Hello Folks, Since mscomm.ocx for some strange reason will pop a license block unless you also install VB Professional (which most people don't need) I am looking for other methods to communicate with RS232 from Excel VBA, other than directly using the API. Lots of Google searching provided only one alternative, a routine called "cheapcomm". However, none of the download sites from back then (2004 and earlier) works anymore. Does someone know a site that still has it? -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com
Excel-RS232 via Cheapcomm: Where?
Started by ●September 19, 2007
Reply by ●September 19, 20072007-09-19
On Sep 19, 6:05 pm, Joerg <notthisjoerg...@removethispacbell.net> wrote:> only one alternative, a routine called "cheapcomm". However, none of the > download sites from back then (2004 and earlier) works anymore. Does > someone know a site that still has it?warning: a lot of special magic stuff of this kind is totally broken by modern Office versions. Our helpful IT people installed another 512MB RAM in my office PC a few months ago, and since they were there anyway they "kindly" installed the latest version of Office. Presto - everything is broken, starting with my HP oscilloscope communications software [which was an ActiveX Office plugin] and all the way down to several custom data capture applets. Moral: don't necessarily expect that it's going to work even if you find it.
Reply by ●September 19, 20072007-09-19
larwe wrote:> On Sep 19, 6:05 pm, Joerg <notthisjoerg...@removethispacbell.net> > wrote: > > >>only one alternative, a routine called "cheapcomm". However, none of the >>download sites from back then (2004 and earlier) works anymore. Does >>someone know a site that still has it? > > > warning: a lot of special magic stuff of this kind is totally broken > by modern Office versions. Our helpful IT people installed another > 512MB RAM in my office PC a few months ago, and since they were there > anyway they "kindly" installed the latest version of Office. Presto - > everything is broken, starting with my HP oscilloscope communications > software [which was an ActiveX Office plugin] and all the way down to > several custom data capture applets. > > Moral: don't necessarily expect that it's going to work even if you > find it. >So, do you think it's better to go through the parched lands and directly via the API then? Mostly it'll be through virtual COM ports over USB. MS seems to really start lagging in terms of backward compatibility. When installing .NET 2.0 the Instek oscilloscope comms would not work. Installing 1.1 fixed it again. <shaking head> -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply by ●September 21, 20072007-09-21
mscomm32.ocx is often a headache. The only sure way is to install VB6 (I am not sure if you need the professional or enterprise editions for the registration to occur). You can in fact uninstall VB6 immediately afterwards without ever having used it, and the registration will still stick. I guess you could do this with a borrowed copy without violating the copyright. However there is another alternative described here http://archive.chipcenter.com/eexpert/rashby/rashby057.html I have only been told of one case where this did not work, and I am not certain that it was indeed a problem. Try it and see. I describe using mscomm directly from Excel in two of the chapters of my book Excel by Example: A Microsoft Excel Cookbook for Electronics Engineers published by Elsevier/Newnes ISBN-10: 0750677562 ISBN-13: 978-0750677561 and available from most booksellers on the Internet. -Aubrey Kagan
Reply by ●September 21, 20072007-09-21
antedeluvian51 wrote:> > mscomm32.ocx is often a headache. The only sure way is to install > VB6 (I am not sure if you need the professional or enterprise > editions for the registration to occur). You can in fact uninstall > VB6 immediately afterwards without ever having used it, and the > registration will still stick. I guess you could do this with a > borrowed copy without violating the copyright.I fail to see any reason for anyone to put up with these shenanigans. Linux is still available, at a reasonable price, with a reasonable license. -- Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net) Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems. <http://cbfalconer.home.att.net> -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Reply by ●September 23, 20072007-09-23
On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:33:06 -0400, CBFalconer <cbfalconer@yahoo.com> wrote:>antedeluvian51 wrote: >> >> mscomm32.ocx is often a headache. The only sure way is to install >> VB6 (I am not sure if you need the professional or enterprise >> editions for the registration to occur). You can in fact uninstall >> VB6 immediately afterwards without ever having used it, and the >> registration will still stick. I guess you could do this with a >> borrowed copy without violating the copyright. > >I fail to see any reason for anyone to put up with these >shenanigans. Linux is still available, at a reasonable price, with >a reasonable license.What has that got to do with the OP's question? Why is it that linux bigots can never answer the question, but rather just dodge it with some completely irrelevant drivel. If Joerg wanted to use linux, then Joerg would have used linux because Joerg is more than competent to do so, but that is not what was asked. To deal with the original question, the mscomm ocx can be used if the application is packaged, but unfortunately you will need a copy of VB to do this. The other solutions is to track down the registry key that mscomm uses to validate itself buy using a regmon (sysinternals) or whatever the new version is called. Failing all of that, then you can use the win32 api, but this would be a pain in VB if you don't have a great deal of interfacing with the API.
