WarwickW
is a Terminal Emulation program with added features written in
Visual Basic 6.0 and fully packaged using Visual Studio Installer.
Warwick Wireless
radio modems allow data communication by radio over distances up
to 20 kilometres for telemetry applications. The
modems are self cotained units that are programmed by the customers
to to match their communication systems. The interface into the
modem is an RS232 serial connection, and the configuration is
performed by connecting a PC and using hyperlink terminal emulation
software .
Unfortunately,
different versions of Hyperlink were creating support issues for
Warwick Wireless. Hence, the WarwickW program was created to provide
a consistent and branded configuration utility.
Visual Basic
was chosen for this project because it has a reliable, supported
module for RS232 serial communications - MSCOMM. The finished
program is installed in minutes using a standard Windows installer
package and communicates with the modems through simple menu systems.
Now, whenever
a customer requires support with configuring a Warwick Wireless
modem, the support task is greatly simplified by knowing exactly
which buttons to press and menu items to select.
The terminal
emulation window uses a subset of ANSI terminal codes to provide
a terminal window in a VB text box. Added to this window are various
buttons and menu items that automate common tasks.
The software
is provided free of charge to Warwick Wireless customers. For
demonstration purposes, a copy can be dowloaded from here |
