COMTEST V 1.0

I. Purpose.
II. Requirements.
III. Usage
IV. Configuration file.

I. Purpose.

This program was developed for tests of communication interfaces. The maximal baud rate can vary from 1 bps up to 921 or higher. It presents results in numerical and graphical form The graphical form contains a history diagram, giving an impression about how the performance developed in the past few seconds. The numerical display shows current values for bps in the last second, total bytes transferred, total errors and current average.

II. Requirements.

- Windows 9x, NT 4.0
- MFC42.dll

III. Usage.

comtest [/<option>] [<configuration file>]

Following command line options are recognized at the present:
/m - maximize window
/t - tail windows

To start the program click the icon or use menu start/Run... The second option gives You the opportunity to pass command line option. To setup a connection choose the menu item File/New.
Alternatively it is possible to use the Toolbar icon. In the next step type the name of the communication port to be tested and the baud rate. Confirm with Ok. In the second step the user will be prompted to setup the view properties. In this dialog box the start of display and end of display will be given. This values gives the range used by performance and history diagrams. 
So when 80 and 110 was chosen the diagrams will show only baud rates being in this range.
The view can be set up for input or output monitoring. Confirm the setup with OK.
To add a new view to current connection use menu Window/New Window. To close a view use the toolbar icon "Close". This closes only the current view. After all views belonging to a connection were closed, the communication port will be also closed. Use the right mouse button to get context menu. Over this menu is it possible to pause the output and than restart it.




IV. Configuration file.
The configuration file contains setup information for views and some  commands for arranging views on the desktop.
A view's setup  line has following syntax:
<comport name>,<baud rate>,<view range start>,<view range end>,<input or output view>
where
<input or output view> is one of i for input or o for output.
Example:
Com4,115200,80,100,i
Com4,115200,80,100,o

Only when used for the first time with a communication port the baud rate is interpreted.
 
Command for arranging windows starts with /-character.
Following command are recognized:
Max, min, tile and cascade

Example

Com4,115200,80,100,i
Com4,115200,80,100,o
/maximize
/tile

The character # begins a comment. All inputs are case insensitive. Empty lines are ignored.