How to Read and Write from the Serial Port

SerialPort (RS-232 Serial COM Port) in C# .NET
This article explains how to use the SerialPort class in .NET to read and write data, determine what serial ports are available on your machine, and how to send files. It even covers the pin assignments on the port itself.

Example Code:

using System;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace SerialPortExample
{
  class SerialPortProgram
  {
    // Create the serial port with basic settings
    private SerialPort port = new SerialPort("COM1",
      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());
    }
  }
}