How can I tell Arduino which software is open on my PC?

Using Arduino Interfacing w/ Software on the Computer
1

I'm working on a project to interact with media players using a Sharp IR sensor. I get the distance between the sensor and my hand and depending on that different actions will happen. I started with video files but now I'd like to extend this type of interaction to pdf files.

At the moment I can interact with videos in VLC using one sketch, and I have a different sketch to work with pdf files in Adobe. I do this because the interaction is not exactly the same with videos and documents, but the ideal case would be to automatically change the interaction depending on what type of file/software I have opened in my laptop.

Is there any way to send this information to the Arduino board?

From what I read I can send byte values through Serial.read(), but I have no idea of how to send that type of information (what software is active in the laptop) or if it is even possible.

Thanks!

PS: sorry if I'm asking something stupid, I'm fairly new on this

2

PC to arduino can be handled by various PC software programming applications such Python,Matlab,Visual Studio,Processing and many more it's mostly a case of what your preference is.

What most people tend to overlook is the fact that if they have MS Office installed they usually have a copy of Visual Basic for Applications also, this is all the more relevant when you have a copy of PLX-DAQ version2 PLX-DAQ version 2 - now with 64 bit support! (and further new features) - Interfacing w/ Software on the Computer - Arduino Forum which conveniently has an inbuilt serial interface.

VBA has millions of code samples on the net I even found one that lists all running tasks, so if you have MS Office and PLX-DAQ it should not be too hard to create any kind of simple app to communicate with your arduino.

3

Unfortunately I do not have MS Office installed, but I will take a look into all the other options. At least now I know where to look, I was a little bit lost on this haha

Thanks for the help! ^^

4

My preference would be Visual Studio, it's a free download. C# is very similar to programming the arduino and probably the best choice if you intend to do more in the future.VB.net can pretty much do the same C# can do and I would say it is quicker to learn, probably the choice for a one off app.