ExcelVBA Comport coms

[tredla123]

My home auto system has now died.


The server it runs on is 16 years old and has now become unstable. It dies every few hours.


The software, called Touchsoft, only runs on Windows XP and the original deveplopers do not exist anymore/died.


What I have is:


All the wireless switches that are hard-wired to all the devices in the house and operates on the 868 MHz band.


A USB dongle attached to the dysfuntional server on Com port 3 that interprets the data signal from Touchsoft and activates the wireless switches.


A "touch screen" monitor that can plug into any Windows PC. The buttons in Touchsoft are shown on the touchscreen and are activated by touch.


What I have done so far is:


Wrote an Excel VBA front-end with buttons for every device and which shows the state of every button ie ON or OFF.


The Button press ON or OFF can poduce the necessary string/data if I know what format it must be.


What I cannot do yet is:


How to send the string/data to the selected Com port eg Com3.


What the format of the string/data must be in.

 

[HDowns]

Hi,

I can help with #2.

You can use a tool like Advanced Serial Port Monitor, select the "Spy" mode, and inspect commands and responses sent over a COM port from the old application (the recommended tool can work on Windows XP). Later, you can hard-code these data packets in your new app. Maybe, these commands are simple and can be reverse engineered.