How to read text files from PC

omarmonzer

I want the propeller activity board to read a text file on my laptop and do some task according to the value it reads. The text file content changes regularly.


Any ideas?

Mike Green

How big is the text file? How would the laptop and Activity Board be connected? Can the laptop be running a service program "in the background"? For example, could you have a web page open in a browser all the time?

An Activity Board with the WX wifi module can interact with a JavaScript program running in a web page on the laptop so that the laptop sends a specific text file to the wifi module periodically where the Propeller can read it. There are examples of this in the Learn website project for the WX module (see this).

idbruce

As Mike indicates, you will need some type of program running on the laptop, to accomplish this task. This program would need to open the file, read the file, close the file, and serially transmit the data to the activity board.

If you are capable of programming in C++, this link will help with the serial transmission part of things: https://codeproject.com/Articles/992/Serial-library-for-C. At this link, you will find a program which can be altered for opening, reading, and closing files, as well as serially transmitting the data.

Good Luck

Rayman

I wonder if you could use IIS (if Windows) to setup an intranet server with a web page that provided access to the text file...

Then, maybe the WiFi module (if WX version of activity board) might be able to access this website?

Seems like it should work... Have to be careful with security though...

potatohead

Wonder whether the Wi-Fi SD cards for cameras can be a solution? With those things, a PC can just write the file via Wi-Fi, leaving the Propeller to just read the SD card over and over.

Here is a link to one.