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I am creating a port manager, and I need to know what ports can even be used for. It is not supposed to handle data taken in from the port, it is for port management.

What should be configurable to the user? I understand the basic concept of ports, but I do not know what a user would want from the manager.

I am coding this in vb.net (this is NOT a programming question, it is a port question).

Things that I have control of:

  • Baud Rate
  • Data Bits per transmitted/received byte
  • (true/false) Discard Null bytes
  • Enable/disable DTR
  • Handshake protocol
  • Parity scheme
  • Parity replacement (byte to replace bytes received with parity errors)
  • Port Name
  • Read Buffer Size
  • Read Timeout
  • Received Bytes threshold
  • Enable/disable RTS
  • Stop bits per transmitted/received byte
  • Write buffer size
  • Write timeout

I can also close/open ports.

SPECIFICALLY:

Which of these should be "high priority", i.e. the end user can see the value/setting at all times in the manager, and which should be "low priority", the user can click on the port name to view all properties? Anything with "zero priority" should be only the default value.

Which of these should I include control over, and what should the default values be for all of these?

Thanks for the help, and i am sorry because this is probably a really dumb question. If this is the wrong place to ask, where should I ask it?

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  • I don't think it's a dumb question, but even if it is, it's a very extensive one. I want to see the answer.
    – jtbandes
    Aug 24, 2009 at 21:57
  • Good to see I am not completely off track! I want to see the answer too lol, and I am totally in the dark.
    – Cyclone
    Aug 24, 2009 at 21:58
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    No, pretty much nobody would ever pay for this application. There's just not any point...there's no reason to manage serial ports on their own, they are always used with some other application. And those other applications always already include these settings.
    – davr
    Aug 24, 2009 at 23:15
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    Also, please put the word 'Serial' in the title and the question...'Port' is very generic and means many different things.
    – davr
    Aug 24, 2009 at 23:16
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    In that case I will cease development on my port manager.
    – Cyclone
    Aug 24, 2009 at 23:18

1 Answer 1

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It is only needed for the user to set these 5:

  • Port Name (e.g. COM1)
  • Baudrate (e.g. 9600)
  • Data Bits (e.g. 8)
  • Stop bits (e.g. 1)
  • Parity scheme (e.g. even)

The rest can be set to reasonable defaults.

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