>We're converting a FoxPro 2.5/DOS application to VFP 6.0. One of the functions of the application was uploading data from a handheld bar-code scanner through the PC's serial port. In the DOS application, we were able to do this quite easily with fopen, etc. Unfortunately, trying to open the COM port with fopen under VFP either returns a -1 saying that the port couldn't be opened or generates the dreaded 'Invalid seek offset' message. I've tried with 3.0, 5.0 and 6.0 and get the same results.
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Instead of using the low-level file handlers like in FPDOS, you'll need to use an ActiveX control to handle serial ports. MSCOMM32.OCX comes with VFP, and there are samples here on UT in the FAQ that demostrate some of the functionality. There's detailed documentation in the MSDN, but it's using VB; the conversion between VB and VFP syntax is pretty easy.

>Am I overlooking something or is this a known problem with VFP? If so, does anyone have any workarounds?
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>TIA,