Command Line Interface (CLI) using C

[ashishvdeshpande]

Hi,

I want to create command Line Interface to microcontroller. Can somebody help me with simple sample code?

Regards,
Ashish

 

[jhbbunch]

If you are using a console on Windows this will work:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>

HANDLE GetSerialPort(char *);

int main(void)
{
    HANDLE h1, h2;
    char h1_buffer[] = ("Hello from Com1:");
    char h2_buffer[24];
    DWORD byteswritten = 0, bytesread = 0;
    char c1[] = {"COM3"};
    char c2[] = {"COM4"};
    h1 = GetSerialPort(c1);
    h2 = GetSerialPort(c2);
    
    WriteFile(h1, h1_buffer, 17, &byteswritten, NULL);
    ReadFile(h2, h2_buffer, strlen(h1_buffer) + 1, &bytesread, NULL);
    
    if (bytesread)
       printf("%s\n", h2_buffer);
    else
        printf("Nothing read\n");   
    
    CloseHandle(h1);
    CloseHandle(h2); 

    getch();   
}

HANDLE GetSerialPort(char *p)
{
    HANDLE hSerial;
    hSerial = CreateFile(p,
                         GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
                         0,
                         0,
                         OPEN_EXISTING,
                         FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
                         0);

    DCB dcbSerialParams = {0};
    dcbSerialParams.DCBlength=sizeof(dcbSerialParams);
    dcbSerialParams.BaudRate=CBR_19200;
    dcbSerialParams.ByteSize=8;
    dcbSerialParams.StopBits=ONESTOPBIT;
    dcbSerialParams.Parity=NOPARITY;
    SetCommState(hSerial, &dcbSerialParams);
    return hSerial;
}

I imnprovised this from : **broken link removed**

He also shows how to set timeouts and how to do it in an event driven manner. Obviusly this example uses polling, which should be fine.

Obviously you need to check for valid handles and valid returns from the functions.

Com3 and Com4 might seem strange but those are the virtual serial ports I was using.