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Version 7 |
| ADONTEC offers the MSComm compatible SuperCom Serial Communication ActiveX Library with many more features like high speed data and file transfer using ZMODEM etc. ADONTEC is the developer or SuperCom the tapi modem RS-232, RS-485 (RS232, RS485 Multidrop) serial communication library which includes many standard file transfer protocols like ZMODEM, ZMODEM 8k, ZMODEM 32k, YMODEM, YMODEM-G, XMODEM-1K, XMODEM, XMODEM/CRC, Extended XMODEM, KERMIT,MODBUS, SuperCom ActiveX comm.sys.3964,rk512,lsv2,serial communication,tcp/ip,capi,isdn,gateway,comm protocol,file transfer zmodem ymodem ascii also supporting net framework C#, Visual C++, C++ Builder, Delphi, Visual Basic |
The data communication toolkit, SuperCom, supports data transmission through serial RS-232/422/485 ports, TCP/IP and ISDN communication layers. Though different the communication ways are, the developer use one easy to use, flexible and powerful API!
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The complete integration of different communication ways offered through the SuperCom Suite enables one single application to handle simultaneously connections through RS-232, TCP/IP and ISDN. More... SuperCom also provides intelligent functions that considerably speed-up the development process and produce fast, reliable solutions avoiding delaying or blocking of your application. |
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Is a programer's toolkit for programming serial data communication programs.
SuperCom contains functions for all aspects of modern data transmission. Transmitting and receiving takes place in the background. The application can easily perform other tasks while data transmission takes place. The hardware or software flow control (RTS/CTS, DTR/DSR, XON/XOFF) can be taken over fully transparent by SuperCom.
Every interface runs with it's own transmit and receive buffer to prevent data loss and give the application the time to perform other tasks too.
Hardware errors are detected and if required reported.
Establishing dial-up connections is easy and it's featured directly through a Modem or using TAPI (Windows Telephony API).
SuperCom breaks the limits in fast and reliable file transfer. It includes nearly all known standard file transfer protocols (e.g. ZMODEM, YMODEM, XMODEM, KERMIT, ASCII). Special protocol modules (e.g. MODBUS, AS511, 3964R, RK512, LSV/2) are available to support industrial data communications.|
Below a more detail description of the SuperCom API. Near all features are true for communications over serial lines, ISDN and TCP/IP. Please also consult the common feature list common feature list, the product content description and the chart of Software and Features to make sure the feature you want is supported by the selected SuperCom software. |
SuperCom offers an easy to use, flexible and portable API. The same API is used among different operating systems and hardware (RS-232, RS-485, ISDN, TCP/IP). Under Windows it's also referred as the SuperCom DLL API.
The software developer uses one single API.
Transmitting and receiving takes place in the background. The application can easily perform other tasks while data transmission takes place.
SuperCom is fast, even in a multitasking operating system. SuperCom integrates the most modern communication technology like: event reporting, thread driven data transmission, high speed byte and paket functions. Furthermore it offers the highest security and speed with little burden on the computer, particularly important in a multitasking operating system.
Every connection runs with it's own transmit and receive buffer to prevent data loss and give the application the time to perform other tasks too.
SuperCom consists of several modules which can be used according to your needs.
The core module contains the "low level functions" operating on top of the hardware and the "high level functions" offering a portable layer. This portable layer provides most wanted functions like: transmit and receive data (even time dependent), determine the status of a link, funtions that transmit and receive data packets (even time dependent), functions for calculating check sums and CRC, functions for setting up connections etc.
The standard protocol module contain the so called Standard File Transfer Protocols. These protocols enable fast and secure file transmission with ease. Special protocol modules contain protocols mainly used in industrial applications. Protocols like MODBUS, AS511, 3964R, RK512, LSV/2 are available (see also Software and Features).Another module groups together the terminal emulations ANSI, TTY and VT52.
The part of your application which takes care the data communication with SuperCom can already be considered as completed if moving from Serial to TCP/IP or ISDN and especially if moving from DOS or OS/2 to Windows.
