RS232/Serial communication with Access

[dawkirst]

Is this possible?

I have a Mitutoyo device that can be connected to a variety of Mitutoyo measuring instruments (in my case, it's a micrometer.) When triggered, the device obtains a measurement value from the instrument. One can view this value via serial communication in a program like HyperTerminal.

Is it possible to input these values directly, or indirectly, into Access?

Thanks ahead.

 

[KenHigg]

Can you get to the data from some other programming language such as vb or c?

 

[dawkirst]

Sorry, I'm not a programmer.

I don't exactly know what you mean...

 

[jsanders]

Not a programmer either but I know there are VB (visual basic) routines that will append serial data to jet tables

Be patient someone here will know.

Plus if you call Mitutoyo, or look on their web sight, they often write little stand alone programs or offer developer kits that allow you to do what your trying to do.

Once you have it in Jet you can use it in Access

 

[KenHigg]

Be patient someone here will know.

I agree - Stick with it 'till you get it to work. You'll be a genius around your workplace when you make it happen - and you'll be the only one who knows how it works, so you have a little more job security

 

[abellim]

Hi. I wonder if anyone can provide me with a serial communication program that works on access 2000? Thank you very much.

 

[neileg]

There's an Activex control called MSCOMM. Try searching in these forums.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

If nothing else works, sometimes you can write VBA snippets that allow you to open a device by name and read it.

OPEN "COM2:" FOR INPUT AS FILE #1;
INPUTLINE #1, ALINE$

If the device sends you a text record followed by a line terminator, that would work assuming you knew the name it connected through. I used COM2 only for example.

You would build a code module that opens the device, reads a line, and closes the device. Then build a button on a form (probably unbound) such that your code reads the device when you click the button. That's an OnClick event. You would have to update the database through a recordset. You can find recordset operations in the Access Help topics. If this looks like it might work, just remember the kindergarten rules: Open what you close, store what you take out, clean up what you mess up.

If the device isn't that well behaved as to send you a line terminator with its input, you might have a more difficult problem.

 

[irish634]

Is this possible?

I have a Mitutoyo device that can be connected to a variety of Mitutoyo measuring instruments (in my case, it's a micrometer.) When triggered, the device obtains a measurement value from the instrument. One can view this value via serial communication in a program like HyperTerminal.

Is it possible to input these values directly, or indirectly, into Access?

Thanks ahead.

In my former job, we had a Mitutoyo dial indicator with a device on it that put the measurement value wherever the cursor was. It worked in Excel, Access, Word, etc. so it was a snap.

I'm not sure if this is what you are referring to though. It may or may not be the same.

 

[abellim]

Thank you Neil!

I have already downloaded MSComm32.OCX and registered it with Microsoft Access 2000. Now I have a problem with how to use it.

Let me explain my situation. I am trying to retrieve SMDR data from the PaBX system. Instead of using Hyper Terminal, I would like the data to be shown in Access 2000 so that I can organise them in the way I want. However, I don't know much about programming or coding and is only starting to learn now.

So I think a code or program is needed to show the data on Access right? Is it possible to provide me with the code that I can copy and paste it in?

Thank you very much!

Regards,
Abel

 

[neileg]

Sorry, I've never needed to do this. I just was aware that the control was available. So I can't help, I'm afraid.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I've never done this in Access or VBA. What I showed above works if and only if the device is well-behaved. The last time I tried direct monitoring of COM2 on a PC was in Turbo Pascal on an 8086 portable. My device driver work on PDP-11s won't help you here.

 

[topomax]

To control our Mitutoyo measuring instruments we use Bill Redirect software ... This low cost solution (35$)... offer several solution for MS Access check in the Documentation section of BillProduction.com

John