java - add javax.comm API on a mac

Question

I would like make an java app that communicates with a serial device(handheld scanner) so that the app is platform independent. I have found a few code examples, and when I copy them into Eclipse it says that javax.comm.* is missing. How do I install this on my Mac? And how do I add this library to my app so that the users does not have to install anything?

I want to able to give the users a jar file and the device, and they should be able to run it on windows/Mac/Linux without little or none configuration.

I found a download where I could download a javax.comm.jar file but the download included a win32comm.dll it dependented on some how - at least that was the fault I got when I added the jar file to my project.

Error loading win32com: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: no win32com in java.library.path

Answer 1

This is the Java Communications API. You can get it here but it won't help you. The supported platforms are Solaris SPARC, Solaris x86, and Linux x86.

For Mac and Linux, if the serial port is already configured, you can open /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, /dev/ttyS2, etc. as a file and read/write to it. On Windows, if the serial port is already configured you can open "COM1", "COM2", etc. and read and write to it.

Unfortunately, javax.comm (as provided in the reference implementation) isn't cross-platform, so you'll have to either resort to bundling additional native libraries and supporting classes or use a platform-dependent way to configure the serial port. On Windows, this could be the "mode" command, and on Mac/Linux, this could be the stty command.