Sending & Receiving commands thru Serial Port....

[asiavoices]

Hello again all,

I know that this has somewhat been covered in the forum before but just wanted some more clarification on my inquiry.

http://java.sun.com/products/javacomm/index.html

I have just started to learn java and to keep me interested, I've decided to use Java for a project at work. My project involves building an application that would send text commands to an equipment via their serial ports (RS-232 9 & 15 pin) using a null modem cable.

To simplify and start off with my project, I would like to design an extremely simply program where I could send messages to the port, listen, capture and parse the text string response back from the equipment and store them into a text file.

I knwo that this can be done in Java. I've heard that Java isn't good for manipulating hardware but I'm not really. I would just like to send a string command to the port, listen for the response and save the responses.

Any ideas how I could best approach this?

Thanks,

Christopher

 

[wushutwist]

First you need to download the implemenation for your machine. Hopefully you are running either Windows or Solaris, because they appear to be the only supported OS platforms.

Then, take a look at the user's guide. It has a couple of simple examples. Download those and get them to work. Here is the link,

http://java.sun.com/products/javacomm/javadocs/API_users_guide.html

I just glanced at the API, but it appears very simple. You should just be able to create a

javax.comm.SerialPort

object and get an Input and Output Stream from the object. Also you can add Event Listeners to the

SerialPort

object. Check out the Javadocs for the class here:

http://java.sun.com/products/javacomm/javadocs/javax.comm.SerialPort.html#_top_

Other than that, you will mainly be on your own. I don't know anyone that is using Java to do this sort of thing and I personally have never worked with this API. If you end up having particular problems still post them here and we will try to help.

 

[asiavoices]

Hi W,

Yes, I was successful in downloading the extension, compiled it and having it run...

I now just need to get s null modem cable so I can see what happens ... it should be interesting... I'll keep you all updated.

Thanks,

Christopher