Bluetooth VS RS232 communication interface.

Justin Sane

Hello,

For last few days, I have been sending data back and forth through RS232 between visual basic and BS2. So, I decided to take a next step, by trying to communicate my BS2 with bluetooth via Visual Basic. I thought I could just change the COM port, I guess it wont work. It only can connect, thats it. No information exchanging. Is there any specific method required for the serial communication via bluetooth between pc and bs2? I thought I could just do it same way I do with RS232, since the data is in serial format.

Also, I have added my PC to its trusted device. I am not sure what I am doing wrong here?

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·"Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality."
-Jules de Gaultier

Post Edited (Justin Sane) : 10/9/2006 2:18:22 AM GMT

Kevin Wood

Make sure you're sending the correct data to your Bluetooth devices.

For example, the Parallax AppMods have a handshaking routine that you need to go through to send data.

Justin Sane

Do you mean by accepting as trusted device?

So, where can I find a info about handshaking?

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·"Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality."
-Jules de Gaultier

Kevin Wood

You first need to determine if handshaking is required by your devices.

By handshaking, I'm talking about sending some type of command or identifier to let the device know that you will be sending data. When you open a serial port, it looks like a file to the computer. When you send data, you are writing to that file. If there is a device connected, it may not be looking for the raw data that you want to send, but the indicator telling it to prepare to receive data. It would then reply to send the data, then the data is sent and received.

If your devices use such a routine, trying to send data without it won't work. So, you'll need to see the manufacturer's documentation, and follow their guidelines. If they don't use such a routine, you can look for other causes.