Delay in Visual C# - Arduino

Question

I am making a Visual C# executable file, and I want to use a for loop which sends 'A' and 'B' for the two cases defined in Arduino code below for 3 LEDs:

int data;
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  if (Serial.available()){
    data=Serial.read();
    if (data=='A'){
        digitalWrite(12, HIGH);   
        digitalWrite(11, LOW);
        delay(2000);
        digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
        delay(500);
        digitalWrite(13, LOW);
        delay(500);
        digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
        delay(500);
        digitalWrite(13, LOW);
        delay(500);
    }

    else{
        digitalWrite(12, LOW);   
        digitalWrite(11, HIGH);
        delay(10000);
  }
  }
}

And this is my Visual C# code to get the number of loop from a textbox and then do AB, AB, ... (n times - equal to the number in the textbox).

if (textBox1.Text != "")
            {
            int LoopNum = Convert.ToInt32(textBox1.Text);
            for (int i=0; i < LoopNum; i++)
            {
                serialPort1.Write("A");
                serialPort1.Write("B");
            }
        }
 else
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Please select the number of cycle!", "My Application", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk);
        }

I realised the loop in my programme finishes very soon (sends a bunch of ABs and then stops) while my Arduino keeps going until it finishes. Is there any way that I can add delay to my programme? I read that thread option is not a suitable way as it creates problems... Any suggestion?

I think you want to put a serialport1.flush in between your send a and send b — Ahh ... It's a programming thi, Mar 19 '16 at 12:40
@Someonethatmatters Thanks for your comment. I tried serialport1.basestream.flush(); but it does not do anything. My C# loop finishes in matter of second while the arduino finishes 1 minute later. — Kamran, Mar 19 '16 at 13:11

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 19 '16 at 12:36

If you are just looking for a delay in C# you could make the main thread sleep:

Thread.Sleep(500);

That essentially works like the arduino delay function. Of course remember that often you don't want to delay stuff in arduino. When receiving data things can get out of sync which can create problems in your setup.

Delay in Visual C# - Arduino

1 Answers1