Serial Communication on cFP-2000

[Mark10]

I would like to send ASCII text to the serial port on the FP-2000 module and then display the text in a Labview Application.
I cannot seem to link my PC serial port to the FP serial port. Is this even possible.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

[Aaron_G]

Mark,

To connect the serial port of a cFP-20xx device to the serial port on a computer, you will need to use a null modem cable. This is a serial cable that reverses the wiring of the Tx and Rx pins between both ends.

From a programming perspective, you will need two applications. The first, running in the cFP-20xx will transmit the data. The second is on the computer to receive the data.

Regards,
Aaron

[Mark10]

Thanks Aaron

I'm not sure how to connect to the serial port on the FP-2000. I'm assuming COM1 is my PC serial port, the only resource name that could be it is ASRL2:INSTR (I'm not even sure what that stands for). Is this correct or am I missing the obvious.

Mark

[Aaron_G]

COM1 is also the serial port on the cFP-2000. Remember, you will need two LabVIEW programs, one which runs in the cFP-2000, and one which runs on the computer. The computer has one or more serial ports, which may be named COM1, COM2, etc... or may be named as ASRL1::INSTR, ASRL2::INSTR, etc... The cFP-2000 has one serial port which may be referred to as either COM1 or ASRL1::INSTR. Even if both programs are set to COM1, because they are running on the different computers (computer & RT controller), they are accessing the COM1 of their respective hardware.

Regards,
Aaron

[Mark10]

Hi Aaron,

Is it possible to read and display the data that is sitting at the serial port of the cFP-2000 without using an embedded application.  

Also, I may have provided some misleading information earlier.  The data that is passed to the serial point of the cFP will not actually come from the host PC, so I do not have to use the PC serial port at all, I was only trying to test the system.  I'm not sure if this is pertinent information to you or not.

Thanks again,

Mark 

[Aaron_G]

Mark,

It is not possible to access the cFP-20xx's serial ports except when running LabVIEW code in the cFP controller itself. This can be done from a host PC running the code targeted to the controller or by building the code into an executable and putting it in the controller. For debug purposes, the easiest way is to simply run your LabVIEW code on the computer targeted to the cFP controller. By using string indicators on the front panel of your read/write serial VIs, you will be able to see what is being transmitted or received.

Regards,

Aaron

[Mark10]

Thanks Aaron,

I'll look into targeting.

Mark

[Mark10]

It makes sense now.  Run the embedded application that reads the serial port and wire an indicator to it.  Than target the FP module to display the front panel so I can see the results on the PC.  The problem I have now is, I don't have LabVIEW RT, I only have the Labview Base Package.  Is it possible for me to read the serial data through a digital or analog input module instead.  I realize, I may have to spend the extra money to purchase RT but if there is a workaround I would like to give it a try.

Thanks,

Mark

[Aaron_G]

Without the LabVIEW RT module, you cannot access the serial ports built into the FP-20xx modules. As for using an analog or digital module, there is no practical way to get the speed and determinism required to generate/read the serial data stream using FieldPoint.

Regards,

Aaron