Hi Everyone

I was hoping someone could advice me how I can send text to the Serial port with Gambas 3.

I have according to my code the port open but I can not work out how to send data to the device (it is a small LCD screen)

I want to first get it to show "Hello World"

any advice would be most welcomed

 Sounds like an interesting challenge Andy.

If you haven't already done so, I'd suggest doing a test first to establish that all is OK with your hardware.

Are you connecting an RS232 port from a computer to your mini-LCD display?

You will need protocol information for your display (e.g. how to set baud rates, flow control & so on).

…once you have proved that your computer can communicate with your display using a program like minicom, you could try a bit of Gambas like this:-


…I wish I could rig up a serial comms test-bed and play along with you!

 You also have to make sure that you add yourself to the "dialout" group in your Linux system. (for example open a terminal and type: sudo adduser your_name dialout).

As mentioned above, first try it with a standard serial communication software to see if the hardware works. Personally, I prefer either Moserial or Cutecom for simple communication.

stevedee said

…once you have proved that your computer can communicate with your display using a program like minicom, you could try a bit of Gambas like this:-

Code (gambas)

1. Public Sub Form_Open()
2.  
3.   With SerialPort1
4.     .PortName = "/dev/ttyS0"    'needs to be appropriate for your computer
5.     .Speed = 1200                             'must match printer
6.     .FlowControl = SerialPort.Hardware        'must match printer
7.     .DataBits = SerialPort.Bits7              'must match printer
8.     .StopBits = SerialPort.Bits1              'must match printer
9.     .Parity = SerialPort.Even                  'must match printer
10.     .Send = "Hello World!"
11.   End With
12.  
13. End

…I wish I could rig up a serial comms test-bed and play along with you!

I have tried your example and I get the following error on .send


Any idea what this means?

Sorry Andy, I'm an idiot. Send is a method.

Also you may need to use the Begin method, so try:-

stevedee said

Sorry Andy, I'm an idiot. Send is a method.

Also you may need to use the Begin method, so try:-

Code (gambas)

1. Public Sub Form_Open()
2.  
3.   With SerialPort1
4.     .PortName = "/dev/ttyS0"    'needs to be appropriate for your computer
5.     .Speed = 1200                             'must match printer
6.     .FlowControl = SerialPort.Hardware        'must match printer
7.     .DataBits = SerialPort.Bits7              'must match printer
8.     .StopBits = SerialPort.Bits1              'must match printer
9.     .Parity = SerialPort.Even                  'must match printer
10.     .Begin()
11.     .Send("Hello World!")
12.   End With
13.  
14. End

Hey Thanks for the advice Stevedee but now I am getting "Too many arguments in FMain:15 on the .Send("Hello World!") line any advice?

Sorry, I'm not doing very well with this one, am I.

Looking more closely, the Send method does not take any arguments, so should be replaced by .Send()

I was hoping that there was an easy way to send some text, but the documentation says you need to establish a Stream and then use Stream methods to send & receive data.

I'll try to look at this again when I have more time.

 I am doing a lot of serial communications using Gambas.

Here is how I set it up:

Private Comm1 As SerialPort

' Com port initialization
Comm1.PortName = cbCom1.Text
Comm1.Speed = 115200
Comm1.Parity = Comm1.None
Comm1.DataBits = 8
Comm1.StopBits = 1
Comm1.FlowControl = Comm1.None

' Start by using a serial port buffer
Comm1.Begin

' Now write many bytes to that port in a for-loop or whatever way, using the command:
Write #Comm1, data As Byte

' Finally, the buffered data can be send using:
Comm1.Send

progger said

I am doing a lot of serial communications using Gambas.

Here is how I set it up:

Private Comm1 As SerialPort

' Com port initialization
Comm1.PortName = cbCom1.Text
Comm1.Speed = 115200
Comm1.Parity = Comm1.None
Comm1.DataBits = 8
Comm1.StopBits = 1
Comm1.FlowControl = Comm1.None

' Start by using a serial port buffer
Comm1.Begin

' Now write many bytes to that port in a for-loop or whatever way, using the command:
Write #Comm1, data As Byte

' Finally, the buffered data can be send using:
Comm1.Send

so how do I send the text "Hello World"?

 Write #Comm1, "Hello World!"

 To all who have helped

Thank-you I have it working now

the next Serial challange I will have is getting the status data from the PoS Printer (but that can wait for another day)