There are two options for easier RS232 in VC++: CVI and the Measurement Studio C++ VISA interface. If you have Measurement Studio (or CVI 5.5 or later which came with Measurement Studio), you might want to have a look at the VISA examples under Program Files\National Instruments\MeasurementStudio\VC\Examples\IO\VISA and the help in Start>>Programs>>National Instruments>>Measurement Studio>>Help to see if that could work for you.
If you want to use the CVI libraries, you can do that too. There are two ways to do that. First, if you have Measurement Studio, the Application Wizard that comes with it allows you to create a new VC++ application that uses the CVI libraries. Second, since you already have an application started, you can just add the CVI libraries
and header files into your VC++ project. Running the Application Wizard and seeing what libraries and header files it sets up in the new application is a good way to find out what you need to add to your existing project to use CVI libraries. If you have more specific questions about compiling with CVI in VC++, please reply to this answer or post a question in the CVI forum.
Hope that helps.
Tony
Measurement Studio