Despite the large number of functions, programming with SuperCom is very easy. The following short program should clearly show this:
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C/C++ Sample
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The function ComInit configures the interface. ComSetState initializes the serial interface "COM2" with the new transmission parameters and flow control. The function RS_TXPacket transmits the data packet Msg through the serial interface and ComReset closes all action on the serial interface and restores the previous state of the interface.
The next small sample shows an elegant solution to a common problem: What ports are available in the system (installed and not used).
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Available Ports
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An application using SuperCom can be event driven. Events are reported for: received or transmitted data, modem status, line errors, modem dialup status, file transmit status, when plugging in or unplugging serial PnP devices, TCP/IP network failures.
The enhanced event reporting mechanism in SuperCom also enables you to receive events on any defined character (e.g. STX, ACK, NAK, EOF).
Type and amount of the events is also related to the used SuperCom software e.g. a SuperCom supporting only serial communications will not report TCP/IP network events.
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C/C++ Sample
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Setting up connections through a Modem, TAPI, TCP/IP or ISDN is taken care by the common connect functions. The SuperCom functions can establish a connection (dialup) or waiting on an incoming call (server).
The SuperCom functions can trigger events during a connection attempt and provide the application with status information.
DLL API 
In order to receive events the application must provide an InfoProc*. The InfoProc is optional but very handy in many situations. Using the InfoProc the application can receive progress information, get informed about the time left to complete a call or even cancel the connection attempt.
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C/C++ Sample
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Seting up a connection can run completely in background. The application receives events about the progress.
Comparing this sample made for a serial Modem with the one for TCP/IP or ISDN shows how effectiv it is to have a portable API!
SuperCom provides reliable and high speed file transfer protocols. These protocols are widely used and supported by many third party applications. SuperCom supports the ZMODEM, KERMIT, YMODEM/BATCH, YMODEM, YMODEM-G, XMODEM-1K, XMODEM, XMODEM/CRC, Extended XMODEM and ASCII protocol. The most powerful among these protocols is ZMODEM. The ZMODEM protocol includes important features like "crash recovery", 32bit CRC, "batch file transfer", File Options, ZMODEM/8k block option and the powerfull ADONTEC extension ZMODEM/32k (ZMODEM/64k shipped on request)
. The SuperCom ZMODEM implementation also includes support for slow communication channels and high latency connections.
The KERMIT protocol is also a versatily protocol offering a lot of options.
A file transfer is very easy started by one function. The protocol then triggers events to inform about status and other usefull protocol information. Events are received by a so called InfoProc*. The InfoProc is optional but very handy in many situation e.g. to receive progress information, to cancel a file transfer. A protocol like ZMODEM or YMODEM/BATCH can receive many files within on session. The InfoProc will provide such information.
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C/C++ Sample
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A file transfer is very easy started by one function. The protocol triggers events to inform about status and other usefull protocol information. Events are received by a so called InfoProc*. In order to receive events the application must provide an InfoProc*. The InfoProc is optional but enables to receive status information, if required and a better control over the happening (e.g. break a file transfer untimely).
Additional modules supporting the industry protocols 3964, 3964R, RK512, AS511, LSV/2 and MODBUS are also available (see also Software and Features).
SuperCom provides a big pool of functions to easy develop custom protocols. Functions to transmit data packages event driven, time driven, functions to calculate checksums, CRC and many more.
SuperCom supports MS-Office applications through direct function calls to the SuperCom DLL API
or using the VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) calling interface.
Office applications like Access, Excel, Word may also prefer to use the ActiveX API
. Another way is to call functions from the SuperCom DLL API
using the available VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) calling interface.
Samples for Word and Excel are available.
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SuperCom's serial library supports a multitude of different serial hardware used for serial communications. The variety of serial interfaces is diverse and SuperCom is flexible enough to control the different variations in a transparent way hidding the details. In fact it's under continous tests with serial devices from major manufacturer (e.g. Axxon, Decision, Digi, Moxa, Quatech, etc.). In the following we functionally group the serial hardware actually on market as follows:
Standard Comm PortsSerial comm ports which do not support interrupt sharing are called Standard Comm Ports (e.g. COM1, COM2).
