Check out the MSDN Library.  Along with the API, it has a lot of good references and tutorials.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx

If you can't find what you need by doing a Google search, you can always just ask here, or on the MSDN or CodeProject forums:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/categories

http://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/List.aspx

vletoux said:

"int lpdwSize" should be "ref uint lpdwSize"

 

Thanks!  That at least stopped the native exception I was getting.

However, the function now returns ERROR_NOINTERFACE.  Is the function definition still wrong?

[DllImport("coredll.dll")]
        private extern static uint RasGetEntryProperties(string lpszPhoneBook, string szEntry, ref RASENTRY lpbEntry,
            ref uint lpdwEntrySize, byte lpb, ref uint lpdwSize);

NotSoTragicHero said:

davewill said:

*snip*

*delete*

I've updated the first post to better reflect the current problem.  Thanks.

davewill said:

DWORD RasGetEntryProperties(
  LPWSTR lpszPhoneBook,
  LPWSTR szEntry,
  LPRASENTRY lpbEntry,
  LPDWORD lpdwEntrySize,
  LPBYTE lpb,
  LPDWORD lpdwSize
);

"string lpb" might be the one that isn't right.  not sure though.

*delete*

It seems that I can't get this right... I'm using the following signature:

[DllImport("coredll.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    private extern static uint RasGetEntryProperties(string lpszPhoneBook, string szEntry, ref RASENTRY lpbEntry, ref int lpdwEntrySize, byte lpb, int lpdwSize);

Calling it with the following parameters:

RasGetEntryProperties(null, name, ref RasEntry, ref dwSize, 0, 128);

However, whenever this is called, an error pops up on my device telling me there has been a native exception, without much detail.

I've declared the RASENTRY struct as follows:

private struct RASENTRY
    {
      public int dwSize;
      public int dwfOptions;
      public int dwCountryID;
      public int dwCountryCode;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = RAS_MaxAreaCode + 1)]
      public string szAreaCode;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = RAS_MaxPhoneNumber + 1)]
      public string szLocalPhoneNumber;
      public int dwAlternatesOffset;
      public RASIPADDR ipaddr;
      public RASIPADDR ipaddrDns;
      public RASIPADDR ipaddrDnsAlt;
      public RASIPADDR ipaddrWins;
      public RASIPADDR ipaddrWinsAlt;
      public int dwFrameSize;
      public int dwfNetProtocols;
      public int dwFramingProtocol;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = MAX_PATH + 1)]
      public string szScript;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = MAX_PATH + 1)]
      public string szAutoDialDll;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = MAX_PATH + 1)]
      public string szAutoDialFunc;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = RAS_MaxDeviceType + 1)]
      public string szDeviceType;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = RAS_MaxDeviceName + 1)]
      public string szDeviceName;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = RAS_MaxPadType + 1)]
      public string szX25PadType;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = RAS_MaxX25Address + 1)]
      public string szX25Address;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = RAS_MaxFacilities + 1)]
      public string szX25Facilities;
      [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = RAS_MaxUserData + 1)]
      public string szX25UserData;
      public int dwChannels;
      public int dwReserved1;
      public int dwReserved2;
      public int dwCustomAuthKey;
    }

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

-Brandon

davewill said:

Sounds like you don't need anything fancy.  Here is a down and dirty.  New .NET CE project with Form1, add textbox1 (multiline) and 1 button.  Basic code found in help file for WebRequest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imports

 

System.Net

 

Imports

 

System.IO

 

Public

 

 

 

Class Form1Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click' Create a request for the URL.

 

 

 

 

Dim request As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create("http://www.whatismyip.com")' If required by the server, set the credentials.

 

request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

 

 

' Get the response.

 

 

 

 

Dim response As HttpWebResponse = CType(request.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)' Display the status.

 

TextBox1.Text =

 

 

"Status=" & response.StatusDescription' Get the stream containing content returned by the server.

 

 

 

 

Dim dataStream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream()' Open the stream using a StreamReader for easy access.

 

 

 

 

Dim reader As New StreamReader(dataStream)' Read the content.

 

 

 

 

Dim responseFromServer As String = reader.ReadToEnd()' Display the content.

 

TextBox1.Text &= responseFromServer

 

 

' Cleanup the streams and the response.

 

reader.Close()

dataStream.Close()

response.Close()

TextBox1.SelectionStart = TextBox1.Text.IndexOf(

TextBox1.ScrollToCaret()

 

End

 

"Your IP Address Is", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)

End Sub

End Class

 

Edit: Code insert thingy butchered the code.  figured a basic paste was more readable.

