Common Applications for TCP-Com

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Common Applications for TCP-Com

TCP-Com can be used to solve a variety serial and TCP/IP communications problems. Listed below are some of the more typical uses for TCP-Com.

1. Turn a PC into a multi port serial device server.

A Serial Device Server (also sometimes called a “terminal server”) is a hardware device that connects a serial instrument (balance, bar code scanner, PLC, serial terminal, etc.) to a network and provides an I/O path to the device through a TCP/IP port. TCP-Com performs the same function as a serial device server except it is a software program that runs on a Windows PC and uses the serial ports installed in that PC and the PC’s network connection.

You can configure TCP-Com to open up to 256 serial ports at a time and associate each serial port to a different TCP/IP port either as a TCP/IP client or as a server. A hardware based serial device server typically costs about $150 and provides only a single serial port. If you had 16 serial devices that you wanted to connect to a network, it would cost around $2400 for 16 serial device servers to do the job. You can purchase a new Windows PC with a built in network adapter for under $500. A 16 port serial adapter can also be purchased for around $500. For less than $1300, you can make your own 16-port serial device server using TCP-Com. Because TCP-Com can do its job in the background, you still have a PC that you can use for other tasks. Most serial device servers also only support a single TCP/IP connection at a time therefore TCP-Com has the added advantage that it will allow you to connect multiple clients to a single serial device. TCP-Com also has many advanced error recovery options that allow it to automatically recover from broken network connections making it much more fault-tolerant than most serial device servers on the market.

2. Send or receive data over a TCP/IP port with a serial communications program.

Suppose you have a pre-written software package that communicates through a serial port and you want to send or receive data using that program across a TCP/IP port (perhaps to communicate with a device connected to a serial device server or another copy of TCP-Com running as a serial device server on another workstation). You can accomplish this by configuring TCP-Com to create a Virtual COM port instead of opening a real (physical hardware based) serial port on your PC. After you activate TCP-Com, it will create a virtual COM port on your PC that any other serial communications program will be able to open as if it were a locally installed COM port. When you send data out the COM port from your existing serial communications program, the data actually goes out the TCP/IP port and when you receive data from the TCP/IP port, your serial communications software receives the data as if it came in on a local COM port.

3. Open COM ports located on another computer in your network as if they were locally installed COM ports.

Suppose that you have a serial device connected to a COM port on a PC in your network and you wanted to communicate with that device using a serial communications program running in a different PC than the one where the device is connected. You could accomplish this by running TCP-Com on the workstation where the device is connected and configuring it to run as a TCP/IP server opening the COM port that the device is connected to. You could then run a second copy of TCP-Com on a different PC in the network and configure it to create a Virtual COM port and connect as a TCP/IP client to the copy of TCP-Com running as the server in the PC where the device is connected. You could then use your serial communications program to open the Virtual COM port created by TCP-Com and when you do so, you would actually be communicating across your network directly with the device connected to the COM port on the other PC.

4. Using a network or the Internet as a giant serial cable.

Run TCP-Com as a TCP/IP server on one PC in a network and have it open an existing COM port on that PC. Then run a second copy of TCP-Com as a TCP/IP client on another PC connecting back to the first copy running in the first PC also having it open an existing COM port. Any data that goes in the serial port on the server PC will go out the serial port on the client PC and vice versa. Note: When TCP-Com is configured as a server, it can accept connections from multiple clients. This allows you to send data from a device connected to the serial port on the server side to more than one client PC.

5. Using TCP-Com to feed data from one physical RS232 port to multiple RS232 serial communications programs.

Normally Windows will not allow two serial communications programs to open the same serial port at the same time however it is possible to use TCP-Com to feed data from a physical RS232 serial port to multiple “Virtual” serial ports so that more than one application program can input data from a single RS232 serial port.

To accomplish the above, configure one instance of TCP-Com to open a physical serial port (COM1) on your PC and acting as a TCP/IP server using any port number that you like. Next, open a second instance of TCP-Com (select New from the TCP-Com File menu) and configure it to create a virtual COM port (COM2) and have it connect as a TCP/IP client to the TCP/IP port that the first (server) instance has been configured to use. Finally, open a third instance of TCP-Com and configure it to create another virtual COM port (COM3) and have it also connect as a TCP/IP client to the TCP/IP port that the first (server) instance has been configured to use. After you activate all three instances of TCP-Com, your computer will behave as if it had two additional COM ports COM2 and COM3. At this point, you can run two serial communications programs – one on COM2 and the second on COM3 and both will be able to send and receive data in or out COM1. The arrangement described above will work for as many virtual COM ports that you wish to create so you can connect up to 98 separate serial communications programs to the same physical serial port.

6. Using TCP-Com to map a TCP/IP port to a different TCP/IP port.

Configure one instance of TCP-Com to create a virtual COM port connecting to a TCP/IP port. Then, configure a second instance of TCP-Com to open the virtual COM port created by the previous instance of TCP-Com and connect it to a different TCP/IP port. Any data that goes in either TCP/IP port will go out the other TCP/IP port and vice versa.