Question

I have a MySerialPort class/object accessed from FormGUI. After creating a MySerialPort object, I want to open it, and keep receiving data continuously. The data will be stored and managed in the object’s data buffer. FormGUI’s memoEdit will show the received codes from the MySerialPort object’s buffer.

How can I use “new Thread()” with the [port].ReadExisting method?

using System;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Threading;

class MySerialPort
{
   public SerialPort CreatePort(string portName, int portSpeed, int portParity, int portDataSize, int portStopBits)
   {
      // fixed values while testing
      var port = new SerialPort("COM6", 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
      return port;
   }

   public void OpenPort(SerialPort port)
   {
      port.Open();
      new Thread(() => port.ReadExisting).Start();
      while (true)
      {
         // Send to buffer
         // Maybe some break condition
      }
}

Answer 1

The Observer pattern is working now, I got the data I was expecting from the serial port, thanks Henk.

public partial class MyGUI : Form
{
    private MySerialPort MyPort = new MySerialPort();

    public MyGUI()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        MyPort.OnDataBufferUpdate += DisplayNewData;
    }

    public void DisplayNewData(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (this.InvokeRequired)
        {
            BeginInvoke(new MethodInvoker(delegate() { DisplayNewData(sender, e); }));
        }
        else
        {
            memoEdit.Text = MyPort.DataBuffer;
        }
    }
}

public class MySerialPort
{
    public MySerialPort()
    {
        // Initialize serial port
        _Port.DataReceived += _Port_DataReceived;
    }

    public delegate void HandleDataBufferUpdate(object sender, EventArgs e);
    public event HandleDataBufferUpdate OnDataBufferUpdate = delegate {};

    private void _Port_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
    {
        // Set _Port.DataBuffer from serial port buffer, then activate event below to signal form
        OnDataBufferUpdate(this, EventArgs.Empty);
    }
}