USB COM Port Assignment
coryco2
Posts: 107
Does anyone know how COM port numbers are assigned to Prop Plugs, USB Protoboards, etc. in Windows XP? I am guessing that the OS is doing it, and that each device retains a different port number? Is there some way to set the Prop Tool or FTDI driver to just use the same COM port for any Prop USB device plugged into it? I saw mention made in the forum that this can be done by editing something in the registry, but I have not been able to find any details about how to do it.
Comments
[SIZE=1][FONT=arial]HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS\VID_0403+PID_6001+[COLOR=#ff0000]A2002Yej[/COLOR]A ---ClassGUID = {[COLOR=#008080]4D36E978-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318[/COLOR]} HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS\VID_0403+PID_6001+A2002YejA\0000\Device Parameters ---PortName=[COLOR=#800000]COM9 [/COLOR] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\Vid_0403&Pid_6001\[COLOR=#ff0000]A2002Yej [/COLOR]---Driver={4D36E978-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\[COLOR=#800080]0005 [/COLOR] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{[COLOR=#008080]4D36E978-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318[/COLOR]}\[COLOR=#800080]0005 [/COLOR]---InfPath=oem26.inf ---ProviderName=FTDI [/FONT][/SIZE]You can see it gets a little tricky to find the details. I wrote a HTML application which enumerates ports for me and lets me assign unique names for each device.EnumPorts.hta
<head> <title>Enum Ports</title> <HTA:APPLICATION APPLICATIONNAME="Enum Ports" SCROLL="yes" SINGLEINSTANCE="yes" SysMenu="yes" ShowInTaskbar="yes" WindowState="normal" ICON="info.ico" > </head> <script language="javascript"> function newwin(prttag, desc) { var nw; nw=window.open('','_blank', 'height=600,width=800,status=yes,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,menubar=yes,location=no'); var tb = document.getElementById(prttag); nw.document.write("<html>\n<head>\n<title>Print</title>\n"); /* nw.document.write("<STYLE>A:hover{COLOR: #ff0000}"); nw.document.write(".desc {FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: dimgray; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, 'MS Sans Serif'}"); nw.document.write(".desc B {FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: darkred; FONT-WEIGHT: 500; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, 'MS Sans Serif'}"); nw.document.write(".linkjump {FONT-SIZE: 12px; CURSOR: hand; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; TEXT-DECORATION: underline}"); nw.document.write("BODY {FONT-SIZE: x-small; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Courier, 'MS Sans Serif'}"); nw.document.write("</STYLE>\n"); */ nw.document.write("<script language='javascript'>\nfunction newwin(){\nwindow.print();\n}\n<\/script>\n"); // nw.document.write("</head>\n<body bgcolor=blue onload='window.print();'>\n"); nw.document.write("</head>\n<body bgcolor=white>\n"); nw.document.write("\n<center><font color=crimson size=3><b><i>" + desc + "</i></b></font>\n"); // nw.document.write(" <img align=absmiddle onClick='newwin()' alt='print' src='images/print_icon.gif' border=0></center>"); nw.document.write(tb.innerHTML); nw.document.write("\n</body>\n</html>"); // nw.document.getElementById('maintab').style.color = 'black'; nw.document.close(); nw.status='Print Window'; nw.focus(); } //--> </script> <script language="VBScript"> option explicit Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001 Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002 Const TemporaryFolder = 2 Const ForWriting = 2 Const REG_SZ = 1 Const REG_EXPAND_SZ = 2 Const REG_BINARY = 3 Const REG_DWORD = 4 Const REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN = 4 Const REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN = 5 Const REG_LINK = 6 Const REG_MULTI_SZ = 7 Const REG_RESOURCE_LIST = 8 Const REG_FULL_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR = 9 Const REG_RESOURCE_REQUIREMENTS_LIST = 10 Dim strComputer, oReg, strKeyPath, WSHShell, WinVer Dim objDict, objKeys, objArray, loop1, loop2 Dim hkey, strHTML Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") dim lvl Function OsVer dim objWMIService, colOS, objOS OsVer = "" strComputer = "." Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2") Set colOS = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem") For Each objOS in colOS ' Msgbox objOS.Caption & " " & objOS.Version, 0 + 32,"Window Version " & objOS.OSType select case objOS.OSType case 17 OsVer = "98" exit function case 18 OsVer = "XP" exit function end select Next end function Sub Enum_Ports strComputer = "." hkey = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE strKeyPath = "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum" Set oReg = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv") strHTML = strHTML & "<TABLE name=oTab id = oTab border='1' style='border-collapse: collapse; FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: #020FC0; FONT-FAMILY: verdana' width='100%'>" strHTML = strHTML & "<THEAD><TR><TH>Port Name</TH><TH>Device Desc</TH><TH>Driver</TH><TH>Friendly Name</TH><TH>Class</TH>" strHTML = strHTML & "</TR></THEAD><TBODY>" Set objDict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary") Call CreateDictionary objKeys = objDict.Keys Call SortDict For loop1 = 0 To UBound(objKeys) objArray = Split(objDict.Item(objKeys(loop1)) , vbTab, -1, 1) strHTML = strHTML & "<TR><TD>" & objKeys(loop1) & "</TD><TD" if objArray(3) <> "" then strHTML = strHTML & " onmouseover=""this.style.cursor='vertical-text'"" id=row" & loop1 & " onclick=""UpdDesc(" & loop1 & ")"">" & objArray(3) ' strHTML = strHTML & ">" & objArray(3) else strHTML = strHTML & ">" & objArray(0) end if strHTML = strHTML & " </TD><TD>" & objArray(4) & " </TD><TD>" & objArray(1) & " </TD><TD>" & objArray(2) & " </TD></TR>" Next strHTML = strHTML & "</TBODY></TABLE>" tbarea.InnerHTML = strHTML document.body.style.cursor = "default" End Sub Sub CreateDictionary Dim sPath Dim classpath Dim arrClassTypes, arrDevices Dim classType oReg.EnumKey hkey, strKeyPath, arrClassTypes if vartype(arrClassTypes) = vbNull then msgbox strKeyPath, vbcritical, "Null Class type" end if For Each classType in arrClassTypes sPath = strKeyPath & "\" & classType oReg.EnumKey hkey, sPath, arrDevices if vartype(arrDevices) = vbNull then else lvl = 0 Recurse arrDevices, sPath, classType end if Next End Sub Sub Recurse(arrItems, subPath, classType) Dim Item, nxtPath, arrSubItems, rc, USBdesc Dim FriendlyName, PortName, DeviceDesc, Classname Dim dpath, Driver, INF For each Item in arrItems ' msgbox subPath & vbcrlf & item, , classType & " >> " & len(item) ' if lvl = 0 then ' msgbox subPath & vbcrlf & item, , classType & " " & len(item) ' if len(item) = 0 then '' msgbox item, , classType & " " & len(item) ' exit sub ' end if ' if classType = "HID" then ' exit sub ' end if ' end if nxtPath = subPath & "\" & Item rc = oReg.GetStringValue(hkey, nxtPath, "FriendlyName", FriendlyName) rc = oReg.GetStringValue(hkey, nxtPath, "DeviceDesc", DeviceDesc) if lvl = 1 then rc = oReg.GetStringValue(hkey, nxtPath, "Driver", Driver) dpath = "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class" & "\" & Driver rc = oReg.GetStringValue(hkey, dpath, "InfPath", INF) ' msgbox dpath & vbcrlf & Driver & vbcrlf & INF, , rc end if if classType = "FTDIBUS" then if lvl = 1 then USBDesc = FTDIDevice(nxtPath) end if else USBdesc = "" end if rc = oReg.GetStringValue(hkey, nxtPath, "Class", ClassName) rc = oReg.GetStringValue(hkey, nxtPath & "\Device Parameters", "PortName", PortName) if len(PortName) > 0 then if objDict.Exists(PortName) Then else objDict.Add PortName, DeviceDesc & vbtab & FriendlyName & vbtab & ClassName & vbtab & USBdesc & vbtab & INF end if end if oReg.EnumKey hkey, nxtPath, arrSubItems if vartype(arrSubItems) = vbNull then ' msgbox subPath,vbcritical, "Null SubItems" else lvl = lvl + 1 Recurse arrSubItems, nxtPath, classType end if Next lvl = lvl - 1 End Sub Function FTDIDevice(path) dim usb, devid, idx, upath, descrip, rc devid = replace(path, "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS\VID_0403+PID_6001+", "") devid = replace(devid, "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS\VID_0403+PID_BD90+", "") devid = replace(devid, "\0000", "") rc = oReg.GetStringValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\FTDI Devices", devid, descrip) if rc = 0 then FTDIDevice = descrip & " (" & devid & ")" else FTDIDevice = "FTDI ????" & " (" & devid & ")" end if end function '********************** Sub SortDict 'bubble sort For loop1 = UBound(objKeys) to LBound(objKeys) Step -1 For loop2 =( LBound(objKeys) + 1) to loop1 If ucase(objKeys(loop2 - 1)) > ucase(objKeys(loop2)) Then Call Swap(objKeys(loop2 - 1), objKeys(loop2)) End If Next Next End Sub Sub Swap(byref item1, byref item2) Dim temp temp = item1 item1 = item2 item2 = temp End Sub Sub Window_Onload dim iTimerID WinVer = OsVer if OsVer <> "XP" then iebutton.InnerHTML = " " end if ' WSHShell.popup "Collecting information" & vbcrlf & "This could take several seconds", 3, "Please Wait", vbInformation 'wait seconds document.body.style.cursor = "wait" tbarea.InnerHTML = "<Center>Collecting information<br>This could take several seconds</center>" iTimerId=window.setTimeout("Enum_Ports", 5, "VBScript") ' Enum_Ports End Sub Sub UpdDesc(rowid) dim keyid, i, j, currdesc, newdesc, rc, devrow set devrow = document.getElementById("row" & rowid) currdesc = devrow.innerText keyid = currdesc i = instr(keyid, "(") if i > 0 then keyid = mid(keyid, i+1) j = instr(keyid, ")") if j > 0 then keyid = mid(keyid, 1, j-1) newdesc = inputbox("Enter description for: " & keyid, "Update FTDI device description", trim(left(currdesc, i-1))) if newdesc <> "" then rc = oReg.SetStringValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\FTDI Devices", keyid, newdesc) if rc = 0 then devrow.innerText = newdesc & " (" & keyid & ")" end if end if end if end if End sub </script> <body> <center> <br> <input type="button" value="Print" onclick="javascript:window.print();"> <span id=iebutton name=iebutton> <input type="button" id=ieopen name=ieopen value="Open in IE" onclick="javascript:newwin('tbarea', 'Ports')"> </span> </center> <br> <span id=tbarea name=tbarea> </span> </body>http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?133923-DEMO-Microsoft-Word-2010-gt-Propeller-communication ... <-- See "Almost There!!!"
Note: I just tested it with two different Propeller Demo Boards that by default had enumerated to COM9 and COM10 .... I changed them (ignoring the warning) so that they were both pointing to COM9. As far as the warning is concerned, this should work as long as you don't have them both plugged in at the same time.