Reply by ●September 23, 20072007-09-23
The Real Andy wrote:> On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:33:06 -0400, CBFalconer <cbfalconer@yahoo.com> > wrote: > > >>antedeluvian51 wrote: >> >>>mscomm32.ocx is often a headache. The only sure way is to install >>>VB6 (I am not sure if you need the professional or enterprise >>>editions for the registration to occur). You can in fact uninstall >>>VB6 immediately afterwards without ever having used it, and the >>>registration will still stick. I guess you could do this with a >>>borrowed copy without violating the copyright. >> >>I fail to see any reason for anyone to put up with these >>shenanigans. Linux is still available, at a reasonable price, with >>a reasonable license. > > > What has that got to do with the OP's question? Why is it that linux > bigots can never answer the question, but rather just dodge it with > some completely irrelevant drivel. If Joerg wanted to use linux, then > Joerg would have used linux because Joerg is more than competent to do > so, but that is not what was asked. >Right, no Linux here. This has to work on client's PCs and their IT staff would roll on the floor holding their bellies if I suggested they change out the OS on a number of PCs. On a side note Linux seems to cause some quirks in cooperation with Windows systems. For example, when I want to unzip a file that resides on the Linux-based LAN drive here I usually receive the error message "not a zip file". After moving it over to a Windows PC the same file unzips just fine.> To deal with the original question, the mscomm ocx can be used if the > application is packaged, but unfortunately you will need a copy of VB > to do this. The other solutions is to track down the registry key that > mscomm uses to validate itself buy using a regmon (sysinternals) or > whatever the new version is called. >That key is given in the link Aubrey posted. However, I am not sure whether this method is fully legit from a copyright POV. At least I could imagine that some IT guys would raise an eyebrow and decline to do that. Usually those are the folks who would have to do a registry edit in many companies.> Failing all of that, then you can use the win32 api, but this would be > a pain in VB if you don't have a great deal of interfacing with the > API. >I looks like it does boil down to using the API. Certainly not something to look forward to :-( VBA within Excel is such a great idea. Why did they leave it lacking so much in connectivity? MS could sell a whole lot of copies for lab and production PCs if it wasn't so difficult to connect hardware. Right now everyone defaults to LabView, DAQFactory and SW like that, or they just don't do anything at all if the expense isn't warranted. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply by ●September 24, 20072007-09-24
Joerg wrote:> The Real Andy wrote: >> CBFalconer <cbfalconer@yahoo.com> wrote: >>> antedeluvian51 wrote: >>> >>>> mscomm32.ocx is often a headache. The only sure way is to install >>>> VB6 (I am not sure if you need the professional or enterprise >>>> editions for the registration to occur). You can in fact uninstall >>>> VB6 immediately afterwards without ever having used it, and the >>>> registration will still stick. I guess you could do this with a >>>> borrowed copy without violating the copyright. >>> >>> I fail to see any reason for anyone to put up with these >>> shenanigans. Linux is still available, at a reasonable price, >>> with a reasonable license. >> >> What has that got to do with the OP's question? Why is it that >> linux bigots can never answer the question, but rather just dodge >> it with some completely irrelevant drivel. If Joerg wanted to use >> linux, then Joerg would have used linux because Joerg is more >> than competent to do so, but that is not what was asked. > > Right, no Linux here. This has to work on client's PCs and their > IT staff would roll on the floor holding their bellies if I > suggested they change out the OS on a number of PCs.I would never have made the comment in another newsgroup, but this is c.a.embedded, and I fail to see any reason for Windows fragilities to impede things.> > On a side note Linux seems to cause some quirks in cooperation > with Windows systems. For example, when I want to unzip a file > that resides on the Linux-based LAN drive here I usually receive > the error message "not a zip file". After moving it over to a > Windows PC the same file unzips just fine.On this, I suspect either your unzipper or that you have had some file transfer problems. Line endings are stored differently on Linux and Windows, so the copy mechanism has to take steps. Zip files are binaries, and those steps should be inhibited. For reliable standard zip packages go to infozip. -- Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net) Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems. <http://cbfalconer.home.att.net> -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Reply by ●September 24, 20072007-09-24
