node.js multiple SerialPorts - node.js

Question

I am using the SerialPorts module for nodejs and need to be able to open, write and read from a variable number of serial ports.
So what I am doing is to first create an array object for the serialPort instances, and then process them in a loop:
var serialport = require("serialport");
var SerialPort = serialport.SerialPort; // localize object constructor
var devs = ["/dev/tty.SerialPort","/dev/tty.HHW-SPP-1800-2-DevB"];
var ports = [];
for (var i = 0; i < devs.length; i++) {
console.log(devs[i]);
var port = new SerialPort(devs[i],{ baudrate:9600, parser: serialport.parsers.readline("\n") });
ports.push(port);
}
Then I have another function that I call periodically to read / write from the ports:
function minute(){
for (var i = 0; i < ports.length; i++) {
console.log(i);
ports[i].on("open", function (path) {
console.log('opened');
ports[i].write("Helo World\n", function(err,res) {
if(err) console.log('err ' + err);
console.log('results ' + res);
});
ports[i].on("data", function (data) {
console.log("here: "+data);
});
});
}
}
The problem is the minute() function executes, however it does not attempt to open or read / write to the ports.
What am I doing wrong ?? and is there a better way of doing this ??

Answer 1

There are a couple misconceptions at play here.
Firstly, you don't need to periodically poll your ports. Nodejs uses an event loop (more or less), to handle IO, and will do the polling for you. So all you need to do is setup the callbacks for the open event, one time for each port. In your code, it looks like you are readding the callback each time minute() is being called. That is not necessary.
Secondly, javascript doesn't have block scoping for variables. Instead you are inadvertently creating a closure, and your code is in error. In this following block:
for (var i = 0; i < ports.length; i++) {
ports[i].on("open", function (path) {
ports[i].write("Helo World\n", function(err,res) {
if(err) console.log('err ' + err);
console.log('results ' + res);
});
ports[i].on("data", function (data) {
console.log("here: "+data);
});
});
}
When your callback for ports.on is invoked, the value of i in ports[i].write and ports[i].on("data") isn't the value of i when the callback is setup, as you are expecting. Instead, because you have created a closure, the value of i isn't bound(set) until the callback is executed. In this example, everyone of your callbacks, i will be set to ports.length, which was the last evaluated value for i
I've created a plunkr that illustrates the problem with your for loop.
One way to fix this problem is to use an anonymous method, and bind the value i to a new local variable. In the code below, (function(index){})(i); executes immediately, and binds the value index to the appropriate value of i.
ports[i].on("open", function (path) {
(function(index) {
ports[index].write("Helo World\n", function(err,res) {
if(err) console.log('err ' + err);
console.log('results ' + res);
});
ports[index].on("data", function (data) {
console.log("here: "+data);
});
})(i);
});
You could also instead pull that method out into a separate function. setupHandlers() executes immediately, and is bound to the proper port.
for (var i = 0; i < ports.length; i++) {
setupHandlers(ports[i]);
}
function setupHandlers(port) {
port.on("open", function (path) {
ports.write("Helo World\n", function(err,res) {
if(err) console.log('err ' + err);
console.log('results ' + res);
});
ports.on("data", function (data) {
console.log("here: "+data);
});
});
}