Serial communication

NTDEV
1

Hi all:

I am planning to write a serial communication software on Windows NT to talk
to a external device through the comm port.

Some doubts :

  1. Should I code using Visual Basic or Visual C++ ?
  2. What about using Java ?

Please advice.
Thanks
Song

2

Song,

This is the wrong forum for the question, as serial communication isn’t
driver related (except that you actually do serial comms thru a
driver…).

Having gently admonished you, dear colleague…

I have used all 3 and say this:

Don’t use VB, because you will be stuck with a single threaded app.
Serial comms are thru the ActiveX MSComm component, and you get all your
data via Windows messages. I found it hard to come up with a satisfying
design using VB. However, for a simple application, it is simple to use.

I don’t like Java because you have to write “native” routines to access
the Win32 API to access the serial port control API. Thus, you don’t get
portability that you are probably thinking you’ll get.

I use, and like VC++. (You can use any C or C++ toolset that lets you
link to the right Win32 libs/dlls.) The API, in my humble opinion, is
poorly documented and confusing.

In any case, find yourself a library; don’t reinvent the wheel. For C++,
go to www.codeproject.com, or www.codeguru.com. As a last resort, email
me and I’ll send you my humble serial wrapper. It allows multithreading
and overlapped I/O, and has been appropriated for MANY tasks here at my
company.

Good luck.

John.
Principal Engineer
Sperry Marine
xxxxx@nexet.net

Hi all:

I am planning to write a serial communication software on Windows NT to talk
to a external device through the comm port.

Some doubts :

  1. Should I code using Visual Basic or Visual C++ ?
  2. What about using Java ?

Please advice.
Thanks
Song

3

I really should not continue this thread since it is misplaced but I think I
need to clarify a few things.

  1. VB apps are not just single threaded. You can use the Windows API to
    start threads.
  2. You are also not restricted to using the MSComm control. You can again
    use the Windows API.

If you get your heart set on using C/C++ you could write the serial stuff in
a DLL and then call the exports from VB. This can be a great method because
you can get C’s power and VB’s GUI development all in one.

I have a couple samples I wrote that I could share with you. If you would
like them please email me DIRECTLY and not through this list.
Hope this helps, Chris

“John Reilly” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
>
> Song,
>
> This is the wrong forum for the question, as serial communication isn’t
> driver related (except that you actually do serial comms thru a
> driver…).
>
> Having gently admonished you, dear colleague…
>
> I have used all 3 and say this:
>
> Don’t use VB, because you will be stuck with a single threaded app.
> Serial comms are thru the ActiveX MSComm component, and you get all your
> data via Windows messages. I found it hard to come up with a satisfying
> design using VB. However, for a simple application, it is simple to use.
>
> I don’t like Java because you have to write “native” routines to access
> the Win32 API to access the serial port control API. Thus, you don’t get
> portability that you are probably thinking you’ll get.
>
> I use, and like VC++. (You can use any C or C++ toolset that lets you
> link to the right Win32 libs/dlls.) The API, in my humble opinion, is
> poorly documented and confusing.
>
> In any case, find yourself a library; don’t reinvent the wheel. For C++,
> go to www.codeproject.com, or www.codeguru.com. As a last resort, email
> me and I’ll send you my humble serial wrapper. It allows multithreading
> and overlapped I/O, and has been appropriated for MANY tasks here at my
> company.
>
> Good luck.
>
> John.
> Principal Engineer
> Sperry Marine
> xxxxx@nexet.net
>
>
> > Hi all:
> >
> > I am planning to write a serial communication software on Windows NT to
talk
> > to a external device through the comm port.
> >
> > Some doubts :
> > 1. Should I code using Visual Basic or Visual C++ ?
> > 2. What about using Java ?
> >
> > Please advice.
> > Thanks
> > Song
>
>

4

> 1. Should I code using Visual Basic or Visual C++ ?

  1. What about using Java ?

Depends on tastes. For me personally, Java is an atrocity.

Use VB if you need to solve this task very fast, and the task is
mainly UI-oriented. Use C++ for any other cases.

Max

5

> If you get your heart set on using C/C++ you could write the serial
stuff in

a DLL and then call the exports from VB.

Then it would be much better to write an OA component.

Max