serialtool_gui

Just a bare-bones GUI-based serial port example for embedded development applications written in C++ with Qt.

This example reads in data packets over UART from an FTDI USB-to-serial cable at 115200 8-N-1, parses the data, and displays it graphically depending on whether it's "data type 1" or "data type 2".

Build

Assuming you've already installed the necessary software (see below),...

• Clone the repository into a new directory

git clone git@github.com:burke-david/serialtool_gui.git

• Open Qt Creator and open the project by selecting the CMakeLists.txt file in the project directory.

• Configure the project by selecting a "kit" to use for building the project. For Windows machines, select the MSVC kit rather than the MinGW. MinGW seems to cause problems.

• In the Edit -> Projects view, right-click on the serialtool folder and "Run CMake"

• Right-click again and select "Build"

• Finally, click the green arrow in the lower-left-hand side of the screen and run the project.

Troubleshooting

• If running on Windows and you have problems with the build using the default MinGW Kit, I recommend running the Qt Maintenance Tool once more and in the Qt -> Qt 6.7.0 menu, select the MSVC 2019 64-bit option and use the MSVC kit to build the project instead of MinGW.
• If you cannot find your COM port on Windows, for instance for an FTDI TTL232R-3v3 cable, make sure to install the appropriate drivers. In the case of the FTDI cable, install the VCP Driver

Software Installation

• Prior to installing Qt Creator, you'll need a build system installed for your particular OS. Note, qmake is included with Qt, but this project uses CMake, so you'll want to install that as well. Here is a summary:

  Windows:

  Compiler: MSVC (Microsoft Visual C++) or MinGW. MSVC is recommended for better compatibility with Windows libraries. You can install MSVC by installing Visual Studio.

  NOTE: For this project, you may have problems if you try to use MinGW. Highly recommend MSVC. See Troubleshooting section regarding installing the MSVC 2019 64-bit kit.

  Build System: qmake (included with Qt) or CMake.

  Linux:

  Compiler: GCC (GNU Compiler Collection). It is usually pre-installed on most Linux distributions.

  Build System: qmake (included with Qt) or CMake.

  Mac:

  Compiler: Clang, which is included with Xcode.

  Build System: qmake (included with Qt) or CMake.

• Download the Qt Online Installer for open source use.

• This code was built using the Qt 6.7.0 Source Packages.

• Run the installer and login or create an account with Qt

• Agree to the open source terms

• Select Qt 6.7 for Desktop development

• After installation is complete, open the Qt Maintenance Tool and install additional components. Specifically, we're looking for the Qt Serial Port module.

• This should be found under Qt -> Qt 6.7.0 -> Additional Libraries -> Qt Serial Port