I have spent many hours trying to research this subject, with some success.. some not. I have a Arduino UNO that I want to read the inputs from in Visual Basic for a Application I have written. Once I can get the serial data I can write the If statements etc. However I cant seem to get VB to recgonise the Inputs.
I have tried the likes of Firmata, which works in test application, however their VB.net source code comes up with errors when it tries to run.
I have also looked at writing this from scratch, using the Arduino to just write either '1' or '2' for the inputs for example, but not sure how to read this on Vb.net.
Can anyone help in regards to reading digita; inputs on firmata, it sounded much easier when I was researching firmata.
Or another way to read inputs via serial?
ALSO,
Is there a way of enabling Pullup on the inputs, as they are constantly floating at the minute. Seems a waste to use external pullps when there are some built in.
When you use pinMode(pin,INPUT) and then digitalWrite(pin,HIGH) it will activate the pull-up. You can then digitalRead(pin) to see if something has pulled it down.
simple terminal emulator using a VB Form with TextBox and SerialPort components
' terminal emulator - in Visual Studio VB
Public Class Form1
' set up delegate to display data received from serial port
Private Delegate Sub SerialDelegate(ByVal Buffer As String)
Private adre As New SerialDelegate(AddressOf DisplayData)
' key pressed on terminal textbox
Private Sub TextBox1_KeyPress(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs) Handles TextBox1.KeyPress
SerialPort1.Write(e.KeyChar)
End Sub
' character received from serial port
Private Sub SerialPort1_DataReceived(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.IO.Ports.SerialDataReceivedEventArgs) Handles SerialPort1.DataReceived
Dim ReceivedData As String = SerialPort1.ReadExisting()
Me.Invoke(adre, ReceivedData)
End Sub
' delegate to display string received
Private Sub DisplayData(ByVal sdata As String)
TextBox1.AppendText(sdata)
End Sub
' on form load open serial port
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
SerialPort1.Open()
End Sub
Private Sub Form1_FormClosed(sender As System.Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.FormClosedEventArgs) Handles MyBase.FormClosed
SerialPort1.Close()
End Sub
End Class
this could be extended to have a menu to select COM port, set baudrate, etc
Here is a small program in VB-2010 that can emulate a serial terminal.
You need 2 ComboBox, 2 Button, 1 GroupBox (with 1 TextBox and 1 Button), 1 RichTextBox and 1 TextBox.
Code Starts here ….
'Import Systems which we are gonna use in our code
Imports System
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.IO.Ports
'frmMain is the name of our form ….
'Here starts our main form code …..
Public Class frmMain
Dim myPort As Array
Delegate Sub SetTextCallback(ByVal [text] As String)
'Page Load Code Starts Here….
Private Sub frmMain_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
myPort = IO.Ports.SerialPort.GetPortNames()
cmbBaud.Items.Add(9600)
cmbBaud.Items.Add(19200)
cmbBaud.Items.Add(38400)
cmbBaud.Items.Add(57600)
cmbBaud.Items.Add(115200)
For i = 0 To UBound(myPort)
cmbPort.Items.Add(myPort(i))
Next
cmbPort.Text = cmbPort.Items.Item(0)
cmbBaud.Text = cmbBaud.Items.Item(0)
btnDisconnect.Enabled = False
End Sub
'Page Load Code Ends Here ….
'Connect Button Code Starts Here ….
Private Sub btnConnect_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnConnect.Click
SerialPort1.PortName = cmbPort.Text
SerialPort1.BaudRate = cmbBaud.Text
SerialPort1.Parity = IO.Ports.Parity.None
SerialPort1.StopBits = IO.Ports.StopBits.One
SerialPort1.DataBits = 8
SerialPort1.Open()
btnConnect.Enabled = False
btnDisconnect.Enabled = True
End Sub
'Connect Button Code Ends Here ….
'Disconnect Button Code Starts Here ….
Private Sub btnDisconnect_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnDisconnect.Click
SerialPort1.Close()
btnConnect.Enabled = True
btnDisconnect.Enabled = False
End Sub
'Disconnect Button Code Ends Here ….
'Send Button Code Starts Here ….
Private Sub btnSend_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSend.Click
SerialPort1.Write(txtTransmit.Text)
End Sub
'Send Button Code Ends Here ….
'Serial Port Receiving Code Starts Here ….
Private Sub SerialPort1_DataReceived(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.IO.Ports.SerialDataReceivedEventArgs) Handles SerialPort1.DataReceived
'TextBox1.Text = ""
ReceivedText(SerialPort1.ReadExisting())
End Sub
'Serial Port Receiving Code Ends Here ….
'Serial Port Receiving Code(Invoke) Starts Here ….
Private Sub ReceivedText(ByVal [text] As String)
If Me.rtbReceived.InvokeRequired Then
Dim x As New SetTextCallback(AddressOf ReceivedText)
Me.Invoke(x, New Object() {(text)})
Else
Me.rtbReceived.Text &= [text]
End If
TextBox1.Text = [text] 'Val(text)
End Sub
'Serial Port Receiving Code(Invoke) Ends Here ….
'Com Port Change Warning Code Starts Here ….
Private Sub cmbPort_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cmbPort.SelectedIndexChanged
If SerialPort1.IsOpen = False Then
SerialPort1.PortName = cmbPort.Text
Else
MsgBox("Valid only if port is Closed", vbCritical)
End If
End Sub
'Com Port Change Warning Code Ends Here ….
'Baud Rate Change Warning Code Starts Here ….
Private Sub cmbBaud_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cmbBaud.SelectedIndexChanged
If SerialPort1.IsOpen = False Then
SerialPort1.BaudRate = cmbBaud.Text
Else
MsgBox("Valid only if port is Closed", vbCritical)
End If
End Sub
'Baud Rate Change Warning Code Ends Here ….
End Class
'Whole Code Ends Here ….