Thanks for your help once again.  

That worked beautifully.  However, it looks as if the modem isn't letting me remotely connect to my device through it

So long story short, how can I get my devices external IP, or at the very least remote connect to my device through VS when it's using an external modem?

figuerres said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

in my app i found that you must do some things in the right order and it's not as simple as it could be.

 

here is part of the code, i use the OpenNetCF for part of how it does is't thing.

 

using System; using System.Text;
 using OpenNETCF.Win32; 
using System.Windows.Forms; 
namespace PocketN { 
public class NoTaskBar { 
public static void Hide(Form F) {
 F.Capture = true;
 Win32Window hwnd = Win32Window.GetCapture();
 F.Capture = false;
 hwnd.ExtendedStyle |= WS_EX.NOANIMATION;
 } 
private const uint TOPFULL = 0x20000008; 
private const uint TOPFULLNOICON = 0x24000008; 
public static void FullScreen(Form F, bool TaskIcon) { 
F.SuspendLayout(); F.Capture = true; 
Win32Window hwnd = Win32Window.GetCapture(); 
F.Capture = false; F.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;
 if (Program.FullScreen) {
 // full 
if ((Program.CurrentPlatform == Platforms.Casio) && (Program.Taskbar.TaskBarVisible)) { 
Program.Taskbar.HideTaskBar(); 
} 
if (Program.CurrentPlatform != Platforms.Casio) {
 if (!TaskIcon) { 
hwnd.ExtendedStyle = (WS_EX)TOPFULLNOICON; 
} else { 
hwnd.ExtendedStyle = (WS_EX)TOPFULL; 
} 
F.Top = 28; F.Left = 0;
 F.Width = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Width - 6;
 F.Height = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Height - 6;
 } else {
 if (!TaskIcon) {
 hwnd.ExtendedStyle |= WS_EX.NOANIMATION; 
} else { 
hwnd.ExtendedStyle = WS_EX.NONE; 
}
 F.Top = 0; 
F.Left = 0;
 F.Width = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width;
 F.Height = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height;
 }
 } else { 
// normal 
if ((Program.CurrentPlatform == Platforms.Casio) && (!Program.Taskbar.TaskBarVisible)) {
 Program.Taskbar.ShowTaskBar(); 
}
 if (!TaskIcon) { 
hwnd.ExtendedStyle |= WS_EX.NOANIMATION;
 } else {
 hwnd.ExtendedStyle = WS_EX.NONE; 
} 
if (Program.CurrentPlatform == Platforms.Casio) { 
F.Top = 0; F.Left = 0; F.Width = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width;
 F.Height = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Height - 3; 
} else {
 F.Top = 28;
 F.Left = 0; 
F.Width = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Width - 6; 
F.Height = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Height - 6; 
} 
}
 F.ResumeLayout(); 
} 
} 
}
 

 

Insert Code Block SUCKS!!! it totaly hosed the formatting!

Thanks bud!  We've hacked it for now, (doing a lot of invalidating  ), but we'll probably have to come back to this soon when it comes to deployment time.  I'll take note!

Thanks!

-Brandon

figuerres said:

Hmm....

you may need to do something like i have done...

 

in an app i wrote i had to take over the device screen, this is a dedicated sales app that the device is *ONLY* allowed to be used for this one app.

 

i have a way that the managers and techs can take my app out of fullscreen by calling some win32 / ce system calls.

 

if you are interested i can get some of the code later and post the bits i think you will need.

Anything would help us at this point.  I'd appreciate that, thanks.  We have tried using SetWindowPos and SetForegroundWindow from coredll, but that hasn't seemed to help so far.

Thanks ahead of time.

-Brandon

davewill said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

I can tell you that we use very similar port configuration and setup code on windows mobile devices with hardware handshaking and polling (don't use DataReceived event) and it has been solid as a rock.

Update on this issue in case someone else runs into it.  After extensive digging, we have found that the error is a hardware issue with our MDT's serial connections on it's development box.  We have connected the GPS / GSM device to the MDT via serial / USB adapters, and it has been working just fine.

PROTIP: When serial development isn't going as planned, check for hardware issues.

davewill said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

Bummer.  I don't know what else to suggest.

Yeah, we've been playing around with this for the better part of over a month now...

I do appreciate all of your help though. If this is ever solved, I'll be sure to post.

Thanks!

davewill said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

Ok.  How about old school polling with a timer just to see if anything shows up.  Does that work?

