Add serial communication capabilities to any Windows or .NET application

Serial Port SDK by ActiveXperts Software

[ ACTIVECOMPORT - INSTALLATION ]

Most probably, you don't have administrative privileges on the machine where you install the product. You must have local administrator rights to install ActiveComport on the computer.

Q3000012 - When trying to register your component (acomport.dll), REGSVR32 returns the following error: 0x80070005

A:

This is not a problem of the toolkit itself, but has something to do with security settings on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and higher.

Please try the following:

When starting the command prompt, start it from the start menu by locating the "Command Prompt" in the start menu, now right click on this item and select "Run as Administrator". When you try to register the component from the command prompt it should work okay.

You can also try to turn of UAC (User Account Control)

Yes it can. To install the ActiveComport COM component on another machine, simply copy the Acomport.dll (or AComport64.dll) to another machine and issue the following command from the command prompt:

REGSVR32 <destination-path>\Acomport.dll.

Yes, you can use REGSVR32 to register the 64-bit component (AComportX64.dll), e.g.:

REGSVR32 AComportX64.dll

You can also register the 32-bit component (AComport.dll) on a 64-bit system in the same way, e.g.:

REGSVR32 AComport.dll

To make use of the 64-bit DLL, you should use a 64-bit application or 64-bit interpreter, e.g.:

CSCRIPT.EXE QueryDevice.vbs

To make use of the 32-bit DLL, you should use a 32-bit application or 32-bit interpreter, e.g.:

C:\Windows\SysWow64\CSCRIPT.EXE QueryDevice.vbs

NOTE: The module property tells you which component (32-bit or 64-bit) you are actually using. The following VBScript program will tell you:

Set o = CreateObject( "ActiveXperts.ComPort" )
WScript.Echo o.Module

You are right: you cannot install the product in an existing directory.

Upon un-installation, the original directory (default: C:\Program Files\ActiveXperts\ActiveComport) is NOT deleted in case there are files created/modified after the previous installation. You must delete these files/directories manually.

Once the directory (C:\Program Files\ActiveXperts\ActiveComport) is deleted, you can re-install it in that directory.

In previous versions of the product, it was possible to install in an existing directory, but this often lead to interference with previous installations.

Issue the following command from the command prompt:

REGSVR32 -u <path>\Acomport.dll.

If you used the regular ActiveComport Setup program to install the software, you can simple uninstall the software by using the 'Add/Remove' applet in the control panel.

If you copied the ACOMPORT.DLL file manually to your system and registered manually, you should first de-register the component by running REGSVR32 -u ACOMPORT.DLL, and then delete the ACOMPORT.DLL file.

You can do it in the following way:

• Start the registry editor (REGEDIT.EXE);
• Open the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ key;
• Delete the 8717338B-361B-433B-998E-F7FEA8D966A4 key.
• Delete the C:\PROGRAM FILES\ACTIVEXPERTS\ACTIVECOMPORT directory and all it sub-directories.
• Delete the 'ActiveXperts:ActiveComport' program group from the Start menu.

[ ACTIVECOMPORT - PORTS AND DEVICES ]

In many cases, it is necessary for the transmitting device to know whether the receiving device is ready to receive information. You might, for example, be sending data to a printer, and the speed of communication may be faster than the speed of the printer. The printer will need to be able to stop the computer from sending any more chatacters until it is ready to receive them. Similary, you may be sending data from one computer to another, and the second computer cannot process the data as fast as it is coming in.

In both cases, information must be sent back from receiving device to the sending device to indicate whether it is ready. This is known as 'Flow Control'. There are two types of Flow Control: Hardware Flow Control and Software Flow Control.

Both are used for handshaking (see also FAQ item 3100010).

With Hardware Flow Control, the receiving device sends a positive voltage along a dedicated handshaking circuit as long as it is ready to receive. When the transmitting computer receives a negative voltage, it knows to stop sending data.

With Software Flow Control, the handshaking signals consist of special characters transmitted along the data circuits rather than along the hardware flow control circuits.

This depends on the the DCE (Data Carrier Equipment), the device to which you are connected. If this device requires hardware flow control, you'll need it too. In most cases, hardware flow control is required; that's why it is enabled by default.

For more details, please read FAQ item 3100010 and FAQ item Q3100015.

Software flow control is only used for data transfer. By default, flow control is switched off. Many serial printers and modems need software flow as soon as data transfer begins.

