port output in VB

Unfortunately the Win32 API is designed to be machine-independent, which means there's no API which does what you want. In addition, accessing hardware directly like this isn't allowed under Windows NT, although you might get away with it for a while under Win9x.

I think you'd have to write your own Windows driver for the hardware in question, and that's definitely outside the realm of Visual BASIC!

smegghead,

If you can get your hands on a copy of Microsoft's GWBasic, you can use it to do what you want...  It has the OUT command, and it works just like you want.


Cheers!

Use the _outp command from a c DLL:

//~~~C DLL~~~
#include <windows.h>
#include <conio.h>

int CALLBACK LibMain (HANDLE hInstance, WORD wDataSeg,
                                WORD wHeapSize, LPSTR lpszCmdLine)
{
      return 1;
}

void __stdcall PortOut(unsigned short cPort, char cValue)
{
      _outp(cPort, cValue);
}

'~~~~Call it from VB~~~~
Option Explicit

Private Declare Sub PortOut Lib "dlltest" _
    (ByVal cPort As Integer, ByVal cValue As Byte)

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Call PortOut(300, 128)
End Sub

Make that:

Call PortOut(&H300, 128)

Using the API 'CreateFile' it can be done!
Still researching.....

D'Mzzl!
RoverM

Ok,

I'm SURE I added a comment here this morning.... I must have closed the window without sumbitting..

Basically, I asked if the 'c' function will work under WinNT. I tried yesterday with some delphi code which includede assembly language to output to the port.

I've also looked at the web-site PBuck suggested.. It looks like that probably has what I want, although I've not got it working yet !!

Smeg.

PS. The delphi code came up with an error saying 'priveleged instruction'.

I've also tried it using 'qbasic' is this the same as the suggested 'gwbasic' ?? With Qbasic, the command OUT &H0300,&HFF doesn't error, but doesn't perform the desired effect either.

Accessing I/O ports from user mode under NT is not permitted, which is why you're getting "privileged instruction" errors. I suspect the QBasic OUT() instructions are being routed to a virtual machine and never getting anywhere near the *physical* ports. I don't think you can do what you want without going into kernel mode.

Hi,

Direct from their documentation:
NTPort Library is also an ideal replacement of old BASIC IN or OUT statement.

Try:
http://www.zealsoftstudio.com/ntport/

NTPort Library provides support for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT. Cost $ 30 USD

Hope this helps
ED

From:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/backgrnd/html/msdn_realtime.htm

Q. Does Windows NT support direct I/O and memory access?

A. In general, Windows NT does not allow an application direct access to I/O ports. If this is needed, a driver needs to be
written.

Hi,

I've used MMPort in the past to access I/O's directly.  This works under NT.  The site says that it's NT only but I think I may have had it running under 9x before...  Unfortunately it doesn't come with a VB Header file, but you could probably derive this from the VC++ header file.

It's available at

http://sunst50.einev.ch/references/mondada/mmp/

Also,

http://www.lvr.com/parport.htm

has many utilites for parallel port / I/O access.

Thanks PBuck, that did the trick.. I used something called DirectIO.

Thanks also to everyone else for their comments.

Super!  I am glad that you got it working.  Now I know who to go to when I need to use that control.  :-)

I'll expect a 100 pointer !!!