I need help with this Serial Port communication code.

bomotosho

I am trying to write a program which sends text from a Form's Rich Edit Boxes via 2 serial ports( COM3 and COM 4 have 2 rich edit boxes each for incoming and outgoing text) using Borland C++ Builder 2006. This program uses some C++ serial port communication library code I downloaded. I have also created a buffer for each of them. The serial ports are opened successfully when I run this program. However, I can't get the rich edit boxes to display the texts their serial ports have received.

[code]//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

#include
#pragma hdrstop

#include "serialcomform.h"
#include "rlserial.h"
#include "rldefine.h"
#include "rlthread.h"
#include "rlwthread.h"
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#pragma package(smart_init)
#pragma resource "*.dfm"
TfrmSerialPort *frmSerialPort;
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
__fastcall TfrmSerialPort::TfrmSerialPort(TComponent* Owner)
: TForm(Owner)
{
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------


void __fastcall TfrmSerialPort::FormDestroy(TObject *Sender)
{
delete mySerial3, mySerial4;
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

void __fastcall TfrmSerialPort::btnsend2COM4Click(TObject *Sender)
{
// mySerial3->writeChar((char)edCOM4->Lines->Text.c_str());

// Assign the pointers to their respective buffers.
// ptr_buf_COM3_Out = buf_COM3_Out;
// ptr_buf_COM4_In = buf_COM4_In;

//*ptr_buf_COM3_Out = (char)edCOM3Out->Lines->Text.c_str();
// ptr_buf_COM4_In = ptr_buf_COM3_Out; //This code only simulates the ports channels in a situation where they were on different computers.


// COM3 writes to COM4's ptr_buf_COM4_In.
*ptr_buf_COM4_In = (unsigned char)edCOM3Out->Lines->Text.c_str();

int buf_COM4_In_byte_size = sizeof(*ptr_buf_COM4_In);

//Write contents of COM4's buffer to edCOM4
if (mySerial3->writeBlock((const unsigned char*)*ptr_buf_COM4_In, buf_COM4_In_byte_size) != 1)
{
//Clear edCOM3Out of it's contents (text) after it has sent it's contents to COM4.
edCOM3Out->Lines->Text = ' ';
}



}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

void __fastcall TfrmSerialPort::Timer1Timer(TObject *Sender)
{
// Declaration of the TimeOut Duration (constants).
const unsigned int COMTimeOut = 500;


if (mySerial3->readLine(buf_COM3_In, MAXLENGTH, COMTimeOut) != -1)
{
edCOM3In->Lines->Text = (String) *ptr_buf_COM3_In;
edCOM3In->Lines->Add("
");
}

if (mySerial4->readLine(buf_COM4_In, MAXLENGTH, COMTimeOut) != -1)
{
edCOM4In->Lines->Add(*ptr_buf_COM4_In);
edCOM4In->Lines->Add("
");
}
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

void __fastcall TfrmSerialPort::FormCreate(TObject *Sender)
{
int com3_status, com4_status;
mySerial3 = new rlSerial();
com3_status = mySerial3->openDevice("COM3", 9600, 1, 1, 8, 1, 0);
if ( com3_status == 0)
{ this->lblCOM3_Status->Caption = "COM3: Opening operation successful.";}
else
{ this->lblCOM3_Status->Caption = "COM3: Opening operation failed!";}

mySerial4 = new rlSerial();
com4_status = mySerial4->openDevice("COM4", 9600, 1, 1, 8, 1, 0);
if ( com4_status == 0)
{ this->lblCOM4_Status->Caption = "COM4: Opening operation successful.";}
else
{ this->lblCOM4_Status->Caption = "COM4: Opening operation failed!";}

// Assign the pointers to their respective buffers.
ptr_buf_COM4_In = buf_COM4_In;
ptr_buf_COM3_In = buf_COM3_In;
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

void __fastcall TfrmSerialPort::btnSend2COM3Click(TObject *Sender)
{
// Assign the pointers to their respective buffers.
//ptr_buf_COM4_Out = buf_COM4_Out;
//ptr_buf_COM3_In = buf_COM3_In;

//*ptr_buf_COM4_Out = (char)edCOM4Out->Lines->Text.c_str();
//ptr_buf_COM3_In = ptr_buf_COM4_Out; //This code only simulates the ports' channels exchange between two computers.

// COM4 writes to COM3's ptr_buf_COM3_In.
// int buf_COM3_In_byte_size = sizeof(*ptr_buf_COM3_In);
// mySerial4->writeBlock(ptr_buf_COM3_In, buf_COM3_In_byte_size);

*ptr_buf_COM3_In = (unsigned char)edCOM4Out->Lines->Text.c_str();

int buf_COM3_In_byte_size = sizeof(*ptr_buf_COM3_In);

//Write contents of COM3's buffer to edCOM3In
if (mySerial4->writeBlock((const unsigned char*)*ptr_buf_COM3_In, buf_COM3_In_byte_size) != 1)
{
//Clear edCOM4Out of it's text after it has sent it's contents to COM3.
edCOM4Out->Lines->Text = ' ';
}




}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[/code]
The header file is as follows:
[code]//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

#ifndef serialcomformH
#define serialcomformH
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include "rlserial.h"
#include "rldefine.h"
#include "rlthread.h"
#include "rlwthread.h"
#include
#define MAXLENGTH 512
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
class TfrmSerialPort : public TForm
{
__published: // IDE-managed Components
TButton *btnsend2COM4;
TButton *btnSend2COM3;
TTimer *Timer1;
TLabel *lblCOM3;
TLabel *lblCOM4;
TRichEdit *edCOM3In;
TRichEdit *edCOM3Out;
TRichEdit *edCOM4In;
TRichEdit *edCOM4Out;
TLabel *lblCOM3In;
TLabel *lblCOM3Out;
TLabel *lblCOM4In;
TLabel *lblCOM4Out;
TLabel *lblCOM3_Status;
TLabel *lblCOM4_Status;
void __fastcall FormDestroy(TObject *Sender);
void __fastcall btnsend2COM4Click(TObject *Sender);
void __fastcall Timer1Timer(TObject *Sender);
void __fastcall FormCreate(TObject *Sender);
void __fastcall btnSend2COM3Click(TObject *Sender);
private: // User declarations

// Instances of Serial Ports (COM3 & COM4)
rlSerial *mySerial3, *mySerial4;

// Arrays are used as original In & Out Buffers for COM3 & COM4
// so that enough memory can be allocated to the buffers.
unsigned char buf_COM3_In[MAXLENGTH], buf_COM4_In[MAXLENGTH];
//unsigned char buf_COM3_Out[MAXLENGTH], buf_COM4_Out[MAXLENGTH];

// Pointers for the buffers - Character arrays cannot be assigned to at run-time
// except for the use of the strcpy function.
//unsigned char *ptr_buf_COM3_Out, *ptr_buf_COM4_Out;
unsigned char *ptr_buf_COM3_In, *ptr_buf_COM4_In;

public: // User declarations
__fastcall TfrmSerialPort(TComponent* Owner);
};
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
extern PACKAGE TfrmSerialPort *frmSerialPort;
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#endif[/code]


Please find below the link for the library files.
[link=http://pvbrowser.de/pvbrowser/sf/manual/rllib/html/classrlSerial.html]rlSerial_Libraries[leftbr/link].

Thanks!

NB: I'm sorry if I haven't posted this message according to the forums required format. I have done it to the best of my understanding as this is my first time.