actually, vt100 is an old terminal type (from Digital Equipment Corp, which
merged with Compaq before it merged with HP... not much left of old DEC
these days). When folks refer to vt100, they are usually referring to the
fact that this terminal had the ability to intercept the text data coming in
to it and look for "escape sequences." These escape sequences could move
the cursor around on the screen. clear lines and groups of lines, and place
text in a specific place. This was advanced stuff at the time (late 1970s,
if I recall). I'm pretty sure the vt52 had 17 lines of text and the vt100
had 42 lines, but that is really pushing it. The escape sequences
themselves became a de-facto standard and many manufacturers adopted the
command set for controlling the terminals. I'm fairly sure that the
sequences became a standard along the way (although I don't know if the
terminal came before the standards, or if the standards came first).
For a list of some of the vt100 command set, see:
http://www.termsys.demon.co.uk/vtansi.htm
You don't actually make a connection on a modem using vt100. You make a
connection on a modem using AT commands. These were introduced by a modem
manufacturer called Hayes in the 1980s(?). Here's a summary of some of the
major AT commands
http://www.computerhope.com/atcom.htm
You are probably best off creating a dial-up modem connection in Windows to
drive the modem, and using that connection from your code. Windows will
handle setting up the connection for you.
Once your connection is made, the other end responds by sending you ASCII
text with escape sequences embedded in it.
There isn't an API but there is a product...two products actually. Take a
look at WRQ Verastream and WRQ Reflection (depending on whether you need to
access the remote legacy environment from a server or from a client,
respectively). They can really make the difference in hiding the complexity
of contacting a legacy ASCII terminal environment.
--
--- Nick Malik [Microsoft]
MCSD, CFPS, Certified Scrummaster
http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and not
representative of my employer.
I do not answer questions on behalf of my employer. I'm just a
programmer helping programmers.