Ao.Serial

The Ao.Serial namespace contains classes for managing serial ports attached to a Windows computer. I have been using them in several WPF applications in order to let the user select one. This is especially useful, if such an app is to run on different laptops with a different number of serial ports and different names for each one.

Port Manager

The PortManager class is a static class that provides a list of the names of all serial ports currently connected to the computer.

foreach (var P in PortManager.Ports)
{
    Console.WriteLine(P);
}

COM3
COM5

Upon initialization, the port manager starts a management event watcher, that keeps the manager informed about devices being attached and detached. For each such event, the port manager updates the port name list.

Additionally, it informs about changes via its events.

void OnPortConnected(object sender, PortEventArgs e)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Port {0} is now connected.", e.Name);
}

void OnPortDisconnected(object sender, PortEventArgs e)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Port {0} is gone.", e.Name);
}

PortManager.PortConnected += OnPortConnected;
PortManager.PortDisconnected += OnPortDisconnected;

Port

The Port class provides all the means for receiving and sending data through a serial port. Internally, it manages a System.IO.Ports.SerialPort object and provides access to its methods in a thread-safe way.

Additionally, it recognizes, when the port is connected or disconnected, respectively, and safely closes or reopens the port. Essentially, this helps to prevent application crashes. This is especially useful in field tests, where people occasionally stumble upon cables.

Start

var P = new Port
{
    Name = "COM3",
    Baud = 115200
};

P.Start();

Send

var data = new byte[] { 0x12, 0x34, 0x56, 0x78 };

P.Send(data);

Receive

void OnReceived(object sender, PortDataEventArgs e)
{
    for (var i = 0; i < e.Count; i++)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("{0:X2}", e.Buffer[e.Offset + i]);
    }
}

P.Received += OnReceived;

Stop

P.Stop();