For more details, please read FAQ item 3100010 and FAQ item Q3100015.

Yes. First change the DeviceSpeed property, and the call the Update function to apply the property change.

The ComTimeout property tells you how long ReadString function waits for data before it returns. By default, ComTimeout is set to 1000msec, but you can change this value.

Hardware flow control you can't change for an open port; you must specify the hardware flow control before you call the Open method.

Software flow control can be changed for an open port. First change the XOnXoff property, and the call the Update function to apply the property change.

Only when these USB devices ship with a serial port driver. For instance, most modem manufacturers ship their USB modems with a serial port driver, so that the modem can be accessed through a virtual COM port. These modems can be used by ActiveComport.

This means that the COM port does not exist. You only get this error if you use a COM port (like COM1) rather than a Windows Telephony device (like 'Standard 9600 bps Modem'). Error 30102 does NOT mean that the port is already in use. If the port would already be in use, you would get another error: 30103.

This means that the port you are attempting to open is already in use by another application. You only get this error if you use a COM port (like COM1) rather than a Windows Telephony device (like 'Standard 9600 bps Modem').

Check if there's another application that is already using the COM port. In some situations, you may want to benefit from a thing called 'port sharing', where one port can be shared by multiple applications. To benefit from 'port sharing', you must use Windows Telephony devices (like 'Standard 9600 bps Modem').

This means that the Windows Telephony Device you are using, is NOT defined on the computer. You may have made a typing mistake. Error 30201 does NOT mean that the port is already in use (you would get error 30202).

You will never get this error when using direct COM ports (like 'COM1'), but only when using Windows Telephony devices.

This error only occurs when using Windows Telephony devices (like 'Standard 9600 bps Modem'). The error implies that the Windows Telephony device is valid, but that the associated COM port is either already in use, or does not exist.

The error does NOT imply that the Windows Telephony device is invalid (that would give error 30201); it neither implies that the Windows Telephony device is already used (that would give error 30204).

This error only occurs when using Windows Telephony devices (like 'Standard 9600 bps Modem'). The Windows Telephony device name is valid,. There can be two reasons for this error:

• The Windows Telephony device is already in use by another application;
• The port speed is wrong; Windows is able to open the port, but is not able to initialize the device properly because of the wrong speed. Make sure that the port speed of the device and the port settings of the Telephony device in the Control Panel both match.

Most probably, the baud rate causes the problem: COM port and modem are not sending/receving at the same speed. We stronly recommend to use 9600bps. Two things you need to do:

1. Make sure that your COM port is configred to use 9600bps. To do so, open the Windows Device manager and click on COM1-properties. There you can set it to 9600bps.

2. Set the modem to 9600bps. The following FAQ items describes how to set your modem to a different speed: FAQ#Q4200075.

It is pretty simply to achieve, using the InterCharDelay property. This propery specifies a delay (in milliseconds) used in WriteString between each character transmitted.

Please note there's also another property that can be used for slower devices: PreCommandDelay. It specifies a delay (in milliseconds) used before WriteString actually starts writing the command string.

Yes, as long as your modem has a voice command set. It is easy to find out if your modem supports voice or not: issue the 'AT+FCLASS=?'. A modem supporting voice will respond with a list of numbers that includes the number 8.

To enter voice mode, issue the following command: 'AT+FCLASS=8' (or 'AT#CLS=8'). In voice mode, you can answer voice calls, playback sound files and record audio.

For a complete list of voice modems commands, check your modem manual.

Most probably it takes to long to read the string from the device. To fix this problem, you should increase the value of the CommTimeout property.

No, the toolkit does not fire events. All received data is buffered in the memory, you have to poll for new data using a timer, or using a separate thread.

ActiveComport does not support events (so it can be used in any programming language including scripts). You need to use the QueryDSR function to check the state of the DSR signal. If you need to check the state continuously, you need to call this function regularly, probably in a separate thread.

To monitor CTS (Clear-To-Send), use the QueryCTS function; to monitor DCD (Data-Carrier-Detect), use the QueryDCD function; to monitor RI (Ring-Indicator), use the QueryRI function.

[ ACTIVECOMPORT - VISUAL BASIC, VBA AND VBSCRIPT ]

Please read the following document: Using ActiveComport with Visual Basic 5.x/6.x. This document describes how to refer to the ActiveComport library, and how to declare, create and use the object.

