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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Home Grown Pic Assembler/Programmer
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| MOBI Guru  Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Hello all, A long time ago, I wrote a Pic assembler cum programmer in QBasic then Turbo Pascal and eventually translated it to VB6. My main beef was the inability of VB6 to do comm ports greater than comm9 which meant having to renumber ports in device manager (no good for passing the application to other pc illiterate parties. I now have VB 2010 express and have just managed to get it to send and receive binary data - what a headache. So much of the way things were done in VB6 has changed radically in VB 2010. Are there any VB 2010 gurus on TBS that I can call on for a panadol occasionally? David M David M. |
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James_From_Canb Senior Member  Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
If you can't find an expert on TBS, there are lots of forums that support VB programming. I'd suggest you look at C#. I've seen quite a few postings on forums saying that Microsoft wants to drop VB and that C# is their preferred successor. The language structure is similar and not too difficult to pick up. If you decide to stick with Microsoft VB, use the 2012 Express version. Support for the 2010 version will be stopped soon, if it hasn't already. I haven't tried it, but other TBS users have recommended Liberty Basic. James My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Thanks James, I'll give it a good look over. My main concern is ease of use of comm ports in both text and binary tx/rx. Also need full range of comm ports not just limited to 9. I got VB 2010 because it is free and I thought it would translate easily from VB6. Well, it might too when I get my head around the new structures. I have managed to get both text and binary data to tx/rx, but now have to make it fit in my original code sequence. C#?? I hope it is not too many tricks to teach this old dog. David M. David M. |
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| James_From_Canb Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
Here's a link to a simple serial connection in C#. They say: Here's a link to the Microsoft site with a description of the serial port class. The class should take care of all the hard stuff and leave you to fill in the 'easy' bits :) It also has examples of VB and C# (C Sharp) code at the bottom of the page. James My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Thanks James, that looks like what I'm after. Just need to get hold of a free version of C# now. David M. David M. |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5019 |
I was a big fan of VB6 too, and still use it from time to time. When VB.net replaced VB6, I struggled to adopt it. There were too many changes in the way everything worked for a old programmer to adopt, and the run time files were just too big. While looking for an alternative to VB.net, I found Liberty Basic, and its free version, JustBasic. Just Basic uses a smaller run time file and a token file, making distribution dead easy. It can use as many com ports as your hardware supports. Learning JustBasic was not to difficult, lots of examples and a active forum helped. I now use JustBasic for any new projects, except where I specifically need VB.net functions. http://justbasic.com/ Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
I had a browse through the Liberty Basic site and understand (I think) that it runs as an interpreter not as a compiled programe. Does it produce an executable file, i.e. can a programme written in LB be installed on another machine without the need to have LB also on the same PC? David M. David M. |
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vk4tec Senior Member Joined: 24/03/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 239 |
If you dont want a GUI, try perl for windows . It is a scripting langauge. Like basic, and heaps of libraries. Use it all the time. - Andrew - Andrew Rich VK4TEC www.tech-software.net |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5913 |
David, With the current version of Liberty Basic, you need to distribute a "compiled" token file and the executable and a few DLL files. Creating the distributable package is easy. MM Edit is written in Liberty Basic. http://www.c-com.com.au/MMedit.htm The next version of LB (due out on a year or so) should be able to produce a single executable. Most of the time, I have to include a few extra DLL's and a pile of data files so the lack of a single executable makes no difference to me. Jim VK7JH MMedit MMBasic Help |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Is it a function of LB that automatically bundles the required files for distribution, or is it a manual pick and choose affair? David M. David M. |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5019 |
The run time file is about 500k, and the token file is tiny, maybe 10 to 40k, depending on how complex you program is. The way its works is clever. Say I write a program called MyProgram, and I want to distribute it. I rename the run time file to MyProgram.exe, and I create a token file ( its a option in the menu ), called MyProgram.tkn, and I distribute them together. When the end user runs MyProgram.exe, it looks for a token file of the same name, in this case MyProgram.tkn. The token file is your program. If you want to release a updated version, you just send the updated token file, as they already have the run time file. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Thanks Glenn, I'm liking it already. As the grey matter is ageing rapidly, I need to keep things as simple as possible. David M. David M. |
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CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1421 |
There is also robotbasic (robotbasic.com) which can make a single .exe file. Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Soooo many options...what is the general concensus? Incidentally, do you know of an outlet for the little Pic based I2C modules I design, other than posting on TBS? David M. David M. |
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