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Arduino and C# Serial Port "Crash"

I am trying to create a communication between an Arduino Leonardo and C#.
Just now, the Arduino's software sends a simple message (in loop) on the serial port:
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
analogReference(INTERNAL);
}
void loop() {
Serial.println("test");
delay(500);
}
C# try only to read these messages and print them on the shell:
public class Program
{
private SerialPort mySerialPort;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Program p = new Program();
Console.WriteLine("PORTS: " + String.Join(" ", p.getSerialPortsList())+ ", enter to start.");
Console.Read();
p.SerialRead("COM6");
}
public String[] getSerialPortsList()
{
string[] ports = SerialPort.GetPortNames();
return ports;
}
public void SerialRead(String com)
{
mySerialPort = new SerialPort(com, 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
Console.Read();
Console.WriteLine("Incoming Data:");
SerialRead sr = new SerialRead();
Thread rs = new Thread(sr.StartRead);
sr.SetMySerialPort(mySerialPort);
rs.Start();
while (!rs.IsAlive);
Console.Read();
sr.SetSuspendThread(true);
rs.Join();
}
}
public class SerialRead
{
private Boolean suspendThread = false;
SerialPort mySerialPort;
public void StartRead()
{
mySerialPort.Open();
Thread.Sleep(500);
int i = 0;
while (!suspendThread)
{
i++;
Console.WriteLine(i + ": " + mySerialPort.ReadLine());
Thread.Sleep(500);
}
}
public void SetMySerialPort(SerialPort mysp){ mySerialPort = mysp; }
public void SetSuspendThread(Boolean a){ suspendThread = a; }
}
The output of this C# software depends. If I use the serial monitor on the Arduino IDE, then I receive the string's stream correctly (one each 500ms).
Otherwise, the C# software freezes. Sometimes, I receive a couple of strings as we can see this figure; but almost all time, the software does not give any string, as we can see here. After that the software freezes (thus, if I press enter the shell does not response).
Can you suggest a solution in order to get a fluent flow of string, and -as a consequence- read each message sent by Arduino on the serial port?
I am using Window 10 x64 as OS and the COM6 (it is an USB 2.0).

I found the solution and I share it in order to help people with the same problem.
C# does not activate as default the RTS and the DTR serial port.
Thus, adding
mySerialPort.DtrEnable = true;
mySerialPort.RtsEnable = true;
after the serial port declaration, everything works fine.

This is a really good example:
Serial Port Polling and Data handling
The Serial Port got an event called DataRecived, so you dont have to sleep your thread.
Something like this:
serialPort.DataReceived +=SerialPortDataReceived;
private void SerialPortDataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine(serialPort.ReadLine());
}

Loop get paused/diactivated inside catch() block

I am trying to send AT commands to COM ports, so I can find the GSM dongle. Below is the code
public bool findGsmModem()
{
bool sendStatus = false;
//Get all the available ports
string[] serialPorts = SerialPort.GetPortNames();
for (int i = 0; i < serialPorts.Length; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(serialPorts[i]);
}
//Iterate through all the ports sending AT commands to find a modem
for (int i = 0; i < 1; i++)
{
try
{
//port.PortName = serialPorts[i].Trim();
port.PortName = "COM7";
openPort();
string res = ATCommandCaller("AT", 300,"Unable to connect to the phone"); //Connecting to the phone
//res = ATCommandCaller("AT+CMGF=1", 300); //Setting the message Format
sendStatus = true;
break;
}
catch (System.InvalidOperationException ex)
{
//port.PortName = null;
port.Close();
autoInitializer();
//port = new SerialPort();
continue;
//throw ex;
}
}
return sendStatus;
}
Here is how I call this method inside another class
if (sms.findGsmModem())
{
MessageBox.Show("Modem Found: " + sms.getPortName());
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("No modem found");
}
OK, now in the findGsmModem() method if I use port.PortName = "COM5"; the above second code works successfully and display the message. That is because the Modem is actually in COM5 and the value is hard coded, so the statement do not reach the catch() block.
But, if I use port.PortName = serialPorts[i].Trim(); or port.PortName = serialPorts[i]; then it seems like nothing is happening instead of printing the port names (inside findGsmModem()). Following ports are being printed
COM1
COM2
COM8
COM9
COM5
COM4
COM3
As you can see, the COM5, the port where the gms modem actually exists is in the 5th element of the array, so findGsmModem() calls catch() part before it access the COM5.
I do believe I am not getting anything when port.PortName = serialPorts[i].Trim() is used because it goes to the catch() part and something terrible happens there.
Any idea?
Here is the openPort() method
public void openPort()
{
try
{
port.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(port_DataReceived);
if (!port.IsOpen)
{
port.Open();
}
port.RtsEnable = true;
port.DtrEnable = true;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
}
EDIT
Here is the most weirdest part. I just noticed the catch() block never get reached when the loop is called! I tried ex.Message to print the stack trace, and it didn't print anything!

