Arduino + Director

SERIAL XTRA

• Tom Igoe Docs

• General purpose program to control most Arduino functions via serial communication with computer- reads state on dig & analog input pins and sends data to the output pins. Demo of director program controlling Arduino board with serial xtra - Steve Wilson

Use Windows ActiveX - MSComm -(by fallen)-

This way is free for all windows user (win98,win2000,winXP,win2003), if you are on another OS , you can use the "SERIAL XTRA", because it seems free for MAC and Linux, but "SERIAL XTRA" costs $75 when you use it in windows, so I added this tutorial for windows user.

The SerialXtra if free of charge if you use it in Director. If you need to use it in a projector you will need to purchase the license. Educational establishments can request a free renewable license.

If you have any difficulty, you can leave a responses in my blog :http://eiart.net/blog/archive/232

1. First , you should add the "MSComm" to your project:

Insert->Control->ActiveX

1. Now, you are in the "select ActiveX control" window

2. then choose "Microsoft Communications Control 6.0" -> ok

3. Now you can find a "ActiveX member" in "cast" , drag it to "stage",it named "sprite(2)"

4. then add a button and a text field:"com5 message"(I am using com5 to talk to Arduino , you should change it to fit yours)

5. add some code to the button:

  sprite(2).CommPort = 5
  sprite(2).Settings = "9600,N,8,1"
  sprite(2).InputLen = 0
  sprite(2).PortOpen = True
  sprite(2).InputLen = 0

  If sprite(2).InBufferCount Then
   member("com5 message").text = sprite(2).Input
  End If

  sprite(2).PortOpen = False

1. then you can download the "analog_read_send" example to the Arduino board , and connect it to your pc , now when you press the button in Director , you should see some Num in the text field:"com5 message"

Sorry about my English , I hope I can explain it clarity, if you have any difficulty , you can leave a responses in my blog :http://eiart.net/blog/archive/232