Please read the following document: Using ActiveComport with VBScript. This document describes how to refer to the ActiveComport Toolkit library, and how to declare, create and use the object.

Please read the following document: Using ActiveComport with VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). This document describes how to refer to the ActiveComport Toolkit library, and how to declare, create and use the object.

The problem is, that you must refer to the object before you can declare and create it. Go to the 'Project' menu, choose 'References...' and put the checkbox near 'ActiveComport Type Library'.

You haven't installed and registered the ActiveComport ActiveX component. This component can be installed and registered automatically by running the ActiveComport installation, or can be downloaded from our website and registered manually by running the command:

REGSVR32 ACOMPORT.DLL

This is due to the fact that Windows uses the 64bit VBScript intepreter (C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CSCRIPT.EXE or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WSCRIPT.EXE) by default. Since the ActiveComport control is a 32bit control, you should invoke the WOW64 subsystem. This means C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WOW64\CSCRIPT.EXE or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WOW64\WSCRIPT.EXE.

[ ACTIVECOMPORT - HTML AND JAVASCRIPT ]

Please read the following document: Using ActiveComport Toolkit with HTML. This document describes how to refer to the ActiveComport library, and how to declare, create and use the object.

Yes it is possible. There is an online sample that shows how to use the component inside an HTML page.

In this sample, the ActiveComport ActiveX component is downloaded and installed automatically from the following location: www.activexperts.com/files/serial-port-component/acomport.dll. You get prompted to trust the activexperts.com site. You can customize this HTML sample, and let the ActiveX source point to another location by changing the 'codebase' reference inside this HTML file.

To avoid prompting, please read article FAQ Article 3250025.

There are basically three ways to avoid prompting:

1. Add the website that hosts the ActiveX component to the trusted sites of all Internet Explorers. This would need some automatic configuration on your LAN's Internet Explorers, for instance through Group Policy (recommended) or through logon script. This way you only decrease Internet Explorer security for that particular site. Security for all other sites remains the same. This solution only works as long as the ActiveComport users are part of your network.
   
   
2. You can sign the component (the actual AComport.dll). If you only use the component for internal use (i.e. in your network), you can use the standard Windows Certificate Server (part of Win2000 and higher). If the component is used outside your network, you should use a public Certificate Authority, for instance Verisign.
   ActiveXperts Software does not offer facilities to sign ActiveX COM/OLE components.
   
   
3. From the Internet Explorer menu, select "Tools" -> "Internet Options"; dlick the security tab, and click the 'Custom level...' button.
   In the list of options, change the 'Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe for scripting' setting from disable to prompt. When you restart Internet explorer and run the page again, Internet Explorer will ask you whether to run the control or not. When asked click 'Yes' and the page should work correctly.

Please read the following article: How to digitally sign an ActiveXperts software component.

By default, the Mozilla FireFox browser is not configured to display sites that contain ActiveX controls. Using a plugin it is possible to run the ActiveComport control. Click here to learn how to enable ActiveComport for your Mozilla browser.

[ ACTIVECOMPORT - VISUAL C++ ]

Please read the following document: Using ActiveComport Toolkit with Visual C++. This document describes how to refer to the ActiveComport Toolkit library, and how to declare, create and use the object.

In the 'New' dialog, start the MFC AppWizard. When you are asked for compound document support, select 'Container', and choose for 'Automation' support. Don't forget to include AComport.h and AComport_i.c (see manual)

Yes you can. Visual Studio .NET supports Visual C++ projects. When you open a Visual C++ project for the first time, Visual Studio .NET will first convert the project to the current project format. After conversion, you'll be able to use the project.

NOTE: Visual Studio Express Edition does NOT support MFC Visual C++ projects. See also FAQ#Q3300040.

Yes you can, but it should be a win32 api or console application, the use of the MFC framework is not supported.

[ ACTIVECOMPORT - VISUAL BASIC .NET AND VISUAL C# .NET ]

REGSVR32 ACOMPORT.DLL.

REGSVR32 ACOMPORT.DLL

obj.WriteByte 97
obj.WriteByte 116
obj.WriteByte 122
obj.WriteByte 13 ' 13 means: vbCr, the carriage character

Set o1 = CreateObject( "ActiveXperts.Comport" )
Set o2 = CreateObject( "ActiveXperts.Comport" )

o1.Device = "COM1"
o1.DeviceSpeed = 19200
o1.Open

o2.Device = "COM2"
o2.DeviceSpeed = 19200
o2.Open