SerialPort.Write Method (String) (System.IO.Ports)

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.NET Framework Class Library

SerialPort.Write Method (String)

Writes the specified string to the serial port.

Namespace: System.IO.Ports
Assembly: System (in System.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic

Public Sub Write ( _
	text As String _
)

public void Write(
	string text
)

Visual C++

public:
void Write(
	String^ text
)

member Write : 
        text:string -> unit

Parameters

text: Type: System.String
The string for output.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
InvalidOperationException	The specified port is not open.
ArgumentNullException	str is null.
TimeoutException	The operation did not complete before the time-out period ended.

Remarks

Use this method when you want to write a string as output to a serial port.

If there are too many bytes in the output buffer and Handshake is set to XOnXOff then the SerialPort object may raise a TimeoutException while it waits for the device to be ready to accept more data.

By default, SerialPort uses ASCIIEncoding to encode the characters. ASCIIEncoding encodes all characters greater then 127 as (char)63 or '?'. To support additional characters in that range, set Encoding to UTF8Encoding, UTF32Encoding, or UnicodeEncoding.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates the use of the SerialPort class to allow two users to chat from two separate computers connected by a null modem cable. This code example is part of a larger code example provided for the SerialPort class.

Visual Basic


Public Shared Sub Main()
    Dim name As String
    Dim message As String
    Dim sComparer As StringComparer = StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase
    Dim readThread As Thread = New Thread(AddressOf 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 sComparer.Equals("quit", message) Then
            _continue = False
        Else
            _serialPort.WriteLine( _
                String.Format("<{0}>: {1}", name, message))
        End If
    end while

    readThread.Join()
    _serialPort.Close()
End Sub

Public Shared Sub Read()
    While (_continue)
        Try
            Dim message As String = _serialPort.ReadLine()
            Console.WriteLine(message)
        Catch ex As TimeoutException
            ' Do nothing
        End Try
    End While
End Sub


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) { }
    }
}

Visual C++


public:
    static void Main()
    {
        String^ name;
        String^ message;
        StringComparer^ stringComparer = StringComparer::OrdinalIgnoreCase;
        Thread^ readThread = gcnew Thread(gcnew ThreadStart(PortChat::Read));

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

    static void Read()
    {
        while (_continue)
        {
            try
            {
                String^ message = _serialPort->ReadLine();
                Console::WriteLine(message);
            }
            catch (TimeoutException ^) { }
        }
    }

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

SerialPort Class

Write Overload

System.IO.Ports Namespace

Community Content

EricWhoi

Write method silently truncates strings longer than WriteBufferSize

It seems that this method will truncate the output transmission when the provided string is longer than the WriteBufferSize of the port. I haven't looked in Reflector to figure out why, but you may be able to work around this issue by either increasing WriteBufferSize or only writing (WriteBufferSize) bytes at a time.