can i interface a third party hardware with labview using rs232c

[electronics andcommunication]

 i am a beginner.I want to transfer data from my transceiver and display it in labview.plz tell me that can how can i interfacemy transceiver to labview using rs232c.i badly need it.plz reply asap....thank you

[smercurio_fc]

First, do some homework:

1. Read some tutorials on doing serial communication. E.g. Serial Communication Overview, Serial Communication Starting Point, Google.
2. Verify you can communicate with the device using a simple third-party application, like HyperTerminal on Windows.
3. Do the LabVIEW tutorials.
4. Look at the examples that ship with LabVIEW that show you how to do serial communication.
5. Read the LabVIEW documentation on instrument control.
6. Check to see if there's already an instrument driver for the device you're talking to. 
7. Search this forum (and the LabVIEW one) for messages. There are tons of messages on serial communication.

Then, come back and ask something a bit more specific.

[electronics andcommunication]

well i have done the homework.now I think i have better idea about serial communication.coming to the point i have to receive data and send data to a transceiver using a serial port and labview graphical user interface.can you plz provide some sample vi's.thank you for the support.

[smercurio_fc]

There are examples that ship with LabVIEW that show you how to do serial communication. Have you looked at them? Just open the Example Finder and search for "serial". Make sure you set the correct values for the serial communication, especially the termination character, if the data coming into the computer ends with a termination character.

Have you first verified that you can talk to your device using something simple, like HyperTerminal if you're on Windows?

[electronics andcommunication]

ya I have looked at the example given in labview example.I checked my RS232C cable also using the loopback test.I am able to communicate with it.Actually i am working on a nanosatellite project. in which i need to get the satellite health data from the satellite using the transceiver.the transceiver is connected to the computer using rs232c.i have to send some telecommands also to the satellite.for which i have to develop a gui.how can i proceed?

[Dennis_Knutson]

A loopback test does nothing more than verify that your pc's com port is working. It does not verify that the cable is correct for the instrument nor does it verify that your com settings are correct for the instrument. As smercurio_fc mentions, you should really verify all of this with a working terminal emulation program such as Hyperterminal before you attempt to write any code. At the very least, you will be able to get help from the vendor with Hyperterminal problems. There aer so many things that could be wrong and you have not mentioned any steps that you have made to fix any problems. Do you know whether you are using a null modem or straight-through cable? Do you know what type the instrument requires? Do you know the format of the commands you must send ? ASCII, Hex, checksum required, termination character?

You are the one with the instrument and the manual. You have not provided the make and model or any documentation. You will obviously have to do most of the troubleshooting yourself but information like this is pretty important when asking for help, don't you think?

[smercurio_fc]

When you say you're able to communicate with it does this mean you're able to use, for example, the Basic Serial Write and Read example to send commands and receive data? Or, are you just able to communicate with it using another terminal program?

Based on your last post I'm guessing you have little to no experience in software development. Unfortunately, we can't really write the program for you. I can offer a suggestion to start by going through the LabVIEW tutorials so you get a basic understanding of the language. You can find more material in the NI Developer Zone's Learning Center which provides links to other materials and other tutorials. You can also take the online courses for free. I would suggest looking into using some basic application design patterns. The state machine is a pretty solid one to start with. 

You also basically need to start definining the scope of your project. Is this intended for your own use only, or for something else? When you say GUI are you referring to something with a professional look, or just a front panel for your own use? Do you need to be able to save data? If so, where, at what rate, and in what format?

[electronics andcommunication]

the project is intended for the university use.so the front panel should be little professional.it can be simple also.the most important thing is getting the data from the satellite and displaying it and also saving it in excel sheet.

[smercurio_fc]

Well, there are numerous user interface controls that you can use. If you stick with the ones in the System Controls palette you should get a pretty good look. You can also peruse the work that's been done in the UI Interest Group.

As for Excel, I would suggest that you use the Write to Spreadsheet File VI to start off with. This saves to a delimited text file that you can open in Excel. If you absolutely must save it to an Excel workbook then you will need to either get the Report Generation Toolkit, or write the code yourself using ActiveX. There are a couple of examples that ship with LabVIEW, and there are also the links to other examples posted in the Excel thread.

[electronics andcommunication]

i have completed the hyperterminal test.i am anoe using a terminal node controller(tnc) to control my transceiver.but now i have to interface the tnc with labview using rs232c.plz tell me how the datacanl be saved when its coming to tnc buffer.