VC++ capabilities and advice...

[Naran Hirani]

Hi fellow Netters,

I need to re-write a very old C/C++ application written in the days when
MS/PC-DOS was king.
The reason for the re-write is that the application needs some new
functionality, but more
crucially, some existing functionality does not seem to work on the
current MS OSs.

The application works with a bespoke electrical gadget which emits a
radio wave signal at a fixed frequency.
This gadget is mounted on a trolley, and when switched on sends radio
waves back to a receiver attached
to a pc via its com port. As the trolley is moved forward, the receiver
picks up the signals emitted from
the device on the trolley. The captured signals are read by the
application via the PCs com port.
The application then analyses these signals in real-time plotting a
graph based on the distribution of the
signals over time, measured using the PCs clock ticks etc. The data
collected in this way gets further
analysed off-line using fairly basic statistical techniques to calculate
variance, co-variance, average trolley
speed, etc.

The application does not seem to be able to display this graph correctly
in real time on the more modern
OSs, e.g. W2K and WME. Hence the need for a complete re-write.

I am a complete novice in visual C++ so I was wondering if you gurus
could advice me whether VC++ is upto
such a job or not? I guess the key elements of this application are:
real time graph display, com port i/o API, low level bios clock tick
accessibility, etc.

The application still needs to have the same basic sort of
functionality, but needs to work under
W2K, WME, and XP.

Any ideas, comments or suggestions would be very welcome. And since I
am a complete novice in VC++
I would also entertain re-writing the appliation in other visual
languages such as C/VB/Java etc
if you guys think these would be more appropriate.

My apologies for the length and cross posting of this e-mail.

Best regards.

Naran Hirani

[MiniDisc_2k2]

[snip]

I am a complete novice in visual C++ so I was wondering if you gurus
could advice me whether VC++ is upto
such a job or not? I guess the key elements of this application are:
real time graph display, com port i/o API, low level bios clock tick
accessibility, etc.

This newsgroup is for standard C++. This is an IDE/compiler-specific
question. Post this in microsoft.public.vc (if your browser supports it,
here's a link: news://microsoft.public.vc)

Any ideas, comments or suggestions would be very welcome. And since I
am a complete novice in VC++
I would also entertain re-writing the appliation in other visual
languages such as C/VB/Java etc
if you guys think these would be more appropriate.
This newsgroup is for C++ only. All of the people here would (IMHO) say C++
is the best, but I would recommend finding some newsgroup which talks about
languages in general (if that exists)

My apologies for the length and cross posting of this e-mail.

Best regards.

Naran Hirani

--
MiniDisc_2k2
To reply, replace nospam.com with cox dot net.

[Buster Copley]

Naran Hirani wrote:

Hi fellow Netters,
I need to re-write a very old C/C++ application written in the days when
MS/PC-DOS was king.
I ain't never hearda no C/C++. Bet that's real old, huh?
The reason for the re-write is that the application needs some new
functionality, but more
crucially, some existing functionality does not seem to work on the
current MS OSs.
No, well. MS-DOS isn't what I'd call an operating system, but (say)
Windows NT is getting there. You're prevented from most direct hardware
access. You should look on MSDN for API functions to interface with
ports and such. (I wanted to make a robot when I was a kid but you had
to have a BBC Micro and I only had a ZX Spectrum. I hope you have better
luck!)
The application works with a bespoke electrical gadget which emits a
[snip. This is too much fun for clc++]
real time graph display, com port i/o API, low level bios clock tick
accessibility, etc.
The thing is, can't do these things _in_ C++ as such, which is why
they're off-topic. You can probably do them _from_ C++, by calling
Windows API functions, but then you can do the same from C or Pascal.
That's why this message might be on topic at a newsgroup about
controlling hardware from Windows software.
The application still needs to have the same basic sort of
functionality, but needs to work under
W2K, WME, and XP.

Any ideas, comments or suggestions would be very welcome. And since I
am a complete novice in VC++
I would also entertain re-writing the appliation in other visual
languages such as C/VB/Java etc
if you guys think these would be more appropriate.
There are also newsgroups about computer programming in general.
My apologies for the length and cross posting of this e-mail.
You didn't cross post. Perhaps you multi posted, but how would I know?
Best regards.

Naran Hirani

Good luck,
Buster Copley

[puppet_sock]

Naran Hirani <N.******@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk> wrote in message news:<be**********@niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk>...
[snip]

Any ideas, comments or suggestions would be very welcome.

My suggestion is you try this in a news group where it is on-topic.
Something with microsoft of DOS or VC in the name might be a start.
Socks

[Mike Wahler]

Naran Hirani <N.******@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:be**********@niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk...

Hi fellow Netters,

I need to re-write a very old C/C++ application written in the days when
MS/PC-DOS was king.
The reason for the re-write is that the application needs some new
functionality, but more
crucially, some existing functionality does not seem to work on the
current MS OSs.

The application works with a bespoke electrical gadget which emits a
radio wave signal at a fixed frequency.
This gadget is mounted on a trolley, and when switched on sends radio
waves back to a receiver attached
to a pc via its com port. As the trolley is moved forward, the receiver
picks up the signals emitted from
the device on the trolley. The captured signals are read by the
application via the PCs com port.
The application then analyses these signals in real-time plotting a
graph based on the distribution of the
signals over time, measured using the PCs clock ticks etc. The data
collected in this way gets further
analysed off-line using fairly basic statistical techniques to calculate
variance, co-variance, average trolley
speed, etc.

The application does not seem to be able to display this graph correctly
in real time on the more modern
OSs, e.g. W2K and WME. Hence the need for a complete re-write.

I am a complete novice in visual C++ so I was wondering if you gurus
could advice me whether VC++ is upto
such a job or not? I guess the key elements of this application are:
real time graph display, com port i/o API, low level bios clock tick
accessibility, etc.

The application still needs to have the same basic sort of
functionality, but needs to work under
W2K, WME, and XP.

Any ideas, comments or suggestions would be very welcome. And since I
am a complete novice in VC++
I would also entertain re-writing the appliation in other visual
languages such as C/VB/Java etc
if you guys think these would be more appropriate.

What you seem not to realize is that the above was not
achieved solely with a 'language', but with API calls to
an operating system (DOES), which are not a part of the
language. If you want to make this application work on
e.g. Windows platforms, you need to find the equivalent
Windows API calls. These are documented in the VC++
documentation, as well as at www.msdn.microsoft.com

Since your query is about platform-specific issues,
and this group discusses the platform-independent
standard C++ language, it's not topical here.
Try a Windows and/or VC++ group.

-Mike