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Controlling LED Reader Board 5
- Thread starter keepsafe
- Start date
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Olaf Doschke
Programmer
I don't think there is a standard for such boards. I never had such a thing, anyway, but I would be positively surprised, if there was a standard interface to such devices.
Bye, Olaf.
Bye, Olaf.
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Our company interfaces reader boards as well as other sorts of displays. Our interfaces are via serial communications, but I'm guessing there are other interfaces as well.
What it boils down to on our devices is you send a set of commands and text and the thing displays them. In other words, you would send a certain control code similar to what you would send to a printer for font, DPI, etc. For the reader board, those codes would control the scroll speed, left or right scroll, blink, and so on, followed by the text or graphic you want displayed.
You would of course, have to get the specs and protocol from the manufacturer as reader boards are different, but those are the basics.
-Dave Summers-
![[cheers]](/data/assets/smilies/cheers.gif "[cheers] [cheers]")
Even more Fox stuff at:
What it boils down to on our devices is you send a set of commands and text and the thing displays them. In other words, you would send a certain control code similar to what you would send to a printer for font, DPI, etc. For the reader board, those codes would control the scroll speed, left or right scroll, blink, and so on, followed by the text or graphic you want displayed.
You would of course, have to get the specs and protocol from the manufacturer as reader boards are different, but those are the basics.
-Dave Summers-
Even more Fox stuff at:
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Mike Lewis
Programmer
Keepsafe,
One small point to add to the good advice the others have given you ...
Do check that the board does in fact have an external interface. Sorry if this sounds obvious, but the cheaper counter-top boards don't all have comms ability; they come with a simple keypad, and the user has to manually enter the text and scrolling parameters.
This won't be a problem with the more sophisticated products, of course.
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
One small point to add to the good advice the others have given you ...
Do check that the board does in fact have an external interface. Sorry if this sounds obvious, but the cheaper counter-top boards don't all have comms ability; they come with a simple keypad, and the user has to manually enter the text and scrolling parameters.
This won't be a problem with the more sophisticated products, of course.
Mike
__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy
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If the client has asked for a NEW application, then Fox might not be your best option. As everyone else has pointed out you need to read the manuals/tech guides etc. of the hardware. If you find that there are VB.NET, and JAVA, and PHP examples ( or what ever language ) you may want to use those languages. I am not saying VFP can't be used, just it might be harder.
Now if it is not a NEW application, but adding code to an existing app, e.g. make the sign display the current record information, then it might be best (again might not saying this IS the way to go, just something to consider ) to write an interface application in some programming language that works with the board, that reads a text file, ands send the information to the board. The vfp app then would write out the text file for the interface application to read to then pass on for displaying.
Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
Now if it is not a NEW application, but adding code to an existing app, e.g. make the sign display the current record information, then it might be best (again might not saying this IS the way to go, just something to consider ) to write an interface application in some programming language that works with the board, that reads a text file, ands send the information to the board. The vfp app then would write out the text file for the interface application to read to then pass on for displaying.
Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
- Thread starter
- #7
I wish I can give everyone a star for such good answer....."
What is stopping you?
Your wish is my command....
At the bottom of each post is a section "Thank <username> for this valuable post" Click on it and you can give that person a star. Do it for each user/posting that you like.
Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
What is stopping you?
Your wish is my command....
At the bottom of each post is a section "Thank <username> for this valuable post" Click on it and you can give that person a star. Do it for each user/posting that you like.
Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
Olaf Doschke
Programmer
I don't know if keepsave meant it that way, MrDataGuy, as noone could really help here but point out he needs to dig out answers himself.
But it was the only advice we could give: To look out for the details of the led board he has to automate. If the client has a certain device, he should have come up with the docs in the first place.
Bye, Olaf.
But it was the only advice we could give: To look out for the details of the led board he has to automate. If the client has a certain device, he should have come up with the docs in the first place.
Bye, Olaf.
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