Listening to the Serial Port - Need help

[DickGrier]

It would be simpler if you simply dropped a SerialPort control from the toolbox onto the design surface. When you do that, the event handler is built for you. If you want to do this in code, the correct declaration would be

    Private WithEvents SerialPort As New System.IO.Ports.SerialPort

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        With SerialPort
            .PortName = "Com2"   'for example
            .BaudRate = 9600
            .RtsEnable = True
            .Open()
            'etc.
        End With
    End Sub

    Private Sub SerialPort_DataReceived(sender As Object, e As System.IO.Ports.SerialDataReceivedEventArgs) Handles SerialPort.DataReceived
        Dim DataFromPort As String = SerialPort.ReadExisting
        Debug.Print(DataFromPort)
    End Sub

Now, this is pretty simple-minded, and is only a starting point. If you go to my website, www.hardandsoftware.net and download Enhanced SerialPort (this is free), I have example code that is more complete. The example code can be used with the built-in SerialPort object, as long as you do not call any of the Enhanced SerialPort extensions -- however, you might as well use Enhanced SerialPort, since it is just a wrapper for SerialPort, and does not remove any functions.

Dick