Skip to main content

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 02 November 2005]

Well...
Newbie, just found out Cobol has no provisions internal to collect serial port data.

I am writing AcuCobol GUI to replace FedEx Shipping software in house. I need to read FedEx scales on COM1.

I am told by AcuSupport Techie/Guru that options are:

1. Write my own C program.

2. Purchase 3rd Party ActiveX.

3. Access Windows API.


1. I am doing good to be able to read /program Cobol. I have Visual Studio Enterprise, but have no programming expertise.

2. We're broke, hence, writing our own Cobol software.

3. Access Windows API? Right!

I can already see that my only "doable" option is Windows API. I think this will be more direct, and have less "hurdles" to jump.

Any advice on how to proceed?
Where do I find Windows Serial API functions listed?
Is AcuCobol able to call kerrnel functions?

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 02 November 2005]

Well...
Newbie, just found out Cobol has no provisions internal to collect serial port data.

I am writing AcuCobol GUI to replace FedEx Shipping software in house. I need to read FedEx scales on COM1.

I am told by AcuSupport Techie/Guru that options are:

1. Write my own C program.

2. Purchase 3rd Party ActiveX.

3. Access Windows API.


1. I am doing good to be able to read /program Cobol. I have Visual Studio Enterprise, but have no programming expertise.

2. We're broke, hence, writing our own Cobol software.

3. Access Windows API? Right!

I can already see that my only "doable" option is Windows API. I think this will be more direct, and have less "hurdles" to jump.

Any advice on how to proceed?
Where do I find Windows Serial API functions listed?
Is AcuCobol able to call kerrnel functions?
ACUCOBOL-GT is absolutely able to call API functions, however, dealing with serial port communication is awful, I really don't think you want to go that path.
As you have Visual Studio Enterprise installed, you already have the Microsoft Common components installed I presume (if not they also ship on the ACUCOBOL-GT CD version 6.2 and later).
Among those controls are the MSCOMM32.OCX. This is a window less component for serial communication.
I suggest you check out the documentation on the MSComm component. Here is a vb code example I found on the msdn.

Private Sub Form_Load ()
   ' Buffer to hold input string
   Dim Instring As String
   ' Use COM1.
   MSComm1.CommPort = 1
   ' 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data, and 1 stop bit.
   MSComm1.Settings = "9600,N,8,1"
   ' Tell the control to read entire buffer when Input
   ' is used.
   MSComm1.InputLen = 0
   ' Open the port.
   MSComm1.PortOpen = True
   ' Send the attention command to the modem.
   MSComm1.Output = "ATV1Q0" & Chr$(13) ' Ensure that
   ' the modem responds with "OK".
   ' Wait for data to come back to the serial port.
   Do
      DoEvents
   Buffer$ = Buffer$ & MSComm1.Input
   Loop Until InStr(Buffer$, "OK" & vbCRLF)
   ' Read the "OK" response data in the serial port.
   ' Close the serial port.
   MSComm1.PortOpen = False
End Sub
Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement