Develop Reference

Using Windows Form as a serial communicator to Arduino Uno

I'm new to the Arduino and serial communication, and I haven't coded in a while, but I'm trying to do what I think should be fairly simple, and have been having plenty of trouble. What I'd like to do is to create a simple GUI on Windows Forms and control a Arduino. I keep seeming to run into different problems every new session.
What I've been trying to do is to create a simple GUI that can toggle an LED on and off, and then to use NumericUpDown to toggle it blinking. Previously, I could get the numericUpDown to toggle values but nothing happens, now if I try and toggle, it tells me the port is closed. I've been trying different port communication methods. Since the Form is saying my port is closed, I cannot test to see if what I've written works. Please ignore the commented code as I'm still trying different things.
When I try to call the blink function, it hasn't blinked properly inside a if statement compared to if I kept it in the loop. I'm not sure how and where to send the value from the Winform to the Arduino.
Is Winform much different than using serial monitor commands?
EDIT1: I stepped away from my computer and now when I run the Windows Form, it shows no errors but The program has exited with code 0 (0x0). I've had the timer and haven't really messed with it yet but it wasn't telling me this error earlier and was running the form fine.
My Arduino Code:
// Define Function Prototypes that use User Types below here or use a .h file
int dorun;
int Blinks;
void setup() {
// initialize digital pin LED_BUILTIN as an output.
pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
getBlinks();
}
// the loop function runs over and over again forever
void loop()
{
if (Serial.available() > 0)
/*
{
byte Blinktimes = Serial.readBytes[];
}
*/
{
String serialInput = Serial.readString();
//Toggle LED
if (serialInput == "On")
{
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, !digitalRead(LED_BUILTIN)); //I have this just to see that the LED is staying on and off, and will need to change things.
for (int x = 1; x = Blinks; x++)
{
blink();
}
}
else
{
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW); // turn the LED on (LOW is the voltage level)
}
Serial.flush(); //Clear Serial
}
/*
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);
if ((Serial.available()))
{
int dorun = Serial.read();
if (dorun = 1)
{
blink();
}
else
{
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);
}
}
*/
/*turnon();
if (dorun == 1)
{
blink();
}
else
{
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);
}
*/
}
void getBlinks()
{
byte message[3];
if (Serial.available())
{
Serial.readBytes(message, 3);
Blinks = message[3];
}
}
void blink()
{
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the
voltage level)
delay(250); // wait for a second
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW); //!digitalRead(LED_BUILTIN); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
delay(1000);
}
void turnon()
{
if (Serial.available()> 0)
{
String run = Serial.readString();
if (run == "Run")
{
dorun == 1;
}
if (run == "Off")
{
dorun == 0;
}
}
}
My Windows Form Code
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO.Ports;
namespace WindowsFormsApp9
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
SerialPort serial; // create serial port
/*
* public class Port
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public int Value { get; set; }
public Port(string n, int i)
{
Name = n;
Value = i;
}
}
*/
SerialPort port;
string[] availablePorts = SerialPort.GetPortNames();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
port = new SerialPort("COM3", 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
port.Open();
port.Write("On");
port.Close();
}
private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
port = new SerialPort("COM3", 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
port.Open();
port.Write("Off");
port.Close();
}
private void numericUpDown1_ValueChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
UpdateBlink();
}
void UpdateBlink()
{
port = new SerialPort("COM3", 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
port.Open();
const byte messageType = 2;
byte Blinkcount = (byte)numericUpDown1.Value;
byte[] serialBlink = { messageType, Blinkcount };
serialPort1.Write(serialBlink, 0, serialBlink.Length);
port.Close();
}
private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
private void serialPort1_DataReceived(object sender, System.IO.Ports.SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
}
I've been checking out these links:
Click here How I toggle the LED
Click here How to return an int since NumericUpDown returns a decimal
Click [here] (https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Visual-Studio-Serial-Communication/) Arduino Visual Studio Serial communication timer things
Click [here] (https://www.instructables.com/id/Communication-From-a-WinForms-to-a-TinyDuino/) instructions about Winforms to TinyDuino, They should use similar commands as the Arduino right?
So I decided to do a slight overhaul. Instead of trying to deal with sending multiple different types of inputs(String and int) I have decided to just change everything into a byte array and then send it all at once.
Regarding 1. I was really just wondering if it'd be alright to create a function to return a value rather than just building the code in a void function. So I tried it and it worked, hence the change. From what I understood and saw that your protected override bool ProcessCmdKey, basically you wanted to see if the key was an arrow key. If it was return true. So what I did was basically if it's one of the selected colors, return a value corresponding to the color.
I was just hoping you could either help me understand the Serial and COM port connection or if you had a link for more explanation. Earlier when I was trying to send a string(On/Off) and then send a numeric(byte/int) to set a number of blink times, I couldn't figure out if the COM port is kind of like a singular channel. If I'm sending a string from the Windows Form, could I send out a int/byte in the same channel? Now that everything is of one keyword (byte) I can just create a byte array and figure out the communication between the Windows Form and Arduino. I'm a little confused about the underlying Serial aspect. When I saw your code I started to think a little differently.
In your code, if I'm understanding it properly, it seems that MyVCOM is how to communicate back and forth, just like port.Write. I believe it's singular as it's basically like the old telephone line, if I'm on a call, and you call try to call me, your call is blocked since my line is already being used.
So in your ConnReset, you want to make sure the COM's aren't open so you can set up communication. So your ConReset will clear the line if it's open already. What I'm confused about is the else part. If your port isn't open, open COM+PortNumber, so basically open the channel so you can communicate, but you declared port number to be 8, so shouldn't you just use:
MyVCOM.PortName = "COM8";
Where does the user select which COM? All of the communication is being done on COM8 isn't it? Or does is that part all part of a built in library? I believe all I need to do now is to send my byte array to my Arduino and then work on the Back End to take the data the Windows Form is sending.
public int Colorselection(string label3, int color) //Toggle a pin
{
if (label3 == "Red")
{
color = 6;
}
else if (label3 == "Green")
{
color = 5;
}
else if (label3 == "Blue")
{
color = 3;
}
return color;
}
private void comboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
String label4 = LEDColor.SelectedItem.ToString(); //Generate A string of selected Color
int xled = Colorselection(label4, color); //Toggle the string into an int
LEDLabel.Text = xled.ToString(); //Generate a string from the int
}
private void Run_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) //Generate byte to send instead of sending strings and int/byte
{
byte RGBLED = Convert.ToByte(color);
byte BlinkNum = Convert.ToByte(number1.Value);
byte BlinkDur = Convert.ToByte(number2.Value);
byte[] array2 = new byte[] { RGBLED, BlinkNum, BlinkDur };
port = new SerialPort("COM3", 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
/*
port.Open();
port.Write(array2, 0, 2);
port.Close();
*/
}

