scott@blueeyes.kines.uiuc.edu (scott) (11/27/90)
For you Toolbook pros out there:
I have an application which I'd like to port to Windows 3.0. Since I don't
have either MSC 6.0 or the SDK, I'm considering Toolbook as an alternate
development environment for this application. The only potential snag: the
application must be able to control an external device via a standard serial
port. My question: Can Toolbook make use of a serial port (nothing fancy,
just 1200 bps, 81N)? I looked all through the Toolbook manual's index, as
well as the index for a 3rd-party Toolbook Book ("The Toolbook Companion" or
somesuch), but saw not mention of serial ports, COM: ports, or anything
remotely related.
Can Toolbook handle it?
In addition to Toolbook, what else will I need to accomplish this? (i.e.
will I need some sort of Dynamic Link Library to access the serial port)?
Many thanks in advance.
--
Scott Coleman tmkk@uiuc.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"Quoth the Raven: 'Eat My Shorts!'" - Raven Bart, Simpsons' Halloween Specialhjb@otter.hpl.hp.com (Harry Barman) (11/28/90)
Well, my first thoughts would be to try:
(1) Writing a DLL that provides access to the serial port. Any real-time,
time critical code could go in the DLL. ToolBook has pretty reasonable
support for calling into DLLs
(2) Write the serial port handing as another application and talk to it with
DDE.
Cheers,
HarryCTIBIOL@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK (11/29/90)
I don't consider myself a 'ToolBook pro' but you might find it worth contacting Asymetrix and enquiring about their (unsupported) multimedia toolkit. This includes serial port drivers for Pioneer videodisk machines and support for the VideoLogic DVA-4000 video-in-a-window card. Scripts for the former (at least) make use of TBK-COMM.DLL which may be what you require. Sorry to be vague but I haven't got the right kit to check these things out and haven't had long enough with the software to have a good poke around. I got the kit from a UK dealer - I don't know what its official status is or whether it's downloadable from the Asymetrix BBS. Someone from Asymetrix popped up on comp.mac.hypercard a while back. If there is sufficient interest it might be worth alerting the company to the traffic in this newsgroup? Regards Peter Miller CTI Centre for Biology Donnan Labs University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
scott@blueeyes.kines.uiuc.edu (scott) (11/30/90)
In article <55040005@otter.hpl.hp.com> hjb@otter.hpl.hp.com (Harry Barman) writes: >Well, my first thoughts would be to try: > >(1) Writing a DLL that provides access to the serial port. Any real-time, > time critical code could go in the DLL. ToolBook has pretty reasonable > support for calling into DLLs > >(2) Write the serial port handing as another application and talk to it with > DDE. Ah, but the entire point of using Toolbook is to avoid the expense of purchasing Microsoft C/MASM and the SDK. Is it possible to write a DLL using, say Turbo C++ and/or Turbo Assembler? And what about those folks who don't know C or AL, are they SOL? -- Scott Coleman tmkk@uiuc.edu University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Quoth the Raven: 'Eat My Shorts!'" - Raven Bart, Simpsons' Halloween Special
alcmist@well.sf.ca.us (Frederick Wamsley) (12/06/90)
Enough people have asked about this to justify posting a reply.
Asymetrix has a DLL lying around for com port communication. Declare
it in your script with a linkdll statement, charge off and run.
The first place I'd look is the Asymetrix support BBS, (206)451-1173.
If not there, call or write to 76050.21111@compuserve.com.
--
Fred Wamsley {ucbvax,pacbell,apple,hplabs}!well!alcmist;
CIS 72247,3130; GEnie FKWAMSLEY; USPS - why bother?
"There's a perfectly logical explanation for all this"