Reading from a serial port

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Reading from a serial port

D4NM4N (Posted 2005) [#1]

Anyone know a nice stable way of reading and writing to a serial port?

big10p (Posted 2005) [#2]

I seem to remember someone doing a dll. Can't remember who it was though... might have been IPete2?

Damien Sturdy (Posted 2005) [#3]

I am wonderink if anyone could wrap this: http://www.zealsoftstudio.com/ntport/ VERY useful in VB :D

Naughty Alien (Posted 2005) [#4]

I hope this will work out for you..I use it once and its working..you can open,read, write, close port.. http://www.uploadraid.com/uploads/55a357e1ed.zip http://www.uploadraid.com/uploads/5663ac281b.zip

IPete2 (Posted 2005) [#5]

D, Cygnus was half right - I have done quite a lot of work in this area for the SSGB project (but in truth the code I used came from Nigel Brown - who is a bit of a whizzzzard when it comes to all this stuff). There is a dll somewhere... but contrary to opinion and belief, you do not actually need a dll! Nigel gave me some code which worked just dandy for what I wanted. Let me look up the code and I'll email it to you. IPete2.

D4NM4N (Posted 2005) [#6]

Thqnks ill take a looky. I am doing a project for someone where i have to control a moving 'ride console' Ive managed to get around reading the controls in (can be done by simulating scancodes from another app) but i need to tell the mechanics when to start, what to do and when to stop. Should be an interesting one.

jhocking (Posted 2005) [#7]

http://www.nigelibrown.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/blitz/userlibs/index.htm

IPete2 (Posted 2005) [#8]

Joe, Thanks for providing the link IPete2.

WolRon (Posted 2005) [#9]

