c# Serialport data received event handler

Question

I am currently reading data from serialport using WPF. I am able to read data from serialport & write it in File using Binarywriter.

What Problem I am facing right now is: I want to Analyse this data. I have developed one function which contains Use case structures to split the data which i read in serialport datahandler. Purpose is to Analyse captured data. But my program is just hanging on in receiving data from Serialport. Its not approaching down to Analyse the data.

This are few Options which i read from some Posts which may be a solution for my problem:

• Backgroundworker: If yes then how i can fetch in my current program?

• Threading: I tried it but its not working. My program is handing on writing the Bytes in the file & not going down to start the thread which i declared.

So can anybody suggest me a better option?

My code:

private void port_DataReceived(Object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e) {
  BinaryWriter writer=new BinaryWriter(File.Open("c:\\temp\\lbus2snifflog1.txt", FileMode.Append));
  int bytes=comport.Read(buffer, 0, 4096);
  for (int i=0;
  i < bytes;
  i++) {
    //writer.Write(buffer, 0, bytes);             // Write the data to the file on temp folder
    data.Enqueue(buffer[i]); // Enqueue data from the buffer
    writer.Write(buffer, 0, bytes);
  }
  //writer.Write(buffer, 0, bytes);
  writer.Flush(); // Send all remaining data to the writer
  writer.Close(); // Close the writer
  /*Initilaise the Thread for the Analysis*/
  Thread Analyser=new Thread(datacollection);
  Analyser.Start();
}

Answer 1

I think you should run thread with setting IsBackground = true; I use it like that

new Thread(() =>
        {
            Thread.CurrentThread.IsBackground = true;
            //Do what you want to Run in background here
        }).Start();

or maybe simple setting will do the job :

Analyser.IsBackground = true; Analyser.Start();

Answer 2

Edit For your case, don't know if this is best approach, but this may work.

You have a ConcurrentDictionary in main thread. In BackgroundWorker thread you get the data from the ConcurrentDictionary. Then you report to main thread the processed data.

Here is a working scenario.

Example:

class MyClass
{
    private ConcurrentDictionary<int, string> serialPortsQueue =
        new ConcurrentDictionary<int, string>();

    private BackgroundWorker _worker;
    public MyClass()
    {
        _worker = new BackgroundWorker()
        {
            WorkerSupportsCancellation = true,
            WorkerReportsProgress = true
        };

        _worker.DoWork += DeviceDataAcquisition_DoWork;
        _worker.ProgressChanged += DeviceDataAcquisition_ProgressChanged;
        _worker.RunWorkerCompleted += DeviceDataAcquisition_RunWorkerCompleted;
        _worker.RunWorkerAsync();

        System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"{DateTime.Now}: begin add first data");
        serialPortsQueue.TryAdd(1, "data 1");
        serialPortsQueue.TryAdd(2, "data 2");
        serialPortsQueue.TryAdd(3, "data 3");
        serialPortsQueue.TryAdd(4, "data 4");
        serialPortsQueue.TryAdd(5, "data 5");
        serialPortsQueue.TryAdd(6, "data 6");
        serialPortsQueue.TryAdd(7, "data 7");
        System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"{DateTime.Now}: end add first data");
        Thread.Sleep(2000);
        System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"{DateTime.Now}: begin add second data");
        serialPortsQueue.TryAdd(8, "data 8");
        System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"{DateTime.Now}: end add second data");
    }

    private void DeviceDataAcquisition_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
    {
        // backgroundworker thread
        if (sender is BackgroundWorker worker)
        {
            //just demo propose
            int cnt = 0;

            while (true)
            {
                if (worker.CancellationPending)
                    break;

                if (serialPortsQueue.Count > 0)
                {
                    KeyValuePair<int, string> kv = serialPortsQueue.ElementAt(0);
                    serialPortsQueue.TryRemove(kv.Key, out string value);

                    //just demo propose
                    // Simulate some processing
                    Thread.Sleep(1000);

                    worker.ReportProgress(0, kv);

                    //just demo propose
                    cnt++;
                }

                //just demo propose
                if (cnt == 8)
                    break;
            }
        }
    }

    private void DeviceDataAcquisition_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        // main thread
        if (e.UserState is KeyValuePair<int, string> kv)
        {
            System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"{DateTime.Now}: {kv.Key} -> {kv.Value}");
        }
    }

    private void DeviceDataAcquisition_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (sender is BackgroundWorker worker)
        {
            worker.DoWork -= DeviceDataAcquisition_DoWork;
            worker.ProgressChanged -= DeviceDataAcquisition_ProgressChanged;
            worker.RunWorkerCompleted -= DeviceDataAcquisition_RunWorkerCompleted;
            worker.Dispose(); // i think this does nothing...
            System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"{DateTime.Now}: end backgroundworker");
        }
    }
}

You can see in the window Output -> Debug the results.

Hope this helps.