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How do I read and use or display data from the serial port?

I have been asked to obtain data from a piece of standalone test equipment using LabView. The device interfaces using the serial port (standard RS-232) and so I am wondering if anyone has any ideas on reading this data and then displaying it on a labview front panel? New to labview, so please don't be too technical just yet!

Thanks,

Dan
Message 1 of 4
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Click Help>>Find Examples to open the example finder.
In the tree, open Hardware Input and Output>>Serial and you'll find several examples of how to use the serial functions. An important thing to understand is that recent versions of LV use something called VISA to communicate with the serial port, so you will need to have VISA installed. Also, the port name may not appear as COM1 but as something else (ASRL::INSTR1).
For futher data, search this site for VISA or serial.
Also, I suggest you read the LV manual and that you try searching this site and google for LabVIEW tutorials. Here is one you can start with. You can also contact your local NI office and join one of their courses.

___________________
Try to take over the world!
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And for the tip of the century:

Test your equipment communications in Hyperterminal first before coding in LV!

This tells you that your cable wiring is correct and that you have established proper baud rates/parity/etc....
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"It’s the questions that drive us.”
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Message 3 of 4
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Along with the suggestions from others, here are a few links you can look at:

Quick examples:
link 1

How to initialize the port:
link 2

Solving a simple problem:
link 3

Number of bytes available at serial port:
link 4

Serial port settings:
link 5

To VISA or Not to VISA:
link 6

Multiple serial ports:
link 7

Have fun reading... These should get you on your way..

😄

JLV
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