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From: AL on 2 May 2007 05:17
We have a system of Data collection terminal (Capdrive from
captorgroup) with keypad and with Microcap terminal.

We had a MRP software that communicated with captor system. But now we
can not use that software and we like to continue using captor system.
While we do not have a new software which use this system, we really
like to use the system through MS ACCESS. It is possible! How?

Our equiment is:
1 Capdrive - Model: CAPD_32_220
19 Microcaps - Model: MICR_S4

You can see on pages:
http://www.captorgroup.com/data-collection-Capdrive.html
http://www.captorgroup.com/data-collection-Microcap.html

From: The Frog on 3 May 2007 04:08
Hi AL,

I am not an expert in Microcap / Captor products, but I have worked
quite a bit with embedded hardware and technologies. From what I can
understand of the information on the web, the Microcap data capture
devices collect information and return it to the Capdrive unit. In
turn the Capdrive unit can assemble / co-ordinate and pass on all the
collected data from these field devices to a PC either by RS-232(C) or
10 Base T ethernet. Please correct me if I am wrong.

What you would need in this situation is either the Protocol
documentation that describes how data is structured / moved through
the RS-232 / Ethernet connections from the Capdrive, or to get an
Software Development Kit (SDK) from the manufacturer. The issue you
face here si one of knowing how to actually talk the language of the
device. Sometimes these can be very proprietary and complex, and other
times they can be childs play.

Once you know the language of the Capdrive you then have to decide
which interface is the one you are going to use to talk to it, RS-232
or ethernet, or possibly both. To work with ethernet you would
probably want to use the Winsock approach, and for RS-232 there is a
lot of information available here: http://mc-computing.com/Languages/SerialIO.htm
.. Be warned that with RS-232 it can be really messy to communicate. I
would suggest using the ethernet if you can, it will probably be much
faster to develop with, although you change the communication medium
from almost guaranteed to a "best effort" system. Usuálly most devices
like this that operate over a network have lots of error handling
capabilities and data flow control / checking as well.

Outside of these general guidelines there is not much more I can tell
you. I would be also suggesting that you create any "connection"
programming as an object (Class Module). Once you have developed a
connection object and can reliably push / pull data with the Capdrive
then you are pretty well free to develop the rest of your app as you
see fit. The main thing is to get the comms between the Capdrive and
the application as reliable and stable as possible. An SDK is probably
your best bet for success, if it is available.

Good luck

The Frog

From: AL on 3 May 2007 19:13
Thank you!

In fact, my problem is the connection. I ask that for the manufactured
but they didn't help me. They said that they can sell big softwares...

First, I want to can get in... I tried to get by ethernet but I
cann't... I do not have IP or MAC address... How can I get in?

From: The Frog on 4 May 2007 05:55
Hi Al,

My guess is that there is a "Handshake" of some sort between the
manufacturers software and the Capdrive. Do you still have the
original software that the manufacturer sold you? If so, it may be
possible to use some of the library files if they expose methods /
functions / objects to other programs. What you might try and do is to
discover the library (.dll) files that come with the original
software, and odds are that one or two of them are for communications
and data handling.

If you can discover which ones, then you would make a reference to
them in Tools -> References, then Browse for the files. Once the files
are referenced it may then be possible to create variables / objects
based on these references, the same way you might when using ADO or
the common dialog object. eg/ Dim Conn as new .......[whatever is
shown up by the reference to the library files].

Although you wont necessarily have a manual for this it might be
possible to take some educated guesses as to the functionality
available. You may also find on the original software CD / disks a
series of user manuals. Sometimes you find one based on OLE /
Automation and this can be a very valuable guide and may give you
everything you need to know. I found this a few times on CD's for
software even though it is not listed under help. They are usually
either a PDF or a CHM file.

With regards to tracking the unit down on a network, it would depend
on how it is joined to the network. Does it use a fixed IP address or
does it use DHCP? Is the unit configured through the manufacturers
software only or does it have something like a web interface and some
default settings you could start off from? If you want to try and
track it down on a network you might want to try a network scanner to
locate the device. You can get a really good free one here:
http://www.softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/
Its pretty easy to use too. Be warned that on big networks it can take
a long time to scan all the machines present.

In the worst case scenario, when you cant find the device on the
network, cant locate an Automation / OLE manual, and cant discover the
DLL files to work with, then I would suggest you talk to a company
that deals with embedded hardware on small scale projects, and ask
them to make an ActiveX or DLL for you to work with and communicate to
the device. Oftentimes someone with experience in embedded hardware
can engineer a method of communication to an existing device
relatively quickly because they can understand how it was built to
start with and they usually have the right tools to interrogate the
hardware to find out what they need.

For now I would try the DLL path to see if there is something there,
and look through the install CD / Disks for an OLE / Automation
manual. You would be surprised what you can find ratting through a CD
sometimes. As a last thought, if you still have a machine with the old
software still installed on it, and something like Access installed as
well then have a look through the Tools -> References on that machine
for possible library files to use. You may find that the information
you need is there.

There is a word of caution to all this: Be very careful that you dont
breech any license agreements that apply to the software / hardware.
If in doubt then check it out. Looking at the software, library files
and anything else that gets installed on your system isnt an issue
(usually), but extracting certain files and re-using them might be a
problem. Read the agreements carefully and if you have concerns then
get a lawyer or someone similar to check it over - just to be safe.
The last thing you want is a lawsuit when you are just trying to get
things moving for your company.

Let me know how you go.

Cheers

The Frog

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