Hi Boris
Thanks for the reply, just a char, however I now use this code which is native to VFP and very simple:

mPort = "COM2"
*// Open the port 11 is write only unbuffered
nHandle = Fopen(mPort,11)
IF nHandle < 0
=MessageBox(mPort+" Is either unavailable or invalid. Could not open the port ",48,"")
ENDIF

nBytes = Fwrite(nHandle,"X")
IF nBytes < 1
=MessageBox("The character did not write to the port successfully ",48,"")
ELSE
WAIT WINDOW NOWAIT "The X character was fired at "+mPort
ENDIF

=Fclose(nHandle)

Cheers
John