Velleman K8055 - [K8055 Software Tutorial]

K8055 Tutorial: Prerequisites

Short introduction

You need to install two things before you can start writing programs for the Velleman K8055: the K8055D.DLL and the Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2008/2010 programming environment.

1. K8055 DLL

The Velleman K8055 is an USB device. Actually it acts as a HID device (Human Interface Device): Windows should detect it automatically without the need to install a device driver. But you need to have a DLL file on your system: the K8055D.DLL. This DLL is written by Velleman and contains the functions you can execute on the K8055 card. It acts as a link between your program and the K8055.

You can place this DLL into different folders. The most commonly used folders are:

In the same folder as your K8055 program.
In the \Windows folder
In the \Windows\system32 folder (on 32 bit systems)
In the \Windows\SysWOW64 folder (on 64 bit systems)
...

I am using a 64bit version of Windows and I usually place the file inside the SysWOW64 folder. Doing so each of my K8055 applications will always find the required K8055D.DLL file.

2. Visual Basic .NET 2010 Express

K8055 programs can be made in Visual Basic .NET 2010 Express. This is a complete programming environment which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website for free. You need to register yourself but the software is fully functional. Yes, there are differences with the paid €1000 version but you probably won't need those profesional features.