ActiveComport Toolkit Add serial communication capabilities to any Windows or .NET application

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Using ActiveComport Serial Control with PHP

ActiveComport is a software development kit (SDK) that enables the user to communicate to a device over a serial interface.

Such a device can be: a weight indicator, a modem, a scanner, or any other device that is equiped with a serial port. It can even be another PC, connected via a NULL modem cable.

ActiveComport can be well integrated into PHP environments. This document describes how ActiveComport can be integrated into PHP projects.

Step 1: Download and install ActiveComport

Download the ActiveComport Toolkit from the ActiveXperts Download Site and start the installation. The installation guides you through the installation process.

Step 2: Create the ActiveComport object in PHP

You must use PHP script to declare and create the ActiveComport object.

Use the following PHP code to create the Comport object: 

$objComport  = new COM ( "ActiveXperts.Comport" );

Step 3: Send AT commands from a PHP script

You can now send and/or receive serial data.

The following PHP code shows how to initialize a modem with some AT commands: 

<html>
   <head>
   <META HTTP-EQUIV="CONTENT-Type" CONTENT="text/html;CHARSET=utf-8" >
   <title>ActiveXperts ActiveComport PHP Sample</title>
   </head>
   <body>
   <font face="sans-serif" size="2">
   <hr size="1" color="#707070">
   <font size="4">ActiveXperts ActiveComport PHP Sample</font>
   <br>
   <br>
   <b>Initialize a Hayes compatible modem with some AT commands.</b>
   <br>
   <br>
   <hr size="1" color="#707070" >
   <br>

   <?php
   
   $objComport	= new COM ( "ActiveXperts.Comport" );
  
   $objComport->Logfile     = "C:\\PhpSerialLog.txt";
   $objComport->Device      = "COM1";
   $objComport->Baudrate    = 9600;
   $objComport->ComTimeout  = 1000;

   $objComport->Open ();

   if ( $objComport->LastError == 0 )
   {     
        Echo "Sending 'ATZ'...<BR>";
        Echo "<BR>";
    

        $objComport->WriteString      ( "ATZ" );
        
        while ( $objComport->LastError == 0 )
        {
            Echo $objComport->ReadString  ();
            Echo "<BR>";
        }

        Echo "Sending 'ATI'...<BR>";
        Echo "<BR>";

        $objComport->WriteString      ( "ATI" );

        while ( $objComport->LastError == 0 )
        {
            Echo $objComport->ReadString  ();
            Echo "<BR>";
        }

        Echo "Sending 'AT&C0'...<BR>";
        Echo "<BR>";

        $objComport->WriteString      ( "AT&C0" );

        while ( $objComport->LastError == 0 )
        {
            Echo $objComport->ReadString  ();
            Echo "<BR>";
        }
   }
   else
   {
       $ErrorNum = $objComport->LastError;
       $ErrorDes = $objComport->GetErrorDescription ( $ErrorNum );

       Echo "Error sending commands: #$ErrorNum ($ErrorDes).";
   }
 
   Echo "Ready.";

   $objComport->Close ();
?>

   <br>
   <br>
   <hr size="1" color="#707070">
   <font size="1" face="Verdana">This demo uses ActiveXperts ActiveComport</font>
   </body>
</html>

There are many working samples included with the product. You can also find them on the ActiveXperts FTP site: ftp.activexperts-labs.com/samples/activecomport.