XPL CM12 Service

[John B]

Hi all,

The XPL CM12 service code is now complete - however it doesn't work :-(

If I compile the .NET app as a standard Windows application (i.e. you run
it and
a form appears) then
it all works fine, however that's pretty pointless as that's exactly what
Tony's
app does at the moment.

If you try and compile it as a service, you end up with strange errors at
runtime, relating to
the use of the CM11a.ocx component.

I think the problem comes from the fact that you are not supposed to use
forms
in a service, however
the CM11a.ocx requires that you place it on a form.

So as far as I can tell, the only way to go is to investigate talking to
the
serial port directly from .NET, removing the need for the cm11a ActiveX
completely.

And here we hit another problem :-(
.NET does not include anything like the MSCOMM32.ocx control that many of
us
have used in VB6 for
talking to the COM port. So it's back to the old-style ways of calling into
the
Win32 API directly.

If anyone has some info either on why we're having problems with the
CM11a.ocx
being used in a service, or on how we can communicate directly with the
serial
port, then I'd much appreciate it.

Regards,

John

P.S. Wasn't .NET supposed to make a developers life easier :-)