvr32 mscomm32.ocx

Registration unfortunately is normally not enough. Access this URL an
follow the directions
http://archive.chipcenter.com/eexpert/rashby/rashby057.html

Once this is done you will be able to access the MSComm control in an
application that uses VBA like Excel, as well as Visual Basic itself.

All this and much more is covered in my book
"Excel by Example : A Microsoft Excel Cookbook for Electronics Engineers"
Published by Elsevier/Newnes, ISBN 0750677562 (you can see the TOC etc. o
Amazon)


Hope this helps

Aubrey Kagan
		
This message was sent using the comp.arch.embedded web interface o
www.EmbeddedRelated.com

I've always used Delphi and the AsyncPro communications components
originaly from Turbopower, now under an opensource license.

yes they're free!

http://sourceforge.net/projects/tpapro/

You can generally get a free copy of Delphi from a CD on the front of a
computer magazine.


Delphi is a very easy to use and excellently designed visual
development environment using Pascal.

The AsynchPro components make comms development (serial & ethernet ) as
technically demanding as tying a shoe lace.

VB is a cockroach in the restaurant of windows coding. Stamp on it at
every opportunity.

Not that I'm biased or anything :)

martin griffith wrote:
> Is there a simple way to make a elementary GUI on a XP machine that
> doesnt have a steep learning curve and can talk to the serial port

If you know C++, I'd recommend FLTK over Qt for a Graphical User 
Interface library, simply because there is no licensing involved, even 
for commercial projects (www.fltk.org). It is cross platform (Windows, 
Unix, Mac), easy to learn, and comes with about 100 sample programms.

You still have to find a way to do the serial communication though.

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:35:56 -0500, Gary Peek
<mylastname@mycompanyname.com> wrote:

>martin griffith wrote:
>> I tried to make a little 5 button VB program to chat down the serial
>> port, but its seems I need "the professional VB package" to talk to
>> the comms port
>> 
>> Is there a simple way to make a elementary GUI on a XP machine that
>> doesnt have a steep learning curve and can talk to the serial port
>
>If you want a programming language on which you can expand
>and write other applications I can heartily recommend PowerBasic.
>
>There are plenty of example programs on their forums that are
>close to what you need too.


If you want a really simple programming language have a look at 
www.libertybasic.com

I have used it over serial ports for "configuration" programmes to set
up embedded systems.  Really easy to use and cheap.

Alan


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P O Box 1108, Morley, Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 9370 5533 Fax +61 8 9467 6146
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On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:35:56 -0500, in comp.arch.embedded Gary Peek
<mylastname@mycompanyname.com> wrote:

>martin griffith wrote:
>> I tried to make a little 5 button VB program to chat down the serial
>> port, but its seems I need "the professional VB package" to talk to
>> the comms port
>> 
>> Is there a simple way to make a elementary GUI on a XP machine that
>> doesnt have a steep learning curve and can talk to the serial port
>
>If you want a programming language on which you can expand
>and write other applications I can heartily recommend PowerBasic.
>
>There are plenty of example programs on their forums that are
>close to what you need too.
Thanks Gary, Guy Macon recommended that as well.

I'll look into it, but I'll see how far I get with Python first


martin

martin griffith wrote:
> I tried to make a little 5 button VB program to chat down the serial
> port, but its seems I need "the professional VB package" to talk to
> the comms port
> 
> Is there a simple way to make a elementary GUI on a XP machine that
> doesnt have a steep learning curve and can talk to the serial port

If you want a programming language on which you can expand
and write other applications I can heartily recommend PowerBasic.

There are plenty of example programs on their forums that are
close to what you need too.

-- 
Gary Peek                mailto:mylastname@mycompanyname.com
Industrologic, Inc.      http://www.industrologic.com
Phone: (636) 723-4000    Fax: (636) 724-2288

On 2005-08-13, robert@suesound.co.za <robert@suesound.co.za> wrote:

> The trick is noting that opening a comport under windows is to use the
> 'CREATEFILE()' function with READFILE() anfd WRITEFILE() to receive and
> transmit respectively. It is really simple if you use non-overlapped
> mode and just use a timer (50milliesec) to poll usinf the ReadFile()
> function.

The Win32 com port API is a horrible mess (even when using
Python).  Python and pyserial is far simpler. :)

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I'm encased in the
                                  at               lining of a pure pork
                               visi.com            sausage!!

On 13 Aug 2005 08:57:44 -0700, in comp.arch.embedded
robert@suesound.co.za wrote:

>Hi Martin,
>
>The trick is noting that opening a comport under windows is to use the
>'CREATEFILE()' function with READFILE() anfd WRITEFILE() to receive and
>transmit respectively. It is really simple if you use non-overlapped
>mode and just use a timer (50milliesec) to poll usinf the ReadFile()
>function.
>
>Robert
Thanks, sounds good, just attempting to read the python stuff with
notepad++, I'll take a breather later and dig out VB again


martin