 

  Private Sub ReadFromPort()
      If port.BytesToRead = 0 Then Exit Sub
      Do While port.BytesToRead > 0
        ' Read in data...
          Dim b As System.Byte = CType(port.ReadByte, System.Byte)

         

          'TODO: put this b somewhere so we know it came in

 

      Loop
  End Sub

 

sorry ... vb syntax is the way my brain works.

Nothing.  

It seems that no matter what, I can't get anything to return from this thing.  I know the device works, as I can poll it using PuTTY just fine.  

davewill said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

ok.  so your getting problems on the ReadLine.  That means the event is firing.  The code needs a little work on the actual using of the received data.  The port is setup to trigger the event when each byte enters the receive buffer (ReceivedBytesThreshold=1) ... yet your DataReceived event is trying to read a line at a time rather than doing something like 

 

            displayString &= port.ReadByte();

Actually, the event isn't being fired still.  Since it isn't fired, I'm trying to catch the data in the anonymous thread declared in the constructor for now, which is why I know the exception fires on the ReadLine.  Trying ReadByte and ReadLine both cause a TimeoutException.

davewill said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

Make sure the port on the GSM side is using hardware handshaking.

 

If you are getting a timeout on the Write then it sure sounds like it is waiting on the GSM side to give the goahead.

 

How about the send and recv buffer sizes on both sides of the cable?  are they sufficient.

 

 

set port.rts = true and port.dtr = false since using hardware handshaking.

The read and write buffer sizes are 4096 and 2048 respectively, so I don't think it is that.

I don't believe there is any way to check the other side of the cable.   

The device's manual states that hardware handshaking is in fact enabled, however.

Currently, I am only getting the ReadLine time out exception.

Current Code:

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Collections;
using System.Threading;
namespace SerialComTest
{
    public partial class form_SerialCom : Form
    {
        private SerialPort port;
        private String displayString;
        public form_SerialCom()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            button_Send.Click += new EventHandler(button_Send_Click);
            port = new SerialPort("COM1", 115200, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
            port.Open();
            port.NewLine = Environment.NewLine;
            port.RtsEnable = true;
            port.DtrEnable = false;
            port.Handshake = Handshake.RequestToSend;
            port.ReceivedBytesThreshold = 1;
            port.WriteTimeout = 500;
            port.ReadTimeout = 500;
            port.DiscardInBuffer();
            port.DiscardOutBuffer();
            port.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(port_DataReceived);
            port.ErrorReceived += new SerialErrorReceivedEventHandler(port_ErrorReceived);
            if (port.IsOpen)
            {
                textBox_Rec.Text += "Connected to " + port.PortName + Environment.NewLine;
            }
            Thread thread = new Thread(delegate()
            {
                while (true)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        String test = port.ReadLine();
                        textBox_Rec.Text += test + Environment.NewLine;
                    }
                    catch (TimeoutException) { }
                }
            });
            thread.Start();
        }
        void port_ErrorReceived(object sender, SerialErrorReceivedEventArgs e)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
        void port_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
        {
            displayString = port.ReadLine();
            try
            {
                this.Invoke(new EventHandler(SetText));
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
        }
        private void SetText(object o, EventArgs e)
        {
            textBox_Rec.Text += displayString + Environment.NewLine;
            displayString = string.Empty;
        }
        void button_Send_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                port.WriteLine(textBox_Send.Text);
            }
            catch (TimeoutException)
            {
                textBox_Rec.Text += ("The write operation timed out." + Environment.NewLine);
            }
            textBox_Send.Text = "";
        }
    }
}

davewill said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

Whoa.  Hold on.  It sounds like your not sure which COM you need to use.  Usually COM1 is the port that is the physical port on the windows device.  If you are attaching the GSM unit to this physical port on the windows device then COM1 sounds more correct but you need to find out what that windows device normally has for COM.

 

The cable between the windows unit and the GSM unit ... is it a hardware handshaking cable or a software handshaking cable?

The Windows CE device actually has two physical ports.  One is labeled COM1, and the other is labeled COM2.  I physically changed the cable to COM1, and changed the port name to COM1.  The device between the two units requires hardware handshaking.

davewill said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

comment out

 

port.RtsEnable = true;
port.DtrEnable = true;

and see if that matters.

 

timeout on write almost sounds like a hardware handshake problem (like a pin isn't going low).

Didn't change anything... 

I got past the WriteLine timeout by switching ports from COM2 to COM1.  Maybe something with the port?  However, now I get a timeout during the ReadLine call, and ReadExisting returns nothing.  DataReceived still doesn't fire.

davewill said:

NotSoTragicHero said:

*snip*

Do "port.open()" right after setting port=new rather than after setting the other port properties before the open.

