Parallel Port Drivers (Compact 7)

3/12/2014

A parallel port is a bidirectional port that is based on the Centronics parallel interface with the enhanced standard parallel port (SPP) mode, which is also known as bidirectional SPP mode. You implement parallel port drivers to enable the functionality of communicating with printers that are connected to parallel ports.

Note

The parallel port drivers in Windows Embedded Compact 7 are designed only for use with printer communication and not for other kinds of data transfer.

Parallel port drivers in Windows Embedded Compact powered device use IEEE 1284 compatibility mode in the forward direction and nibble mode in the reverse direction. Parallel port drivers have limited bidirectional support. Each parallel port driver builds into a Parallel.dll file.

To add this feature to your OS, see Parallel Port Driver Catalog Items and Sysgen Variables.

Sample application code is available at %_WINCEROOT%\Public\Common\Oak\Drivers\Parallel.

The recommended location for your driver implementation is %_WINCEROOT%\Public\Common\OAK\Drivers\parallel.

The Windows Embedded Compact Test Kit (CTK) test that applies to this type of driver is the Parallel Port Driver API Test.

See Also

Other Resources

Device Drivers
Printer Drivers