Help with Serial Communication - Please!

Hi Everyone, happy to join the forums here!
I'm having one hell of a time with Serial Communication in VC++ (MultiThreading /Win32)

Here's the issue...
I have a USB Serial device that is reading a gyroscope and sending out Text to COM8 like this:

!ANG: 0.33, 0.22, 0.66
!ANG: 0.33, 0.22, 0.66
etc....

The data is flying into that COM port perfectly... I've gone through the Tutorial to make a Win32 CLR Application and that works perfectly too.

The problem is, I need to make this work with a Win32 /MT Application - When I try to tell VC++ to use the Common Language Library it says:
Command line error D8016: '/clr' and '/MT' command-line options are incompatible

When I use ReadFile(blah,blah,blaH) All I get is the bytes... I need the Text that it is sending!

I will seriously PayPal someone $10 for a beer if they can help me get the COM Port Data/Text working! :)

Cheers,
C

Quote:

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When I use ReadFile(blah,blah,blaH) All I get is the bytes... I need the Text that it is sending!

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FYI any text is bytes. So, what's your problem?

'/clr' and '/MT' command-line options are incompatible. So, just change one of them. If you need /clr (BTW, why?), replace /MT with another value, compatible with /clr.

Hi Guys, Sorry I should be more specific...

When I pass the buffer date into a Trace so I can see what it's doiing, it outputs all these garbage characters, not the proper text... I can read COM8 Inside of HyperTerminal properly so I know I have all the Baud/Settings correct...

It's pretty **** frustrating to have it work so easily inside the Win32/CLR Program, and have to use all this API Crap from 1995 to try and work with this :(

Quote:

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I can read COM8 Inside of HyperTerminal properly so I know I have all the Baud/Settings correct...

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You have the settings correct in HyperTerminal, but are they correct on your connection ? Each program can/has to set their own settings.

Big help on this forum....

Can anyone point me to a full example please, not the stupid MSDN article that only has Pieces...

Here's a full example code. Either use at it is or study it to find out where you go wrong http://www.naughter.com/serialport.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChadReitsma

Big help on this forum....

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Big help always starts with decent problem explanation... You're still on your road, we're waiting when you start explaining, not just complaining.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChadReitsma

... I've gone through the Tutorial to make a Win32 CLR Application and that works perfectly too.

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As I understand it, there is no such thing as a "Win32 CLR Application". A Win32 application is a compiled application (probably but not necessarily written in C or C++) whose output is machine code. A CLR application involves the Common Language Runtime which is a .NET Runtime, whose output is an Intermediate Language (or IL) that can be executed by the .NET Framework. The application is probably (but not necessarily) written in languages like VB.NET, C#, Managed C++, etc.

From the foregoing, it can be understood immediately why /MT is not compliant with /clr. "/MT" would result in use of the static version of the (multi-threaded) run-time library, and a static linking to the run-time library is completely inconsistent with CLR's output of an intermediate language for execution by the .NET framework.

What are you trying to accomplish with the /MT switch, and why do you think you need it?

Perhaps it also would be helpful for you to post a link to the "tutorial" that you followed.

Finally, if you really want a CLR application, then this is the wrong forum.

Mike

PS: Quote from ChadReitsma: "Big help on this forum.... "

Turn off the sarcasm. Every single person here is posting because they want to help and because they're highly motivated to do so. If you think you're not getting the help you want, it's almost certainly not due to lack of trying on the part of those posting replies.

Hi guys, Sorry for the sarcasm - it's just really frustrating.
I do appreciate the help.

I have to use the /MT option because the application I am modifying (Half-Life 2) is coded that way - turning it off creates a ton of errors when I try to compile.

I can't use the Naughter Class as it uses MFC which isn't included in VC++ Express 2010 ... I guess I should just go grab a real copy of VC++.
I'll try looking at the WinAPI CreateFile stuff again... I think that's the best bet.


Thanks again.

Ok but you can review how the code is written and mimic it in plain Win32 APIs.

Is this http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms810467.aspx the stupid MSDN article that only has pieces?

Yep, I've tried using their examples but it doesn't seem to read the Port correctly - I'll keep trying though - thanks for the tips!

Got it!!! :)

I found a few examples using CSerial... but I was missing this serial.lib, built the library separately, added it to my project and it worked!
For anyone that just needs a quick Copy/Paste Serial Communications Example, here is the header file, Library and .CPP <attached>

Just wanted to say thanks again for the help / push in the right direction. :thumb:

Me again... was wondering if someone knew a really easy way to convert this output from the buffer

0x0018e4b4 "!ANG:0.54,2.08,-178.62
!ANG:0.43,2.05,-178.64
!ANG:0.44,1.96,-178.65
"
How can I strip out everything inside of the "s I don't need the 0x0018e4b4 etc...

Thanks :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChadReitsma

0x0018e4b4 "!ANG:0.54,2.08,-178.62
!ANG:0.43,2.05,-178.64
!ANG:0.44,1.96,-178.65
"
How can I strip out everything inside of the "s I don't need the 0x0018e4b4 etc...

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Please show the code that is outputting this result. The "0x0018e4b4" is probably the memory location where the string shown is quotes is stored. If it's simply the memory location, then there is nothing to "strip out", and you can simply use the string stored at the buffer pointed to by the memory location.

Mike

Hi Mike, yeah I figured I could do some string manipulation there - I'm so used to PHP that getting my brain working with C++ again is a little tricky, haha.

Here's the code: szBuffer is: char[101];

Code:

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std::string comData;
comData = szBuffer;

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Then I use a trace to echo the value of comData into the output log...
I've had minimal success with .substr and .find... Might have to modify the Serial port code a little more...

Ok, getting a little bit further here, but these string functions aren't working... not sure what's wrong :(

Here's what's up.
I'm reading the com-port data, and storing that into a buffer.
I strip the buffer of all unnecessary data and store that in a String that looks like this:

std:string comData;

and comData contains: "X:0.59Y:0.42Z:-171.80"

So far so good... now, I need to extract the positions of X: , Y: and Z:
So I tried doing it like this:

Code:

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int xpos, ypos, zpos;  //(Also tried with size_t, sorry - I'm a noob)

xpos = comData.find("X:");
ypos = comData.find("Y:");
zpos = comData.find("Z:");

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Which I would expect to return: 0, 6, 12
But nope, C++ has stumped me again - nothing gets returned :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChadReitsma

Code:

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int xpos, ypos, zpos;  //(Also tried with size_t, sorry - I'm a noob)

xpos = comData.find("X:");
ypos = comData.find("Y:");
zpos = comData.find("Z:");

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Which I would expect to return: 0, 6, 12
But nope, C++ has stumped me again - nothing gets returned :(

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1. Please, define "nothing".
2. I don"t see any return statement here. So what did you expect to be "returned"?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChadReitsma

... and comData contains: "X:0.59Y:0.42Z:-171.80"

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Are you sure about this? In yesterday's post, you told us that comData contained "!ANG:0.43,2.05,-178.64", which does not contain an "X:" or "Y:" or "Z:".

Please debug by single-stepping through the pertinent code, and confirm that all variables contain what you think they contain.

Also, reiterating what VictorN said, define "nothing gets returned". The std::string::find function always returns something. Even if the requested content is not found, the member value npos (equal to -1) is returned.

Mike

Ah yes, sorry about that - I changed the output to contain the X,Y,Z values - and tried using find() ... still ran in to some problems, but I think I've got it figured out.

Thanks for the help! :thumb: