I have a problem with a small C# application. The application has to connect through a serial port to a bar code scanner which reads a Data Matrix code. The Data Matrix code represents an array of bytes which is a zip archive. I read a lot about the way SerialPort.DataReceived work but I can't find an elegant solution to my problem. And the application should work with different bar code scanners so i can't make it scanner specific. Here is some of my code:
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Ionic.Zip;
namespace SIUI_PE
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
SerialPort _serialPort;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
_serialPort = new SerialPort("COM1", 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Error:" + ex.ToString());
return;
}
_serialPort.Handshake = Handshake.None;
_serialPort.ReadBufferSize = 10000;
_serialPort.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(comPort_DataReceived);
_serialPort.Open();
}
void comPort_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
byte[] data = new byte[10000];
_serialPort.Read(data, 0, 10000);
File.WriteAllBytes(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + "/temp/fis.zip", data);
try
{
using (ZipFile zip = ZipFile.Read(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + "/temp/fis.zip"))
{
foreach (ZipEntry ZE in zip)
{
ZE.Extract(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + "/temp");
}
}
File.Delete(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + "/temp/fis.zip");
}
catch (Exception ex1)
{
MessageBox.Show("Corrupt Archive: " + ex1.ToString());
}
}
}
}
So my question is: How can I know that I read all the bytes the scanner sent?
The code I've got for reading barcode data, which has been working flawlessly in production for several years looks like this:
Note, my app has to read standard UPC barcodes as well as GS1 DataBar, so there's a bit of code you may not need...
The key line in this is:
string ScanData = ScannerPort.ReadExisting();
which is found in the DoScan section, and simply reads the scan data as a string. It bypasses the need to know how many bytes are sent, and makes the rest of the code easier to deal with.
// This snippet is in the Form_Load event, and it initializes teh scanner
InitializeScanner();
ScannerPort.ReadExisting();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
// ens snippet from Form_Load.
this.ScannerPort.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(ScannerPort_DataReceived);
delegate void DoScanCallback(); // used for updating the form UI
void DoScan()
{
if (this.txtCouponCount.InvokeRequired)
{
DoScanCallback d = new DoScanCallback(DoScan);
this.Invoke(d);
return;
}
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(100);
string ScanData = ScannerPort.ReadExisting();
if (isInScanMode)
{
try
{
HandleScanData(ScanData);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
MessageBox.Show("Invalid Scan");
}
}
}
void ScannerPort_DataReceived(object sender, System.IO.Ports.SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
// this call to sleep allows the scanner to receive the entire scan.
// without this sleep, we've found that we get only a partial scan.
try
{
DoScan();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
MessageBox.Show("Unable to handle scan event in ScannerPort_DataReceived." + System.Environment.NewLine + ex.ToString());
}
}
void Port_ErrorReceived(object sender, System.IO.Ports.SerialErrorReceivedEventArgs e)
{
System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
MessageBox.Show(e.EventType.ToString());
}
private void HandleScanData(string ScanData)
{
//MessageBox.Show(ScanData + System.Environment.NewLine + ScanData.Length.ToString());
//Determine which type of barcode has been scanned, and handle appropriately.
if (ScanData.StartsWith("A") && ScanData.Length == 14)
{
try
{
ProcessUpcCoupon(ScanData);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
MessageBox.Show("Unable to process UPC coupon data" + System.Environment.NewLine + ex.ToString());
}
}
else if (ScanData.StartsWith("8110"))
{
try
{
ProcessDataBarCoupon(ScanData);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
MessageBox.Show("Unable to process DataBar coupon data" + System.Environment.NewLine + ex.ToString());
}
}
else
{
System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
MessageBox.Show("Invalid Scan" + System.Environment.NewLine + ScanData);
}
}
private void InitializeScanner()
{
try
{
ScannerPort.PortName = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerPort;
ScannerPort.ReadBufferSize = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerReadBufferSize;
ScannerPort.Open();
ScannerPort.BaudRate = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerBaudRate;
ScannerPort.DataBits = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerDataBit;
ScannerPort.StopBits = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerStopBit;
ScannerPort.Parity = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerParity;
ScannerPort.ReadTimeout = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerReadTimeout;
ScannerPort.DtrEnable = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerDtrEnable;
ScannerPort.RtsEnable = Properties.Settings.Default.ScannerRtsEnable;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Unable to initialize scanner. The error message received will be shown next. You should close this program and try again. If the problem persists, please contact support.", "Error initializing scanner");
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
Application.Exit();
}
}