>Viv,
>
>>It's not assigning a variable - it's sending the string to the transmit buffer. I guess if you want it to go faster you need a faster baud rate...
>
>Correct, but only to a point. Try the following:
>

>sendstart = SECONDS()
>this.mscomm1.output = SPACE(100)
>buffcount  = this.mscomm1.outBufferCount
>sendend = SECONDS()
>outputtime = sendend-sendstart
>

>
>buffcount wil always be 0. Control doesn't return to VFP until the entire output buffer is empty.

ouch :(

the device only seems to operate at 19,600 .
The buffer size is the vast majority of the time between 75 and 115 characters .
So now I'm wondering:
we are polling the device for an ACK , could we short circuit the app by just checking the mscomm object to see if the OUTPUT all went out?