Yeah, nigels serialio.bb code looks exactly like the code I successfully used: Const NOPARITY = 0 Const ODDPARITY = 1 Const EVENPARITY = 2 Const MARKPARITY = 3 Const SPACEPARITY = 4 Const ONESTOPBIT = 0 Const ONE5STOPBITS = 1 Const TWOSTOPBITS = 2 Const DTR_CONTROL = 1 Const RTS_CONTROL = 2 Const NO_CONTROL = 3 Const parityEnable = False ; flag if parity is enabled Const protocol = NO_CONTROL ; stores protocol type Const dataBits = 8 ; stores number if data bits Const parityBit = NOPARITY ; stores type of parity bit Const stopBits = ONESTOPBIT ; stores number of stop bits Global timeouts = CreateBank(20) Const INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = -1 Const GENERIC_READ = $80000000 Const GENERIC_WRITE = $40000000 Const OPEN_EXISTING = 3 ; Baud rates at which the communication device operates Const CBR_110 = 110 Const CBR_300 = 300 Const CBR_600 = 600 Const CBR_1200 = 1200 Const CBR_2400 = 2400 Const CBR_4800 = 4800 Const CBR_9600 = 9600 Const CBR_14400 = 14400 Const CBR_19200 = 19200 Const CBR_38400 = 38400 Const CBR_56000 = 56000 Const CBR_57600 = 57600 Const CBR_115200 = 115200 Const EV_TXEMPTY = 4 Const SETRTS = 3 Const CLRRTS = 4 Function openComport(comport, baudRate) Local dcbBaudRate, driverHandle, dcb If comport > 255 Or comport < 0 Then Return INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE EndIf Select baudRate Case 110 dcbBaudRate = CBR_110 Case 300 dcbBaudRate = CBR_300 Case 600 dcbBaudRate = CBR_600 Case 1200 dcbBaudRate = CBR_1200 Case 2400 dcbBaudRate = CBR_2400 Case 4800 dcbBaudRate = CBR_4800 Case 9600 dcbBaudRate = CBR_9600 Case 14400 dcbBaudRate = CBR_14400 Case 19200 dcbBaudRate = CBR_19200 Case 38400 dcbBaudRate = CBR_38400 Case 56000 dcbBaudRate = CBR_56000 Case 57600 dcbBaudRate = CBR_57600 Case 115200 dcbBaudRate = CBR_115200 Default Return INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE End Select driverHandle = apiCreateFile("COM"+comport, GENERIC_READ Or GENERIC_WRITE, 0, 0, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, 0) If driverHandle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Then Return INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Else apiSetupComm(driverHandle, 1024, 1024) dcb = CreateBank(28) PokeInt dcb, 00, 28 ; sizeof(DCB) PokeInt dcb, 04, dcbBaudRate ; current baud rate val = 1 ; Binary Mode (skip Eof check) If parityEnable = True Then val = val Or 2 ; Enable parity checking If protocol = DTR_CONTROL Then val = val Or 48 ; DTR Flow control on PokeByte dcb, 08, val val = 0 If protocol = RTS_CONTROL Then val = val Or 48 PokeByte dcb, 09, val PokeByte dcb, 18, dataBits ; number of bits/byte, 4-8 PokeByte dcb, 19, parityBit ; 0-4=no, odd, even, mark, space PokeByte dcb, 20, stopBits ; 0,1,2 = 1, 1.5, 2 apiSetCommState(driverHandle, dcb) apiSetCommMask(driverHandle, EV_TXEMPTY) EndIf FreeBank dcb Return driverHandle End Function Function closeComport(driverHandle) If driverHandle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Or driverHandle = 0 Then Return False Else Return apiCloseHandle(driverHandle) EndIf End Function Function writeComport(driverHandle, numBytes, buffer) Local state, temp If driverHandle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Or driverHandle = 0 Then Return False EndIf apiEscapeCommFunction(driverHandle, SETRTS) temp = CreateBank(4) state = apiWriteFile(driverHandle, buffer, numBytes, temp, 0) ; evtmask = CreateBank(4) ; apiWaitCommEvent(driverHandle, evtmask ) ; FreeBank evtmask apiEscapeCommFunction(driverHandle, CLRRTS) FreeBank temp Return state End Function Function readComport(driverHandle, bytesRead, bufferSize, buffer, tOut) Local comErrors, comStat If driverHandle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Or driverHandle = 0 Then Return False EndIf PokeInt timeouts, 00, 0 PokeInt timeouts, 04, 0 PokeInt timeouts, 08, tOut PokeInt timeouts, 12, 0 apiSetCommTimeouts(driverHandle, timeouts) comErrors = CreateBank(4) comStat = CreateBank(10) apiClearCommError(driverHandle, comErrors, comStat) apiReadFile(driverHandle, buffer, bufferSize, bytesRead, 0) FreeBank comErrors FreeBank comStat Return True End Function And here is some actual code that a program I wrote used to use the serialio code: Note that some of this code is specific to my application and wouldn't necessarily be used in yours... Function SendProgram() SetStatusText window, "Stepping through comm. output. Press spacebar or enter to step." If StepComm = True Then WaitForKey() ; Open COM port with selected baudrate hCom = openComport(port, baudrate) If hCom <> 0 And hCom <> INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE SetStatusText window, "Com port opened." Delay 500 If StepComm = True Then WaitForKey() Else If hCom = 0 Return 2 ;tried to use invalid com port or baudrate Else Return 3 ;Error occured trying to open com port, EndIf EndIf ;initiate transmission buffer = CreateBank(255) PokeByte buffer, 0, Asc(initialbyte$) If Not writeComPort(hCom, 1, buffer) closeComport(hCom) Return 3 EndIf SetStatusText window, "Initiated communication." If StepComm = True Then WaitForKey() For iter = 1 To N8 ;fill send buffer with block of code totalbytes = 0 For fill = 1 To Len(block$(iter)) PokeByte buffer, fill - 1, Asc(Mid$(block$(iter), fill, 1)) totalbytes = totalbytes + 1 Next ;send data through com port If Not writeComPort(hCom, totalbytes, buffer) closeComport(hCom) Return 3 EndIf SetStatusText window, "Sent line " + iter +" through com port..." If StepComm = True Then WaitForKey() Next ;terminate transmission PokeByte buffer, 0, Asc(terminatingbyte$) PokeByte buffer, 1, 10 ;LineFeed character If Not writeComPort(hCom, 2, buffer) closeComport(hCom) Return 3 EndIf SetStatusText window, "Terminated communication." If StepComm = True Then WaitForKey() FreeBank buffer ; Close and end result = closeComport(hCom) If result = False Return 20 ;Error closing com port EndIf SetStatusText window, "Closed com port." If StepComm = True Then WaitForKey() SetStatusText window, "Successfully sent " + N8 + " lines of data." Delay 2000 Return 1 ;everything went OK End Function