CBFalconer wrote:> Joerg wrote: > >>The Real Andy wrote: >> >>>CBFalconer <cbfalconer@yahoo.com> wrote: >>> >>>>antedeluvian51 wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>>mscomm32.ocx is often a headache. The only sure way is to install >>>>>VB6 (I am not sure if you need the professional or enterprise >>>>>editions for the registration to occur). You can in fact uninstall >>>>>VB6 immediately afterwards without ever having used it, and the >>>>>registration will still stick. I guess you could do this with a >>>>>borrowed copy without violating the copyright. >>>> >>>>I fail to see any reason for anyone to put up with these >>>>shenanigans. Linux is still available, at a reasonable price, >>>>with a reasonable license. >>> >>>What has that got to do with the OP's question? Why is it that >>>linux bigots can never answer the question, but rather just dodge >>>it with some completely irrelevant drivel. If Joerg wanted to use >>>linux, then Joerg would have used linux because Joerg is more >>>than competent to do so, but that is not what was asked. >> >>Right, no Linux here. This has to work on client's PCs and their >>IT staff would roll on the floor holding their bellies if I >>suggested they change out the OS on a number of PCs. > > > I would never have made the comment in another newsgroup, but this > is c.a.embedded, and I fail to see any reason for Windows > fragilities to impede things. >Sometimes you must put up with it. The installed base is huge. Other times you have to do it because the customer wishes it. For example, we have desigend a whole big ultrasound machine around Windows (after tossing an re-writing a lot of stuff). Ok, it's big, about the size of a small dishwasher but that's an embedded application.> >>On a side note Linux seems to cause some quirks in cooperation >>with Windows systems. For example, when I want to unzip a file >>that resides on the Linux-based LAN drive here I usually receive >>the error message "not a zip file". After moving it over to a >>Windows PC the same file unzips just fine. > > > On this, I suspect either your unzipper or that you have had some > file transfer problems. Line endings are stored differently on > Linux and Windows, so the copy mechanism has to take steps. Zip > files are binaries, and those steps should be inhibited. For > reliable standard zip packages go to infozip. >Sure, but the drive is marketed for Windows-based networks. However, no complaints because other than that it works nicely. Made it very easy to send off a scope screen capture from the lab. The USB extension was thoroughly botched by the mfg though. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply by ●September 25, 20072007-09-25
On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:05:22 -0700, Joerg <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message <A%gIi.4992$Sd4.1737@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com>:>Hello Folks, > >Since mscomm.ocx for some strange reason will pop a license block unless >you also install VB Professional (which most people don't need) I am >looking for other methods to communicate with RS232 from Excel VBA, >other than directly using the API. Lots of Google searching provided >only one alternative, a routine called "cheapcomm". However, none of the >download sites from back then (2004 and earlier) works anymore. Does >someone know a site that still has it?Hi Joerg, Have you discounted the WindMill drivers ? They work with Excel. http://www.windmill.co.uk/rs232.html LabIML 4.3 is the ASCII-only version which is free for the cost of signing up for their newsletter. I've been on their list 4-5 years and although one can quit after the download, I haven't. Very little traffic and what there is sometimes even useful. You have to pay for the binary version. HTH ... Marc Marc_F_Hult www.ECOntrol.org
