I/O port use, I know there's gotta be a way but how?

[EETeng]

Hey folks thanks for the opportunity, I can sure use the help at this point!

I've only been programming using VB for the last 4 months and the subject of using the parallel, serial(9db and USB) ports has come up.

I know that VB was never originally created with port IO in mind, but there has to be an API, or something, that can be used to provide this kind of process.

I have done my best to research the possibility, but my Visual Studio 6.0 only seems to provide info on the C based functions which I am already aware of.
And the updated MSDN library is useless in my opinion.

My questions are...

1. Is there a recently created function, or API, that I can use to perform I/O on the serial and parallel ports in VB?

2. Is there access for the use of Assembly code in VB like in C++'s ability to incorporate the use of Assembly?

3. If none of the above, can an API be created for IO use in VB. Or must it be an API/DLL created using C++ then incorporated as the API for use in VB?


Sincerely,
EEteng

Thanks!

[Andy_C]

Hi, there is a company called Greymatter, they sell a I/O control which installs into VB easily, it comes with instructions and wiring diagrams for the ports it even has an example application.

The best bit is its only about £30, hope this helps

[Sacred_knight]

1. There is a control for the serial, it is called MSCOmm. Just add it to your list of controls. As for the parallel port there is no control.

2. No

3. There should be API calls for parallel port communication. After all, we do use the printer through the parallel port. I have looked for API functions in my book and there is nothing for parallel port communication. Maybe there is something in the VB-world partner site (VB API) or some here has some API info.

[Frans C]

There is a freeware dll for port io. It is called dlportio.dll and can be downloaded from http://www.sstnet.com/dnload/dnload....ort I/O Driver

Download port95nt.exe, it can be found under the Windows 95/NT Port I/O Driver section. It installs some sample code and the dll.

The dll contains some easy to use api functions.