Rtg300 is a dynamic-link library (DLL) that greatly simplifies the task of writing Windows NT/2000/XP programs that communicate with an instrument in the GP300 family of printer/recorders. The entire binary-protocol command set is supported, with each command corresponding to a library subroutine that takes the proper number of arguments for the command, and checks that argument values are within acceptable ranges.

Bi-directional communications with the GP300 are handled through a serial port. Rtg300 uses the multi-thread capability of Windows NT/2000/XP to provide a separate thread that handles status information transmitted by the GP300. This minimizes one of the application programmer's tasks, and makes writing the application more straightforward.

Several example application programs are provided, including programs to plot (real-time) waveform data on a GP300, a simple operator interface to control some of the configuration parameters, and a utility to print graphics files on the GP300 using the gray scale mode of operation. These examples are not only very useful on their own, but offer also an excellent starting point for more complete applications.

Rtg300 has been developed with Microsoft Developer Studio (Visual Studio 6.0) and written in Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0. The library and associated application programs are distributed with Visual Studio 6.0 project and workspace files included.

Rtg300 is available in two forms:

• Rtg300-1 includes the DLL and application examples
• Rtg300-2 consists of Rtg300-1 plus the library's source code