Your personal advisor to advanced serial communications power! Especially for application developers who need to know more about serial communications within the Windows environment. -- Provides in-depth explanations for building a serial communications program for Windows -- Includes an appendix that identifies all related Windows API functions, structures, and messages -- Covers hardware, terminal emulation, error trapping, and more

Communications will play a central role in the computer applications of the next decade. The core of these applications is asynchronous serial communication. This book includes both theoretical and practical discussions of this topic, allowing programmers and technically advanced users to build their own C programming library of functions for serial communications.

The popularity of serial communications demands that additional serial port interfaces be developed to meet the expanding requirements of users. The Windows Serial Port Programming Handbook illustrates the principles and methods of developing various serial port interfaces using multiple languages. This comprehensive, hands-on, and practical guide to serial interface programming enables you to develop sophisticated interfaces and apply them in real-world applications. Each chapter addresses a language and how it can be applied in the development of serial port interfaces. The seven languages discussed are: ANSI C Visual C++ Visual Basic LabVIEW MATLAB Smalltalk Java Step by step and line by line, the Handbook clearly explains the interfacing techniques used for each different language in the serial port communication. Examples from actual systems have been compiled and debugged, with detailed source code for each included on an accompanying CD-ROM.

Thoroughly revised and updated with new material on the 32-bit windows platform, this comprehensive guide delivers everything you need to write robust applications for embedded, data logging, point-of-sale, and other communications systems. You2ll get a complete introduction to serial communications basics, tips on getting the most out of Windows APIs, methods for maximizing data exchange rates over high-speed modems, and the latest techniques for object-oriented programming. Featuring a CD-ROM packed with ready-to-run code modules, this is the one guide you need for successful serial communications development.

This book has three parts. The first part discusses the basics of serial communications. Part two discusses asynchronous C programming, helping the reader develop the tools necessary for serial programming tasks. Part three is the appendices, which list assembly language routines, listings for several non-serial functions used but not explained in the text, and other pertinent information.