C＃中的连续RS485通信和UI

Question

I have RS485 slave devices connected to a computer. Computer ask a device some question and waits on response.

The communication should be continious with user interface to show data from devices and to control them in real time.

I have developed some applications with RS485 communication with use of bacgroundWorker.

I'm not sure but I think this is not the proper way to use it this time, becouse user interface elements can not be changed or updated from backgroundWorker.

I could probably use backgroundWorker and global data variables, and then update UI on timer event. But I have concerns about this solution. thanks!

Answer 1

You don't need to use a background worker, as Serial Ports support asynchronous operations - you subscribe to DataReceived and after opening the port, your event will be called periodically with received data.

You then need to buffer the data until you build up a complete message packet (you may get data in dribs and drabs, there is no guarantee that you will get fully formed packets), and then update your UI (usually using a BeginInvoke to pass control back to your UI thread)

Answer 2

I designed the system of remote monitoring and control which works with controllers by RS-485. It implemented as Windows Service which writes data in SQL Server. UI Application (It is Web Application in my last version) takes the data from SQL. In previous versions I used Named Pipes.