Multiserial BoardsMultiserial boards are add-on boards for PCI, PCI-X, PCIe or ISA Bus. These boards include one or more COMM ports. By design some boards allow two or more boards to run in a single PC. Virtual COMM PortsAre physically not present COMM ports. The real hardware is not available inside of this PC but is connected externaly e.g. on an Ethernet Network (e.g. PortServer, Comm Server, Terminal Server or Serial Server), redirected ports through the Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), PCMCIA to Serial, USB to Serial Comm Port, Bluetooth to Serial Comm Port, Infrared to Serial or any other type of non physically present COMM port. SuperCom locates these COMM ports even if it uses non-standard COMM names (e.g. FASTCOM19). One or more multi serial boards can be installed in a PC (dependent on manufacturer) to support the amount of serial ports needed. Intelligent boardsThe intelligent boards are serial boards equipped with a CPU (mainly 80186 or RISC) and RAM. Intelligent boards can be equipped with 64KByte to 1MByte of dual-ported RAM mainly used for data storage and buffering. This improves the system speed and reduces the overall load of the host CPU due to the missing interrupt requests. PCMCIA (X=1/2/4)These are PCMCIA to RS-232 adapters, PCMCIA to RS-422 adapters or PCMCIA to RS-485 adapters. Some samples USB (X=1/2/4/8/16)These are USB to RS-232 adapters, USB to RS-422 adapters or USB to RS-485 adapters. Some samples FIFO Support (UART 16550/16650/16750/16950)The 16550 UART has the feature to temporarily store up to 16 incoming characters in a FIFO (First In First Out) buffer. This feature increases the performance of the system since the number of interrupts in the system is reduced. Furthermore the security of the data transmission is considerably improved, above all in a multitasking environment and high transmission speeds are possible. Modern UARTS like the 16950 are equipped with up to 128 bytes of FIFO buffer. SuperCom supports the enhanced features of the FIFO module. RS-485Besides supporting RS-232 and RS-422 communication ports, SuperCom offers support for the RS-485 data communication. RS-485 connects two or more stations on a two wire simplex bus system. Each station can at a time only transmit or receive data (simplex). The so called "direction" is used to switch from receiving to transmit mode. SuperCom handles the RS-485 port complete transparently if enabled with the function ComRS485. A four wire duplex connection may also be used. 9-Bit Multidrop9-Bit serial data communication (9-Bit framing) is usually used to identify address messages in multidrop networks. 9-Bit frames are usually not supported by the standard PC UART but simulated by the SuperCom software. Very fast response timing by the software is essential in this case. A small C/C++ library and sample also included that demonstrates this operating mode. |

Please note that not all features are supported by every SuperCom software package. Please consult the Content Description and the chart of Software and Features to make sure the feature you want is supported by the selected SuperCom software.
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Common Features List (valid for Serial, TCP/IP and ISDN)
SuperCom provides intelligent functions that considerably speed-up the development process in order to deliver fast a reliable solutions. More...
Especially for RS-232, RS-422, RS-485
Especially for TCP/IP
Especially for ISDN
Especially for DOS/32, OS/2
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A short summary of the ActiveX API
can be found here.
A short list of DLL API
functions can be found here.
A Serial to TCP/IP GateWay application (PortServer, COMM Server, Terminal Server or Serial Server) developed with SuperCom. This bonus software incl. source code for C# and Visual Basic 6 is included in SuperCom Suite.
SuperCom is still the number one toolkit that supports different development environments providing extensive API support and samples. You're free to switch your compiler anytime and your are not bound to one and only. This saves a huge amount of time and costs of development.Available Product Range - Pricelist
Fabulous! And as always, thanks for the prompt and thorough support. You have a fan in California. Thanks!
Bob... from California
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