SerialPort.PortName Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.IO.Ports

Assembly:

System.IO.Ports.dll

Package:

System.IO.Ports v9.0.0

Source:

SerialPort.cs

Gets or sets the port for communications, including but not limited to all available COM ports.

public:
 property System::String ^ PortName { System::String ^ get(); void set(System::String ^ value); };

public string PortName { get; set; }

member this.PortName : string with get, set

Public Property PortName As String

Property Value

String

The communications port. The default is COM1.

Exceptions

ArgumentException

The PortName property was set to a value with a length of zero.

-or-

The PortName property was set to a value that starts with "\\".

-or-

The port name was not valid.

ArgumentNullException

The PortName property was set to null.

InvalidOperationException

The specified port is open.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates the use of the SerialPort class to allow two users to chat from two separate computers connected by a null modem cable. In this example, the users are prompted for the port settings and a username before chatting. This code example is part of a larger code example provided for the SerialPort class.

public:
    static void Main()
    {
        String^ name;
        String^ message;
        StringComparer^ stringComparer = StringComparer::OrdinalIgnoreCase;
        Thread^ readThread = gcnew Thread(gcnew ThreadStart(PortChat::Read));

        // Create a new SerialPort object with default settings.
        _serialPort = gcnew SerialPort();

        // Allow the user to set the appropriate properties.
        _serialPort->PortName = SetPortName(_serialPort->PortName);
        _serialPort->BaudRate = SetPortBaudRate(_serialPort->BaudRate);
        _serialPort->Parity = SetPortParity(_serialPort->Parity);
        _serialPort->DataBits = SetPortDataBits(_serialPort->DataBits);
        _serialPort->StopBits = SetPortStopBits(_serialPort->StopBits);
        _serialPort->Handshake = SetPortHandshake(_serialPort->Handshake);

        // Set the read/write timeouts
        _serialPort->ReadTimeout = 500;
        _serialPort->WriteTimeout = 500;

        _serialPort->Open();
        _continue = true;
        readThread->Start();

        Console::Write("Name: ");
        name = Console::ReadLine();

        Console::WriteLine("Type QUIT to exit");

        while (_continue)
        {
            message = Console::ReadLine();

            if (stringComparer->Equals("quit", message))
            {
                _continue = false;
            }
            else
            {
                _serialPort->WriteLine(
                    String::Format("<{0}>: {1}", name, message) );
            }
        }

        readThread->Join();
        _serialPort->Close();
    }

    static void Read()
    {
        while (_continue)
        {
            try
            {
                String^ message = _serialPort->ReadLine();
                Console::WriteLine(message);
            }
            catch (TimeoutException ^) { }
        }
    }

public static void Main()
{
    string name;
    string message;
    StringComparer stringComparer = StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
    Thread readThread = new Thread(Read);

    // Create a new SerialPort object with default settings.
    _serialPort = new SerialPort();

    // Allow the user to set the appropriate properties.
    _serialPort.PortName = SetPortName(_serialPort.PortName);
    _serialPort.BaudRate = SetPortBaudRate(_serialPort.BaudRate);
    _serialPort.Parity = SetPortParity(_serialPort.Parity);
    _serialPort.DataBits = SetPortDataBits(_serialPort.DataBits);
    _serialPort.StopBits = SetPortStopBits(_serialPort.StopBits);
    _serialPort.Handshake = SetPortHandshake(_serialPort.Handshake);

    // Set the read/write timeouts
    _serialPort.ReadTimeout = 500;
    _serialPort.WriteTimeout = 500;

    _serialPort.Open();
    _continue = true;
    readThread.Start();

    Console.Write("Name: ");
    name = Console.ReadLine();

    Console.WriteLine("Type QUIT to exit");

    while (_continue)
    {
        message = Console.ReadLine();

        if (stringComparer.Equals("quit", message))
        {
            _continue = false;
        }
        else
        {
            _serialPort.WriteLine(
                String.Format("<{0}>: {1}", name, message));
        }
    }

    readThread.Join();
    _serialPort.Close();
}

public static void Read()
{
    while (_continue)
    {
        try
        {
            string message = _serialPort.ReadLine();
            Console.WriteLine(message);
        }
        catch (TimeoutException) { }
    }
}

Public Shared Sub Main()
    Dim name As String
    Dim message As String
    Dim stringComparer__1 As StringComparer = StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase
    Dim readThread As New Thread(AddressOf Read)

    ' Create a new SerialPort object with default settings.
    _serialPort = New SerialPort()

    ' Allow the user to set the appropriate properties.
    _serialPort.PortName = SetPortName(_serialPort.PortName)
    _serialPort.BaudRate = SetPortBaudRate(_serialPort.BaudRate)
    _serialPort.Parity = SetPortParity(_serialPort.Parity)
    _serialPort.DataBits = SetPortDataBits(_serialPort.DataBits)
    _serialPort.StopBits = SetPortStopBits(_serialPort.StopBits)
    _serialPort.Handshake = SetPortHandshake(_serialPort.Handshake)

    ' Set the read/write timeouts
    _serialPort.ReadTimeout = 500
    _serialPort.WriteTimeout = 500

    _serialPort.Open()
    _continue = True
    readThread.Start()

    Console.Write("Name: ")
    name = Console.ReadLine()

    Console.WriteLine("Type QUIT to exit")

    While _continue
        message = Console.ReadLine()

        If stringComparer__1.Equals("quit", message) Then
            _continue = False
        Else
            _serialPort.WriteLine([String].Format("<{0}>: {1}", name, message))
        End If
    End While

    readThread.Join()
    _serialPort.Close()
End Sub

Public Shared Sub Read()
    While _continue
        Try
            Dim message As String = _serialPort.ReadLine()
            Console.WriteLine(message)
        Catch generatedExceptionName As TimeoutException
        End Try
    End While
End Sub

Remarks

A list of valid port names can be obtained using the GetPortNames method.