Question

In C#, How do you communicate with serial port to read and write data?

I a looking for a sample program just to learn the basics of serial port communications in C#.

Answer 1

From the MSDN documentation of System.IO.Ports.SerialPort:

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

public class PortChat
{
    static bool _continue;
    static SerialPort _serialPort;

    public static void Main()
    {
        string name;
        string message;
        StringComparer stringComparer = StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
        Thread readThread = new Thread(Read);

        // Create a new SerialPort object with default settings.
        _serialPort = new SerialPort();

        // Allow the user to set the appropriate properties.
        _serialPort.PortName = SetPortName(_serialPort.PortName);
        _serialPort.BaudRate = SetPortBaudRate(_serialPort.BaudRate);
        _serialPort.Parity = SetPortParity(_serialPort.Parity);
        _serialPort.DataBits = SetPortDataBits(_serialPort.DataBits);
        _serialPort.StopBits = SetPortStopBits(_serialPort.StopBits);
        _serialPort.Handshake = SetPortHandshake(_serialPort.Handshake);

        // Set the read/write timeouts
        _serialPort.ReadTimeout = 500;
        _serialPort.WriteTimeout = 500;

        _serialPort.Open();
        _continue = true;
        readThread.Start();

        Console.Write("Name: ");
        name = Console.ReadLine();

        Console.WriteLine("Type QUIT to exit");

        while (_continue)
        {
            message = Console.ReadLine();

            if (stringComparer.Equals("quit", message))
            {
                _continue = false;
            }
            else
            {
                _serialPort.WriteLine(
                    String.Format("<{0}>: {1}", name, message) );
            }
        }

        readThread.Join();
        _serialPort.Close();
    }

    public static void Read()
    {
        while (_continue)
        {
            try
            {
                string message = _serialPort.ReadLine();
                Console.WriteLine(message);
            }
            catch (TimeoutException) { }
        }
    }

    public static string SetPortName(string defaultPortName)
    {
        string portName;

        Console.WriteLine("Available Ports:");
        foreach (string s in SerialPort.GetPortNames())
        {
            Console.WriteLine("   {0}", s);
        }

        Console.Write("COM port({0}): ", defaultPortName);
        portName = Console.ReadLine();

        if (portName == "")
        {
            portName = defaultPortName;
        }
        return portName;
    }

    public static int SetPortBaudRate(int defaultPortBaudRate)
    {
        string baudRate;

        Console.Write("Baud Rate({0}): ", defaultPortBaudRate);
        baudRate = Console.ReadLine();

        if (baudRate == "")
        {
            baudRate = defaultPortBaudRate.ToString();
        }

        return int.Parse(baudRate);
    }

    public static Parity SetPortParity(Parity defaultPortParity)
    {
        string parity;

        Console.WriteLine("Available Parity options:");
        foreach (string s in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Parity)))
        {
            Console.WriteLine("   {0}", s);
        }

        Console.Write("Parity({0}):", defaultPortParity.ToString());
        parity = Console.ReadLine();

        if (parity == "")
        {
            parity = defaultPortParity.ToString();
        }

        return (Parity)Enum.Parse(typeof(Parity), parity);
    }

    public static int SetPortDataBits(int defaultPortDataBits)
    {
        string dataBits;

        Console.Write("Data Bits({0}): ", defaultPortDataBits);
        dataBits = Console.ReadLine();

        if (dataBits == "")
        {
            dataBits = defaultPortDataBits.ToString();
        }

        return int.Parse(dataBits);
    }

    public static StopBits SetPortStopBits(StopBits defaultPortStopBits)
    {
        string stopBits;

        Console.WriteLine("Available Stop Bits options:");
        foreach (string s in Enum.GetNames(typeof(StopBits)))
        {
            Console.WriteLine("   {0}", s);
        }

        Console.Write("Stop Bits({0}):", defaultPortStopBits.ToString());
        stopBits = Console.ReadLine();

        if (stopBits == "")
        {
            stopBits = defaultPortStopBits.ToString();
        }

        return (StopBits)Enum.Parse(typeof(StopBits), stopBits);
    }

    public static Handshake SetPortHandshake(Handshake defaultPortHandshake)
    {
        string handshake;

        Console.WriteLine("Available Handshake options:");
        foreach (string s in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Handshake)))
        {
            Console.WriteLine("   {0}", s);
        }

        Console.Write("Handshake({0}):", defaultPortHandshake.ToString());
        handshake = Console.ReadLine();

        if (handshake == "")
        {
            handshake = defaultPortHandshake.ToString();
        }

        return (Handshake)Enum.Parse(typeof(Handshake), handshake);
    }
}