receive signal from transmitter.....

Hi guys ,
I need your help on this...... i'm trying to build a coin sorter, and i use IR sensor to sense my coins. So, to count the coins, i need a program to do it. I'm thinking of using MSComm control to program it, but i'm new to it.
Will my PC receive data if I connect it to the receive sensor ? Also, what programming codes to receive data from my receive sensor?
(I'm using VB)

Thanks !!!

NO you cannot directly connect your sensor to serial port. You need some device which will convert your sensor data into UART bit-stream. A small microcontroller would be best solution.

Depends, if you're using the IR sensor as a switch only (0 = no coin, 1 = a coin) then you can connect the sensor's output to a handshaking line (CTS for example) and poll the line's state with the MSCOMM command CTSHolding...

(more info about MSCOMM on MSDN