RS232 with printer

[sasireka]

hi all,
Good day. I am very new to Visual C++. How to start windows programming. And i want to communicate via serial port com(RS232) interfacing with printer. how to do a program in vc++.

Any suggestions or ideas would be extremely helpful!


Thanks & Regards

Sasi

[Computergeek01]

This isn't really a beginner task. Not because of it's technical difficulty, but because it's kind of tedious and annoying.

First you open a handle to the device with "CreateFile()" and send the Post Script (or PCL or whatever) commands with any number of functions such as "TransmitCommChar()", "AddJob()" or even a straight "WriteFile()". The annoying part is in translating your source file into the appropriate syntax.

- Print Spooler API Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd162863(v=vs.85).aspx

- CreateFile(): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa363858%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

[sasireka]

can you give me guidance to "Quick start and teach myself visual C++"


Thanks & Regards
Sasi

[Computergeek01]

For C++ in general the tutorial on this site is a bit dated but it isn't a terrible place to start: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

For this topic specifically, sorry but no I don't have any source code for you to reference. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is a boring and tedious task. Tell me what model you are targeting and I might be able to get you started with a link somewhere.

[sasireka]

Good day. I want to learn VC++ with in a week then i have to start a project. I have worked in Embedded C, in that usually will start learn practically from LED blinking and RS232 communication. for that shake only i asked RS232 communication. And also have little worked experience in Qt. In Qt i started with calling ui and key press event. like tese how to i start VC++ practically.

Now i am referring "Sams.Teach.Yourself.Visual.C.NET.in.21.Days" pdf. and i am using "Microsoft Visual Studio 2005" IDE. Any suggestion and guidance for quick start practically.

Thanks & Regards

Sasi

[Jaybob66]

those books probably can teach you VC.NET in 21 days.
the problem is that you probably don't want to learn that, its just the IDE, you actually want to learn Windows Programming which is a much bigger subject.

Start off with the tutorials that come with VC. and remember programming windows is as big a subject as you care to make it because Windows is a full operating system.

run up VC and play with the application wizards and see what code it generates, also check out the libraries that Windows provides.

You should soon come to the conclusion that a week isn't even enough time to read the literature, let alone learn it and be able to use it.

Do you plan on doing the application in C? or are you going to learn C++ as well as Windows Programming and the IDE.

In short, what I'm trying to say is that it's not simple like moving from motorola embedded to intel, or from arduino to raspPi. Its a BIG job and will take a very long time.

good luck, I did it in 1996.

[sasireka]

Good day. Thank you so much. I got your point. Now i am going to refer "Ivor Horton's beginning Visual C++ 2005". Is this tutorial Okay to learn. Thanks a lot.

Thanks & Regards

Sasi

[Jaybob66]

Sorry, i cant comment on any "learning" books because i always used tutorials. I buy reference books instead.

Dont forget to keep the distinction, Visual xxx is a Microsoft product for programming Windows apps, learning how to use that isn't the same as learning the programming.

I found that out the hard way when i migrated from Ada to C++, I paid 1500GBP to go on a course for Visual C++ 6, which turned out to teach me nothing about C++ but quite a lot about the Microsoft IDE and Windows applications in general.

[sasireka]

Good day. its Okay Jaybob66 . Thank you so much. I will also use tutorials and reference as msdn. Thanks a lot.