Your WinForms application assumes that your Arduino is connected to COM3. Do you know if that's actually the case, or is that sample code that you just copy and pasted? (Check the Windows Device Manager under COM ports to see what ports are available, then unplug/plug your device to see which port it's being mapped to)
Besides that, have you tried debugging your Arduino code on target to see what, if anything, is actually being received?
From the MS documentation, it's not clear how the SerialPort.Write command works exactly in terms of synchronization, so it may not be a great idea to close the port immediately after sending your command. Unfortunately, since I'm not in possession of an Arduino I can't test your code. But I did create a WinForms GUI to accomplish essentially the same task (and more that you probably don't need) several years ago that I've since posted to github (https://github.com/mbhul/RoboCOM). Let me know if that helps, otherwise please tell us more about your development environment.

ValueChanged not firing with C# Win10 Iot

It seems exactly like Win10 IoT - RaspBerry Pi2: ValueChanged not called when GPIO change
I have a raspberry pi 2 with win10 IoT (creator version) and have this C# code:
public sealed class StartupTask : IBackgroundTask
{
private const int SENSOR_PIN = 17;
private GpioPin pinSensor;
public void Run(IBackgroundTaskInstance taskInstance)
{
taskInstance.Canceled += TaskInstance_Canceled; // "destructor"
var gpio = GpioController.GetDefault();
if (gpio != null)
{
pinSensor = gpio.OpenPin(SENSOR_PIN); // also tried with GpioSharingMode.SharedReadOnly
var r = pinSensor.Read(); // works and changes if sensor changes. Verified with quickwatch
pinSensor.SetDriveMode(GpioPinDriveMode.Input);
pinSensor.DebounceTimeout = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(20);
pinSensor.ValueChanged += PinIn_ValueChanged;
}
}
private void PinIn_ValueChanged(GpioPin sender, GpioPinValueChangedEventArgs args)
{
// never gets hit...
}
private void TaskInstance_Canceled(IBackgroundTaskInstance sender, BackgroundTaskCancellationReason reason)
{
pinSensor.Dispose();
}
}
led on sensor and quickwatch say the GpioPinValue does alternate between high and low... so should get hit...
When I retrieve the drive mode after setting it to input. It tells me it actually is set to input:
var dm = pinSensor.GetDriveMode();
as was suggested in the comment of the linked stack overflow issue. So what am I doing wrong? And more important: why?

