Labview and VT100.

[John Braun]

I have an instrument that communicates over serial using the VT100 protocol.
I understand that this protocol is an extension of the regular ASCII
character set, implementing such things as arrow keys and function keys.
Would I be better off looking for a DLL that implemented the keyboard
mapping - or writing a Labview function that did the same? I'm most worried
about formatting the strings that return from the instrument. Speed is not
that much of a priority.

Thanks,

John

[Dennis_Knutson]

I'm facing the same problem right now. I have the same issue with formatting the return strings. I have to know which menu is active (a specific item is highlighted) and then retrieving data from a field. The method I'm pursuing right now is to use a terminal emulation program with an ActiveX interface. The makers of Hyperterminal make a product called Hyperaccess that has an ActiveX manual about an inch and a half thick that I am slowly going through. I already have a C++ program that does most of what I want so I'm undecided whether to port everything over to LabVIEW ActiveX calls or to modify the C++ program. If anyone has any better ideas, I'd be glad to hear them as well.

[Ben]

I believe a "ctrl-w" used to be a refresh the screen command.

If that is supported by the equipment, you can use that function to get the entire screen updated. I am not sure if that helps.

Would digging up an old VT-100 manual be of any use? I just may have the pocket guide on my shelf at home. Let me know if you want me to look.

Ben

[Dennis_Knutson]

I've got most of the VT-100 protocols but it's pretty tedious to parse everything out and I'm trying to avoid that. The thing I'm interfacing to sends data out in pieces. For example, I get the row/column and then the string and then another row/column and string but it might not be the adjacent field and then I have to determine whether the field is highlighted to know whether that's active so that's another set of control codes to format. Then, if I want to display all the text in a LabVIEW string control, it gets really messy lining things up in different columns and showing highlighted and non-highlighted text. All these things are do-able but it all boils down to reinventing the wheel.

[Ben]

OK,

I was just trying to help.

Ben

[Dennis_Knutson]

I really do appreciate the offer Ben. If I came off a little cranky, I apologize. I have some good memories of programming on PDP-11s but the VT100 stuff wasn't one of them and this new project where I have to interface to a product with an obsolete UI has put me me in a bit of a foul mood.

[Ben]

No problem Dennis!

I looked last night and could not find it after all.

I did find my pocket reference card for the PDP-11 instruction set.

Do you remeber "012737"?

(Move the data that follows to the address that follows).

Now those were the days...

Ben