COM ports...Just curious.

[huckster]

Hi Forum,
With Thanks and also Apologies to B+, who posted his crosshairs program in another thread.  I massaged and abused that program and produced an on-screen mouse operated Joystick to use with an Arduino project. I have many years of programming but absolutely none with graphics; all industrial and embedded. So need a place to start, hence Crosshairs. I have it running and to enable entering a COM port number I am using a prompt box.
    Before I close this thing up and make it stand alone, I have a question... Is there a way in Just Basic to determine available com ports to be made available in a drop down?
    Thanks for any wisdom you can provide


Huck

I found coding the Joystick in Just Basic was ultimately easier than setting up the StepMotor controls in cpp for the Arduino.

[Rod]

If you have a look at the LBPE and the article I wrote about the arduino you will find a chunk of code that searches out all available com ports and lists them in s combobox for the user to choose.

alycesrestaurant.com/lbpe/Fun%20with%20the%20Arduino.html


Not had time to test if it runs in Just BASIC but it works in Liberty BASIC


Liberty BASIC can read a real joystick directly, not sure if that ported to JBv2

[Rod]

Ok, it needed the sleep API fixed but I think this will run in Just BASIC now.

nomainwin
   'We need an array to store the Com port names in
   dim port$(256)
   'since we plan to use Subs we need a few globals
   'I tend to identify global variables with a capital letter
   global Port
   Port=0

   WindowWidth = 550
   WindowHeight = 195
   UpperLeftX=int((DisplayWidth-WindowWidth)/2)
   UpperLeftY=int((DisplayHeight-WindowHeight)/2)
   combobox #main.cbport, port$(, portClick,    5,  80,  50, 100
   statictext #main.stport, "Com Port",   5,  60, 60,  20

   open "Arduino simple interface" for window as #main
   #main "trapclose quit"

   'find out what com ports are available and load the combobox
   call getPorts

   'we need an endless loop to clear out the serial buffer
   while 1
       scan
       'call getresponse
   wend



   'Subs to handle the com port ==============================================
   sub portClick h$
       'take com port combobox input, open choosen com port
       #main.cbport "selection? p$"
       if Port then close #port
       if p$<>"" then
           open p$;":9600,n,8,1,ds0,cs0,rs" for random as #port
           Port=1
           call delay 500
       end if
   end sub

   sub getPorts
       'test first 32 ports and load combobox list for valid serial ports
       index=1
       for p = 1 to 32
           oncomerror [trap]
           open "Com";str$(p);":9600,n,8,1,ds0,cs0,rs" for random as #com
           port$(index)="Com";str$(p)
           index=index+1
           close #com

           [trap]
           oncomerror
       next
       #main.cbport, "reload"
       'now if there is only one port open it
       if port$(1)<>"" and port$(2)="" then
           open port$(1);":9600,n,8,1,ds0,cs0,rs" for random as #port
           Port=1
           #main.cbport, "selectindex 1"
           call delay 500
       else
           #main.cbport, "selectindex 0"
       end if
   end sub

   sub delay m
       timer m, [done]
       wait
       [done]
       timer 0
       'CallDLL #kernel32, "Sleep", m As ulong, Sleep As void
   end sub

   sub quit h$
       close #main
       if Port then close #port
       end
   end sub


[Rod]

Oh and READJOYSTICK will get USB based joystick readings but I must find the code that B+ started you off with.

[huckster]

Thanks Gentlemen! Will definitely give this a whirl. I'm not using a real joystick. What we are doing is trying to make a "Virtual Student" for a student unable to attend classes. So he needs to be able to control the "VS" via a remote connection while watching the webcam on the laptop atop the "VS".

On Edit: This is where the crosshair program came from 


justbasiccom.proboards.com/thread/118/cross-hair

[huckster]

It works! At least, I'm pretty sure it does. I don't have the Arduino at home and have only one FTDI USB adapter....which it identified and offers in the drop down list. The "try them all and see which ones howl" approach had never occurred to me. So, Monday will tell and Rod, thanks again for very timely assistance!

[huckster]

It works! At least, I'm pretty sure it does. I don't have the Arduino at home and have only one FTDI USB adapter....which it identified and offers in the drop down list. The "try them all and see which ones howl" approach had never occurred to me. So, Monday will tell and Rod, thanks again for very timely assistance!