When the Run method ends, unless a deferral object is created, the
Background Application ends. The common practice, for asynchronous
programming is to take a deferral like this:
var deferval = taskInstance.GetDeferral();
Ref:Developing Background Applications

C# - Using TAPI (Specifically TAPI3Lib) to record a phone calls length

So I've built in to a solution a very basic TAPI function that makes a phone call to a given number. I'm not particularly strong with TAPI code, and was wondering if there is any way to record a phone call length using the c# functions? My initial thought was if there is a call started and call ended watch event, I could start and end a timer respectively, but documentation seems thin on the ice.
Does anybody know if this is possible, and if so, how?
Thanks,
Ryan
Current Code:
Global Variables:
TAPI3Lib.ITAddress line;
Form initialisation code:
public Outbound()
{
InitializeComponent();
#region TAPI Initialize
TAPIClass tapi = new TAPIClass();
tapi.Initialize();
foreach (TAPI3Lib.ITAddress ad in (tapi.Addresses as TAPI3Lib.ITCollection))
{
line = ad;
}
tapi.EventFilter = (int)(TAPI_EVENT.TE_CALLNOTIFICATION | //All events you could need, probably
TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_CALLINFOCHANGE |
TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_DIGITEVENT |
TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_PHONEEVENT |
TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_CALLSTATE |
TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_GENERATEEVENT |
TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_GATHERDIGITS |
TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_REQUEST);
tapi.ITTAPIEventNotification_Event_Event += new TAPI3Lib.ITTAPIEventNotification_EventEventHandler(tapi_ITTAPIEventNotification_Event_Event);
#endregion
}
TAPI Functions:
private void btncall_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (line == null) return;
TAPI3Lib.ITBasicCallControl bc = line.CreateCall(txttelephone.Text, TAPI3Lib.TapiConstants.LINEADDRESSTYPE_PHONENUMBER, TAPI3Lib.TapiConstants.TAPIMEDIATYPE_AUDIO);
bc.Connect(false);
}
private void tapi_ITTAPIEventNotification_Event_Event(TAPI_EVENT TapiEvent, object pEvent)
{
try
{
switch (TapiEvent)
{
case TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_CALLNOTIFICATION:
TAPI3Lib.ITCallNotificationEvent cn = pEvent as TAPI3Lib.ITCallNotificationEvent;
if (cn.Call.CallState == TAPI3Lib.CALL_STATE.CS_OFFERING)
{
string c = cn.Call.get_CallInfoString(TAPI3Lib.CALLINFO_STRING.CIS_CALLERIDNUMBER);
}
break;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}

SOLVED: So I did some digging on the documentation I found a way. There is an event called TAPI3Lib.TAPI_EVENT.TE_CALLSTATE that, if you attach to a watcher, can track if the call state changes. So, for me, this activated when a phone call started and a phone call ended. All I have to do is control a timer with a flag in here and ill get a phone call length.

Read Weight from a Serial Mettler Toledo Digital Scale

I am trying to read weight from digital scale in c# app, found this question
this is exactly what I am trying to do
but for me below function never runs.
private void port_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
this.Invoke(new EventHandler(DoUpdate));
}
I have checked the scale in device manager, its location is set to Port_#0004.Hub_#0003 and appear to be working fine
I was not sure about port number of the scale so I did
var test = SerialPort.GetPortNames();
and only COM1 gets returned
Edit 1: When I do int a = port.ReadByte(); my application hangs and execution never moves forward from this statement.

I faced a problem like this and I solved it changing a COM configuration (Configuration > Comunication > Conections) to SICS in the device. I don't know your scale model but maybe my code can help. [Reading data from Mettler Toledo (IND560) scale device using C#]

Could you try polling instead of using the DataReceived event? Also, I believe the DataReceived event has a threshold before it fires, you might want to look into that too.

Are you able to get the serial number from the balance? This should be the first thing you do when connecting. It will let you verify the connection is established. If you are having trouble connecting through a C# interface try using HyperTerminal first. You can vary a lot of setting really quickly and dial in on the right ones to use. Although the balance should be able to use a wide variety of baud rates and stop bits and such. They are usually pretty adaptable. But do try HyperTerminal.
I'm looking for the pdf but there is a very long list of available commands (depending on your model). The pdf is like 130 pages long. Have you read this?

Please see this post, I used Mike library to connect.
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using HidLibrary;
namespace MagtekCardReader
{
class Program
{
private const int VendorId = 0x0801;
private const int ProductId = 0x0002;
private static HidDevice _device;
static void Main()
{
_device = HidDevices.Enumerate(VendorId, ProductId).FirstOrDefault();
if (_device != null)
{
_device.OpenDevice();
_device.Inserted += DeviceAttachedHandler;
_device.Removed += DeviceRemovedHandler;
_device.MonitorDeviceEvents = true;
_device.ReadReport(OnReport);
Console.WriteLine("Reader found, press any key to exit.");
Console.ReadKey();
_device.CloseDevice();
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Could not find reader.");
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
private static void OnReport(HidReport report)
{
if (!_device.IsConnected) { return; }
var cardData = new Data(report.Data);
Console.WriteLine(!cardData.Error ? Encoding.ASCII.GetString(cardData.CardData) : cardData.ErrorMessage);
_device.ReadReport(OnReport);
}
private static void DeviceAttachedHandler()
{
Console.WriteLine("Device attached.");
_device.ReadReport(OnReport);
}
private static void DeviceRemovedHandler()
{
Console.WriteLine("Device removed.");
}
}
}

HowTo Disable WebBrowser 'Click Sound' in your app only

The 'click sound' in question is actually a system wide preference, so I only want it to be disabled when my application has focus and then re-enable when the application closes/loses focus.
Originally, I wanted to ask this question here on stackoverflow, but I was not yet in the beta. So, after googling for the answer and finding only a little bit of information on it I came up with the following and decided to post it here now that I'm in the beta.
using System;
using Microsoft.Win32;
namespace HowTo
{
class WebClickSound
{
/// <summary>
/// Enables or disables the web browser navigating click sound.
/// </summary>
public static bool Enabled
{
get
{
RegistryKey key = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(#"AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating\.Current");
string keyValue = (string)key.GetValue(null);
return String.IsNullOrEmpty(keyValue) == false && keyValue != "\"\"";
}
set
{
string keyValue;
if (value)
{
keyValue = "%SystemRoot%\\Media\\";
if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major == 5 && Environment.OSVersion.Version.Minor > 0)
{
// XP
keyValue += "Windows XP Start.wav";
}
else if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major == 6)
{
// Vista
keyValue += "Windows Navigation Start.wav";
}
else
{
// Don't know the file name so I won't be able to re-enable it
return;
}
}
else
{
keyValue = "\"\"";
}
// Open and set the key that points to the file
RegistryKey key = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(#"AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating\.Current", true);
key.SetValue(null, keyValue, RegistryValueKind.ExpandString);
isEnabled = value;
}
}
}
}
Then in the main form we use the above code in these 3 events:
Activated
Deactivated
FormClosing
private void Form1_Activated(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Disable the sound when the program has focus
WebClickSound.Enabled = false;
}
private void Form1_Deactivate(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Enable the sound when the program is out of focus
WebClickSound.Enabled = true;
}
private void Form1_FormClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e)
{
// Enable the sound on app exit
WebClickSound.Enabled = true;
}
The one problem I see currently is if the program crashes they won't have the click sound until they re-launch my application, but they wouldn't know to do that.
What do you guys think? Is this a good solution? What improvements can be made?

const int FEATURE_DISABLE_NAVIGATION_SOUNDS = 21;
const int SET_FEATURE_ON_PROCESS = 0x00000002;
[DllImport("urlmon.dll")]
[PreserveSig]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
static extern int CoInternetSetFeatureEnabled(int FeatureEntry,
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)] int dwFlags,
bool fEnable);
static void DisableClickSounds()
{
CoInternetSetFeatureEnabled(FEATURE_DISABLE_NAVIGATION_SOUNDS,
SET_FEATURE_ON_PROCESS,
true);
}

I've noticed that if you use WebBrowser.Document.Write rather than WebBrowser.DocumentText then the click sound doesn't happen.
So instead of this:
webBrowser1.DocumentText = "<h1>Hello, world!</h1>";
try this:
webBrowser1.Document.OpenNew(true);
webBrowser1.Document.Write("<h1>Hello, world!</h1>");

You disable it by changing Internet Explorer registry value of navigating sound to "NULL":
Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\AppEvents\\Schemes\\Apps\\Explorer\\Navigating\\.Current","","NULL");
And enable it by changing Internet Explorer registry value of navigating sound to "C:\Windows\Media\Cityscape\Windows Navigation Start.wav":
Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\AppEvents\\Schemes\\Apps\\Explorer\\Navigating\\.Current","","C:\Windows\Media\Cityscape\Windows Navigation Start.wav");

Definitely feels like a hack, but having done some research on this a long time ago and not finding any other solutions, probably your best bet.
Better yet would be designing your application so it doesn't require many annoying page reloads.. for example, if you're refreshing an iframe to check for updates on the server, use XMLHttpRequest instead. (Can you tell that I was dealing with this problem back in the days before the term "AJAX" was coined?)

If you want to use replacing Windows Registry, use this:
// backup value
RegistryKey key = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(#"AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating\.Current");
string BACKUP_keyValue = (string)key.GetValue(null);
// write nothing
key = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(#"AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating\.Current", true);
key.SetValue(null, "", RegistryValueKind.ExpandString);
// do navigation ...
// write backup key
RegistryKey key = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(#"AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating\.Current", true);
key.SetValue(null, BACKUP_keyValue, RegistryValueKind.ExpandString);