 

rule out handshaking by setting port.handshake

 

rule out garbage by calling port.DiscardInBuffer and port.DiscardOutBuffer after setting the other port properties but before wiring up the port events.

Thanks! 

This definitely did something, however, I am now getting a TimeOutException (I set the read/write timeout to 500 ms after the system kept hanging) whenever I try to write anything.  I can't seem to find anything wrong with the port properties...

I feel like this is definitely a step forward, but I still have to be leaving something out somewhere...

Current Code:

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Collections;
namespace SerialComTest
{
    public partial class form_SerialCom : Form
    {
        private SerialPort port;
        private String displayString;
        public form_SerialCom()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            button_Send.Click += new EventHandler(button_Send_Click);
            port = new SerialPort("COM2", 115200, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
            port.Open();
            port.NewLine = "\r\n";
            port.RtsEnable = true;
            port.DtrEnable = true;
            port.Handshake = Handshake.RequestToSend;
            port.ReceivedBytesThreshold = 1;
            port.WriteTimeout = 500;
            port.ReadTimeout = 500;
            port.DiscardInBuffer();
            port.DiscardOutBuffer();
            port.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(port_DataReceived);
            port.ErrorReceived += new SerialErrorReceivedEventHandler(port_ErrorReceived);
            if (port.IsOpen)
            {
                textBox_Rec.Text += "Connected to " + port.PortName + Environment.NewLine;
            }
        }
        void port_ErrorReceived(object sender, SerialErrorReceivedEventArgs e)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
        void port_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
        {
            displayString = port.ReadLine();
            try
            {
                this.Invoke(new EventHandler(SetText));
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
        }
        private void SetText(object o, EventArgs e)
        {
            textBox_Rec.Text += displayString + Environment.NewLine;
            displayString = string.Empty;
        }
        void button_Send_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                port.WriteLine(textBox_Send.Text);
            }
            catch (TimeoutException) { }
            textBox_Send.Text = "";
        }
    }
}

On the other hand, we can't even get the standard SerialPort, as listed in the first post, to get any data either.  We seem to be failing with any implementation of serial communication.

ManipUni said:

http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/TechOff/528962-Stumbling-on-Basic-Serial-Port-IO/

Ploe is my co-worker.  His class works great using Kernel32, as I stated.  Fails with the CoreDLL implementation.

Returns a Win32Error:

ErrorCode: -2147467259

NativeErrorCode: 12

The code is being deployed to a mobile data terminal running Windows CE, which is connected, via RS232, to a GPS/GSM unit.  When I connect this GSM unit directly to my PC, I can connect and make successful calls to it using HyperTerminal as well as with our wrapper class.  But when I convert the Kernel32 calls to CoreDLL calls, the wrapper class fails, as does the CF SerialPort and OpenNETCF classes.

I've decided to start from scratch as I've been racking my brain too much and hacking away at too many things for too long now.  Below is a quick example class I've written to communicate with the device.

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO.Ports;
namespace SerialComTest
{
    public partial class form_SerialCom : Form
    {
        private SerialPort port;
        private String displayString;
        public form_SerialCom()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            button_Send.Click += new EventHandler(button_Send_Click);
            port = new SerialPort("COM2", 115200, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
            port.NewLine = "\r\n";
            port.RtsEnable = true;
            port.DtrEnable = true;
            port.ReceivedBytesThreshold = 1;
            port.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(port_DataReceived);
            port.ErrorReceived += new SerialErrorReceivedEventHandler(port_ErrorReceived);
            port.Open();
            if (port.IsOpen)
            {
                textBox_Rec.Text += "Connected to " + port.PortName + Environment.NewLine;
            }
        }
        void port_ErrorReceived(object sender, SerialErrorReceivedEventArgs e)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
        void port_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
        {
            displayString = port.ReadLine();
            try
            {
                this.Invoke(new EventHandler(SetText));
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
        }
        private void SetText(object o, EventArgs e)
        {
            textBox_Rec.Text += displayString + Environment.NewLine;
            displayString = string.Empty;
        }
        void button_Send_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            port.Write(textBox_Send.Text + port.NewLine);
            textBox_Send.Text = "";
        }
    }
}

When I send an AT command to the device, the DataReceived event never fires.  I've also tried setting up a tick to try and capture some return data, yet I still get nothing.  I can rule out the data sending as the problem, as I can send a message, via SMS, that will cause the device to return data, yet still, nothing happens.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

-Brandon