Serial RS232 COM port communications with Visual Basic

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ActiveXperts.com > ActiveComport > How to Use ActiveComport > Visual Basic 5.x/6.x

Using ActiveComport Serial Port Toolkit with Visual Basic 5.x/6.x

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ActiveComport is a software development kit (SDK) that enables the user to communicate to a device over a serial interface.
Such a device can be: a weight indicator, a modem, a scanner, or any other device that is equiped with a serial port. It can
even be another PC, connected via a NULL modem cable.
ActiveComport features the following:
Direct COM port support (like 'COM1'), TAPI (Windows Telephony Device) support (like 'Standard 56000 bps Modem'), support
for RS-232/RS422/RS485, up to 256 simultaneous ports, support for all types of Hayes compatible modems, support for serial
cable, USB cable or Bluetooth connections, support for GSM/GPRS modems, support for Virtual COM ports (i.e. COM ports
redirected through the network), hardware flow control (RTS/CTS, DTR/DSR), software flowcontrol (XON/XOFF), configurable
baudrate/parity/stopbits, full buffered data transfer, text/binary data transfer.
ActiveComport can be well integrated into Visual Basic environments.
This document describes how the ActiveComport Toolkit can be integrated into Visual Basic 5.x/6.x projects.

Step 1: Download and install the ActiveComport Toolkit

Download the ActiveComport Toolkit from the ActiveXperts Download Site and start the installation. The installation guides
you through the installation process.

Support
FAQ/KBase

Step 2: Create a new Visual Basic project

Contact Support

Launch 'Microsoft Visual Basic' from the Start menu, and choose 'New' from the 'File Menu'. The 'New Project' dialog appears.
Select 'Standard Exe' and click 'OK':

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Serial RS232 COM port communications with Visual Basic

Related documents
Case study: Using
ActiveComport to send
SMS's (by Sorceress
Entertainment)
AT commands
Serial Communication
Tutorials

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Step 3: Refer to the ActiveComport Library and create the objects

A new Project is created, with a blank form.
First, you must add a reference to ActiveComport in the project to be able to use the object. To do so, choose 'References...'
from the 'Project' menu. In the 'References' dialog that pops up, enable the 'ActiveComport 2.2 Type Library' reference as
shown in the following picture:

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Click 'OK' to close the 'References...' dialog.
Then, select the Project form and choose 'View Code' from the context menu:

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Serial RS232 COM port communications with Visual Basic

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

On top of your code, declare the following object:
Public objComport As ACOMPORTLib.ComPort

Step 4: Create the object

From the Code window, select 'Form'. The Private Sub 'Form_Load()' will be displayed now.
In the 'Form Load' function, create the object in the following way:
Set objComport = CreateObject("ActiveXperts.ComPort")

Step 5: Send an AT command to a connected Hayes compatible modem

You can now send and/or receive data to and/or from a serial device.
The following code shows how to query a modem:
' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
' DO NOT FORGET: ADD A REFERENCE TO THE ACTIVECOMPORT LIBRARY FROM THE PROJECT->REFERENCE MENU
' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Public lTimerID As Long
Public objComport As ACOMPORTLib.ComPort
Private Sub buttonSubmit_Click()
textReceived = ""
objComport.WriteString (textSend)
GetResult
End Sub
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Serial RS232 COM port communications with Visual Basic

Private Sub buttonView_Click()

If FileExists(textLogfile.Text) = True Then
Shell "notepad " + textLogfile.Text, vbNormalFocus
End If
End Sub
Private Sub CheckDTR_Click()
objComport.RaiseDTR (CheckDTR.Value)
GetResult
End Sub
Private Sub CheckRTS_Click()
objComport.RaiseRTS (CheckRTS.Value)
GetResult
End Sub
Public Function FileExists(sFileName As String) As Boolean
FileExists = CBool(Len(Dir$(sFileName))) And CBool(Len(sFileName))
End Function
Private Sub Form_Load()
textSend = "AT"
Set objComport = CreateObject("ActiveXperts.ComPort")
objComport.ComTimeout = 100
For i = 0 To objComport.GetDeviceCount() - 1
comboDevice.AddItem (objComport.GetDevice(i))
Next
comboDevice.AddItem
comboDevice.AddItem
comboDevice.AddItem
comboDevice.AddItem
comboDevice.AddItem
comboDevice.AddItem
comboDevice.AddItem
comboDevice.AddItem

"COM1"
"COM2"
"COM3"
"COM4"
"COM5"
"COM6"
"COM7"
"COM8"

comboDevice.ListIndex = 0
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem

"Default"
"110"
"300"
"600"

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Serial RS232 COM port communications with Visual Basic

comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem
comboSpeed.AddItem

"1200"
"2400"
"4800"
"9600"
"14400"
"19200"
"38400"
"57600"
"64000"
"115200"
"128000"
"256000"

comboSpeed.ListIndex = 0
comboHWFlowControl.AddItem "Default"
comboHWFlowControl.AddItem "Disable"
comboHWFlowControl.AddItem "Enable"
comboHWFlowControl.ListIndex = 0
comboSWFlowControl.AddItem "Default"
comboSWFlowControl.AddItem "Disable"
comboSWFlowControl.AddItem "Enable"
comboSWFlowControl.ListIndex = 0
comboDataFormat.AddItem "Default"
comboDataFormat.AddItem "8,n,1"
comboDataFormat.AddItem "7,e,1"
comboDataFormat.ListIndex = 0
textReceived = ""
EnableControls
End Sub
Private Sub buttonOPEN_Click()
objComport.Device = comboDevice.List(comboDevice.ListIndex)
If (comboSpeed.Text = "Default") Then
objComport.BaudRate = 0
Else
objComport.BaudRate = comboSpeed.Text
End If
objComport.LogFile = textLogfile.Text
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Serial RS232 COM port communications with Visual Basic

objComport.HardwareFlowControl = comboHWFlowControl.ListIndex
objComport.SoftwareFlowControl = comboSWFlowControl.ListIndex
If (comboDataFormat.ListIndex = 0) Then
objComport.DataBits = objComport.asDATABITS_DEFAULT
objComport.StopBits = objComport.asSTOPBITS_DEFAULT
objComport.Parity = objComport.asPARITY_DEFAULT
End If

If (comboDataFormat.ListIndex = 1) Then
objComport.DataBits = objComport.asDATABITS_8
objComport.StopBits = objComport.asSTOPBITS_1
objComport.Parity = objComport.asPARITY_NONE
End If

If (comboDataFormat.ListIndex = 2) Then
objComport.DataBits = objComport.asDATABITS_7
objComport.StopBits = objComport.asSTOPBITS_1
objComport.Parity = objComport.asPARITY_EVEN
End If
objComport.Open
GetResult
EnableControls
End Sub
Private Sub buttonClose_Click()
objComport.Close
GetResult
EnableControls
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)

Timer1.Enabled = False
End Sub
Private Sub EnableControls()
Dim bOpened
bOpened = objComport.IsOpened
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Serial RS232 COM port communications with Visual Basic

CheckDTR.Enabled = bOpened
CheckRTS.Enabled = bOpened
checkCTS.Enabled = bOpened
checkDCD.Enabled = bOpened
checkRI.Enabled = bOpened
checkDSR.Enabled = bOpened
buttonOpen.Enabled = bOpened + 1
buttonClose.Enabled = bOpened
buttonSubmit.Enabled = bOpened
Timer1.Enabled = bOpened
End Sub
Private Sub linkErrorCodes_Click()
Shell "Explorer http://www.activexperts.com/support/errorcodes/Index.asp"
End Sub
Private Sub linkWebsite_Click()
Shell "Explorer http://www.activexperts.com"
End Sub
Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
Dim strString
strString = objComport.ReadString
If (strString <> "") Then
textReceived = textReceived & strString & vbCrLf
End If
checkDCD.Value = Abs(objComport.QueryDCD)
checkCTS.Value = Abs(objComport.QueryCTS)
checkDSR.Value = Abs(objComport.QueryDSR)
checkRI.Value = Abs(objComport.QueryRI)
End Sub
Private Sub GetResult()
If objComport.LastError = 0 Then
textResult.Caption = "SUCCESS"
Else
textResult.Caption = "ERROR " & objComport.LastError & " ( " & objComport.GetErrorDescription
(objComport.LastError) & " )"
End If
End Sub

There are many working samples included with the product. You can also find them on the ActiveXperts FTP site: ftp.
activexperts-labs.com/samples/acomport.
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Serial RS232 COM port communications with Visual Basic

The ActiveComport tool is COM port development component (SDK). This control can be used by any Windows development
platform, including Visual Basic .NET, Visual CSharp .NET, ASP .NET (VB,CS), ASP, Visual Basic, Visual Studio/Visual C++,
Borland Delphi and C++ Builder, PHP, VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), ColdFusion, HTML, VBScript and any other ActiveX/
COM compliant platform. The ActiveComport Toolkit is an ActiveXperts Software B.V. Product.
Copyright 1999-2007 ActiveXperts Software. All rights reserved.

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