How to use value recieved in console application in other program

deepender singla

Hello Respected members

i am working on an application in which i got an input value from com4 in my console application code for which is this:
#region Namespace Inclusions
using System;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Windows.Forms;
#endregion

namespace SerialPortExample
{
class SerialPortProgram
{
// Create the serial port with basic settings
private SerialPort port = new SerialPort("COM4",
9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);

[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Instatiate this class
new SerialPortProgram();
}

private SerialPortProgram()
{
//Console.WriteLine("Incoming Data:");

// Attach a method to be called when there
// is data waiting in the port's buffer
port.DataReceived += new
SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(port_DataReceived);

// Begin communications
port.Open();

// Enter an application loop to keep this thread alive
Application.Run();
}

private void port_DataReceived(object sender,
SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
// Show all the incoming data in the port's buffer
Console.WriteLine(port.ReadExisting());
port.Close();

}
}
}

now i want to send this value obtained to a new serial port com1 , how i can do that , in my view event hough i create another application i am sending data to com1 how i can use this console output as input to another application, plz help i will be very thankfull to you . i am struck on it badly.

18 Replies

Know the answer? Post it — somebody with the same question will find it here.

Vulpes15y ago
My guess is that the string received from the port will end with the carriage return character and so you won't need to do anything except write it to the file and read it from the other application.

However, the only way to find out is to try it and see. If it doesn't work, then you can always append "\r" to the string manually.
deepender singla15y ago
finally it works i write this to serialtext
#3 P1546 \r and then ur program:
string data = System.IO.File.ReadAllText("serialdata.txt");
data = data.Substring(0, data.Length - 3) + "\r";
_serialPort.Write(data);

and it works i am really very much thankfull to you one last question then when i am getting value programtically what i need to do bring do i need to bring \r or not .

again sorry for wasting your time for so much long , basically i am a student from india working on a cost effective prosthetic arm for community with the help of intel technologies
Vulpes15y ago
The reason why it's not working is because you're directly writing the string to the file, rather than doing it programatically. Consequently, the file contains a literal backslash, r and an extra space rather than the carriage return character.

If you do this then it will work:

string data = System.IO.File.ReadAllText("serialdata.txt");
data = data.Substring(0, data.Length - 3) + "\r";
_serialPort.Write(data);

However, you shouldn't need to do this normally because when you do it programatically a carriage return character should be written to the file - hopefully without an extra space at the end.
deepender singla15y ago
Respected sir even though i am directly writng this command to serialdata.txt(file where data is stored) and then i am giving it to serialwrite (data) then also it is not working, but when i type serial.write("#3 P1546 \r"); then it is working and i can change data recieved value according to the requirement here that will not be problem here.

in my view the problem is that it is taking data as a local varaible (string) and "#3 P1546 \r"; as a text as a series of unicode character thats why at the console also it is showing false.
Vulpes15y ago
So, we have these three characters which shouldn't be there:

5C is a backslash
72 is r
20 is a space

and we don't have the 0D character which is a carriage return character ('\r' in C#).The latter is what's called an 'escape sequence' - it's not the same as a literal 'backslash r'.

Did you actually type these characters directly into the file or is this what was actually received in the first application from the serialport?
deepender singla15y ago
in first case i get 23 33 20 50 31 35 34 36 20 5C 72 20

my data in serial data txt is this #3 P1546 \r

but when i use data this "#3 P1546 \r" i get the same value you got for foreach(char c in "#3 P1546 \r") Console.Write("{0:X2} ", (int)c);

the output should be:

23 33 20 50 31 35 34 36 20 0D

now but in console it is given false because it is taking "#3 P1546 \r" as a unicode string.
Vulpes15y ago
In that case 'data' must for some unknown reason be picking up some non-printing characters. The trouble is that we can't safely remove them without knowing what they are.

Try running this code in the second app:

foreach(char c in data) Console.Write("{0:X2} ", (int)c);

and tell me what you see.

If you do this:

foreach(char c in "#3 P1546 \r") Console.Write("{0:X2} ", (int)c);

the output should be:

23 33 20 50 31 35 34 36 20 0D

So we should then be able to tell what the superfluous characters are from their hex values.
deepender singla15y ago
Respected sir i am getting false so how i can convert in this form
Vulpes15y ago
Well, all strings in C# (and .NET generally) are unicode. The reason why there's a slight difference in intellisense is that 'data' is a string variable but "#3 P1546 \r" is a string literal.

Also, by default, the SerialPort class converts all strings to ASCII when it sends them to the port.

So, I dont't think there's any mileage in that particular theory.

The only possible explanation is that 'data' and "#3 P1546 \r" are not the same, even though they look the same when you print the former to the console. I'd see if you get 'true' when you execute the following line:

Console.Write(data == "#3 P1546 \r");
deepender singla15y ago
sorry sir for not making myself not clear , bascially what i was trying to convey is that to check wheather second application is reading data correctly i used console.write(data) , which exactly show output on console screen as desired by controller so then also my hardware is not making any movement , even though both of these look same command sir when i anlyzed i found this that when i write("#3 P1546 \r"); and bring cursor here it show text as a series of unicode characterr and when i write(data) and when i bring cursor it shows local variable string data
maybe this is an issue , how i can make data as a series of unicode character.
Vulpes15y ago
So, just to be clear, are you saying that when you do this from the second application, it works fine:

_serialPort.Write("#3 P1233 /r");

but when you store an identical string in the text file, read it into the 'data' variable and then do the following, then it doesn't work:

_serialPort.Write(data);
deepender singla15y ago
this command is working fine for my servo controller ("#3 P1233 /r"); in my serial data file i have also store this myself than i serialwrite(data) , but still it is not working , what should i do know?

basically it is a 32 servo controller in which we have to give string command like ("#(channel) P(position of servo) /r");
Vulpes15y ago
It's difficult for me to comment without knowing what are valid strings for this controller but, if you're saying that both the command and the data are the same, then I'd try this:

_serialPort.Write("#3 P2345 " + data);

I'd imagine that there should only be only one carriage return character (\r) at the end of the whole string.

This link I found (http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1228366132) seems to bear that out.
deepender singla15y ago
thanks sir for your very datailed reply , everything is working fine but in last there are some issues , firstly i am using text file method which was ur first reply , i am storing it , but in my second application i am giving serial output to ssc 32 servo controller which require output commnad like this:

_serialPort.Write("#3 P2345 /r"); it is basically represent text as a series of unicode character

and my data in serial text is also this "#3 P2345 /r" , then also the results are not coming , i am uisng this command -serialPort.write(data); where data is coming local variable string data
it is not working , i have put console.writeline(data);

which only show command required for output which is "#3 P2345 /r" , now what should i do. plz help.
Vulpes15y ago
Sorry, I was answering that from the e-mail notification and, just as I was making a minor edit to my reply, I noticed that you've edited your post to ask now for code for the second method rather than the first.

Again, you'll just need some changes to the port_DataReceived eventhandler of the existing application.

private void port_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
// Show all the incoming data in the port's buffer
string data = port.ReadExisting();
Console.WriteLine(data);
System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "whatever.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = data;
// possibly set other StartInfo properties
p.Start(); // launches second application
port.Close();
}

In the second application, you'll need to change your Main() method to look something like this:

static class Program
{
internal static string data;

static void Main(string[] args)
{
if (args.Length > 0) data = args[0];
// rest of code
}
}

The data can then be accessed from any other class in the application using the expression: Program.data
Vulpes15y ago
You'll just need some changes to the port_DataReceived eventhandler of the existing application:

private void port_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
// Show all the incoming data in the port's buffer
string data = port.ReadExisting();
Console.WriteLine(data);
System.IO.File.WriteAllText("serialdata.txt", data); // overwrites any existing file
port.Close();
}

In the second application, you'll need to include the following line something in the code to read the file:

string data = System.IO.File.ReadAllText("serialdata.txt");

I'm assuming here that the file will be saved in the current directory under the name "serialdata.txt" but you can, of course, name it anything you like and store it anywhere you please.
deepender singla15y ago
Respected sir

thanks sir for a prompt reply , i am a beginner and will like to use your second method that is a Process.StartInfo.Arguments property than my next process will use it , but sir can you tell me how i can do that because i am a starter and don't know much about it , basically can you guide me where in my above code i can put that command of saving incoming value to read and than how i can use this text file to give write string command in my other program , i will be very thankfull to you if you can help a bit.
Vulpes15y ago
If you'll be starting the other application independently, after the first one has run, then I'd just save the value to a text file which the other application can read when it starts up.

If you're launching the second application from the first (using the Process class) then you could pass the value to the second application via the Process.StartInfo.Arguments property. The second application can then recover this value via the 'args' parameter to its Main() method.

If you're running both applications concurrently and are using .NET 4.0, then you could use a memory-mapped file to share the value. See my article on this (http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/b942f9/6459/?ArticleID=f2d09f59-a887-46d9-8b78-44dd4c6f13f1). However, for a single value, the use of a text file would be easier.