lpt and com interaction class

[Brian Henry]

does anyone have a class to interact with a com or lpt port? I need to be
able to send hex codes through the data lines D1 - D8 on a LPT port... or
D1-D4 on serial... i have seen classes in the past for VB.NET or C#.net, if
you know of any or a way of interacting since whidbey is still unavaiblable
yet (which has a system.io.port class built in) please let me know thanks!

[Thomas Scheidegger [MVP]]

My Serial Port FAQ:

..NET 1.0/1.1 has no support for legacy ports (COM/LPT).

There are plans to add support for serial ports in a future version:
http://groups.google.com/groups?&sel...%40tkmsftngp09
"this sample is very similar to what we will be adding" :
http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/u...ery=SerialPort
(note, project built with beta VS.NET, read gotdotnet comment)

Future Directions for Visual C#
http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats/vstu...dio_032103.asp
"We will add support for Serial ports to the framework..."

Longhorn Preview with SerialPort class:
http://longhorn.msdn.microsoft.com/l....io.ports.aspx
(should already be in Whidbey 2004)

Serial Support in Whidbey Demo:
http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/clr/bcl/demos/demos.aspx

With 1.0/1.1 you have to use PInvoke or Interop :

First understand the Win32 API as described here (C++):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...sdn_serial.asp

MSDN article for .NET (mostly C#):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/is...NETSerialComm/

PInvoke samples for C#:
http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/u...ery=SerialPort
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/is...NETSerialComm/
http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/u...y=SerialStream
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/U...e-5413384f0c25

or for VB.NET:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=823179
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...ortinvbnet.asp
http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/u...px?query=rs232
http://www.mentalis.org/classlib/class.php?id=15
http://www.corradocavalli.cjb.net/

or you can use the "Managed Extensions for C++" and write wrappers.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...MCOverview.asp
http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/cplusplus/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...rp12192002.asp
on your VS.NET path:
...\VC7\managedextensionsspec.doc
...\VC7\migration_guide.doc
MC++ Sample:
http://www.codeproject.com/managedcpp/howtocomport.asp

or reusing the VB6 MSComm ActiveX is easy, but it has some 'problems' (license)
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318597
http://www.devhood.com/tutorials/tut...utorial_id=320
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...NETCommOCX.htm

commercial:
http://www.sax.net/dotnet/communications/
(Community edition in : http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/vbrkit/)
http://www.winsoft.sk/ncomport.htm

for the Compact Framework (Windows CE)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...l/PISAPICF.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...3-2d3b9cef4aa5
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...r/CFSerial.htm

for Interop, use newsgroup:
microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.interop

--
Thomas Scheidegger - MVP .NET - 'NETMaster'
http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_dotnet.html - http://dnetmaster.net/