OT, sorry, simple Windoze GUI

Have you checked into Qt? I don't know if there is a windoze version of this or not, but I've tinkered with it and the learning curve is minimal. I never used this package to do I/O with a serial port, but how tough could it be? Try googling "Qt" or "Qt toolkit" and look for a windoze package.

Looks impressive, but with the amount of software I write, a bit OTT

Qt License Pricing License Pricing (per developer) Console Light Desktop One Platform EUR1420 EUR1590 EUR2630

martin

I recommend Python and the pyserial module (using tkInter or wxPython GUI widget sets -- the former is probably easier for simple apps).

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Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  Are you mentally here
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Thanks Grant,

Just going through the wiki while I'm downloading Python

martin

Thanks, but I've never ever programmed anything on a PC, apart from one simple demo program in VB, and that was this morning!

I just dont think I'd get any satisfaction from PC programming, doing stuff in 8051 land, (and possibly the MSP430 is next) is just so enjoyable ( for an analog guy )

I'll try Grants suggestion of python first, before getting into anything heavy

martin

Hi,

Have you looked at

? Qt is released as GPL for Windows too, so if you don't want to hide your source code this maybe an alternative.

Sebastian

I missed that, I've looked at some many sites and example today, my head is spinning

martin

Martin, there is another easy to learn scripting language Tcl/Tk. With only some lines it is possible to build GUIs. Serial stuff is integrated. It works cross platform Windows, Linux, Mac. A first link to the Wiki:

and a news group as well: comp.lang.tcl

Regards Heinz Ende der eingebetteten Nachricht

In my opinion, the PowerBASIC Command Compiler is the perfect tool for this sort of job. See

Other good choices are Python and Qt. They cost less but they are not quite as easy to set up and use as PowerBASIC. This is not to say that either language is hard to use or flawed; it's just that PowerBASIC sets the bar so high that it is hard to beat. :)

Hi Martin,

The trick is noting that opening a comport under windows is to use the 'CREATEFILE()' function with READFILE() anfd WRITEFILE() to receive and transmit respectively. It is really simple if you use non-overlapped mode and just use a timer (50milliesec) to poll usinf the ReadFile() function.

Robert

Thanks, sounds good, just attempting to read the python stuff with notepad++, I'll take a breather later and dig out VB again

martin

The Win32 com port API is a horrible mess (even when using Python). Python and pyserial is far simpler. :)

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Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I'm encased in the
                                  at               lining of a pure pork
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If you want a programming language on which you can expand and write other applications I can heartily recommend PowerBasic.

There are plenty of example programs on their forums that are close to what you need too.

--
Gary Peek                mailto:mylastname@mycompanyname.com
Industrologic, Inc.      http://www.industrologic.com
Phone: (636) 723-4000    Fax: (636) 724-2288

Thanks Gary, Guy Macon recommended that as well.

I'll look into it, but I'll see how far I get with Python first

martin

If you want a really simple programming language have a look at

I have used it over serial ports for "configuration" programmes to set up embedded systems. Really easy to use and cheap.

Alan

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If you know C++, I'd recommend FLTK over Qt for a Graphical User Interface library, simply because there is no licensing involved, even for commercial projects

It is cross platform (Windows, Unix, Mac), easy to learn, and comes with about 100 sample programms.

You still have to find a way to do the serial communication though.

I've always used Delphi and the AsyncPro communications components originaly from Turbopower, now under an opensource license.

yes they're free!

You can generally get a free copy of Delphi from a CD on the front of a computer magazine.

Delphi is a very easy to use and excellently designed visual development environment using Pascal.

The AsynchPro components make comms development (serial & ethernet ) as technically demanding as tying a shoe lace.

VB is a cockroach in the restaurant of windows coding. Stamp on it at every opportunity.

Not that I'm biased or anything :)

In order to run the serial port in Windows (including Visual Basic) yo need to obtain mscomm32.ocx

You can get it from this URL

There is also a good description of the control here.

Next you need to register it. From the Start button and the run, enter regsvr32 mscomm32.ocx

Registration unfortunately is normally not enough. Access this URL an follow the directions

Once this is done you will be able to access the MSComm control in an application that uses VBA like Excel, as well as Visual Basic itself.

All this and much more is covered in my book "Excel by Example : A Microsoft Excel Cookbook for Electronics Engineers" Published by Elsevier/Newnes, ISBN 0750677562 (you can see the TOC etc. o Amazon)

Hope this helps

Aubrey Kagan This message was sent using the comp.arch.embedded web interface o