catch (Exception ex)
This is the trouble with catch-em-all exception handling. You are getting an InvalidOperationException because you change the PortName property on a opened port. That's a bug in your code, nothing actually went wrong with the serial port.
You'll need to call the Close() method if you find out that it port is not connected to the GSM modem.
Then you can't call Open() again on that same SerialPort instance, it takes time for internal worker thread to shut down. Best thing to do is to create a new instance of SerialPort instead of trying to keep using the same one repeatedly.

C# Serial Communication to Arduino

I'm working on a project that involves my client software sending data to a Arduino microcontroller, AtMega32U4, through serial communication. I've looked through many answered questions so far yet none of them were specific to my problem. However, I believe my problem may be limited to threading issues or Arduino autoreset problems.
Code 1:
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
serialPort1.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(serialPort1_DataReceived);
serialPort1.DtrEnable = true;
//serialPort1.RtsEnable = true;
}
private void button3_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Disables button while processing
button3.Enabled = false;
GetDir dir = new App.GetDir();
dir.getCoords(Origin.Text, Destination.Text, Application.StartupPath + #"\temp2.html", "temp2.xml");
dataBrowser.Navigate(Application.StartupPath + #"\temp2.html");
dataBrowser.Update();
waypoints = dir.coordsLat.Length;
counter = dir.coordsLat.Length;
coords = new double[dir.coordsLat.Length, 2];
for (int i = 0; i < counter; i++)
{
coords[i, 0] = (Convert.ToDouble(dir.coordsLat[i]));
coords[i, 1] = (Convert.ToDouble(dir.coordsLon[i]));
}
//serialPort1.Close();
//System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
if (serialPort1.IsOpen && !doubleClick)
{
serialPort1.Close();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);
try
{
serialPort1.Open();
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
MessageBox.Show(exception.Message, "Cannot open serial port");
}
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);
}
else
{
if (!serialPort1.IsOpen)
{
try
{
serialPort1.Open();
doubleClick = true;
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
MessageBox.Show(exception.Message, "Cannot open serial port");
}
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);
serialPort1.Write("^");
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
Console.WriteLine('^');
//button3.Enabled = true;
}
}
}
private void serialPort1_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
//System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
readData = serialPort1.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine(readData);
// If microcontroller sends "&", it is ready to receive next piece of data
if (readData == "&")
{
sendRequest = true;
}
else
{
sendRequest = false;
}
// Write next piece of data to microcontroller if it is ready
if (sendRequest)
{
this.BeginInvoke( new EventHandler (write_serialPort1));
}
}
In during the debugging of code 1, the event handler (serialPort1_DataReceived) never gets called. In this process, somehow button3_click gets called twice as the console outputs '^' twice. Afterwards, the client stalls since there is nothing beind received. Keep in mind that the Arduino will respond with an ampersand ('&') once it has received the circumflex ('^'). The Arduino code has been tested on the Arduino IDE and appears to be working fine. I believe the problem with button3_click being called twice comes from the button3_down and button3_up.
However, I was able to bypass this issue with Code 2. But also hit another brick wall.
Code 2 :
private void button3_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Disables button while processing
button3.Enabled = false;
GetDir dir = new App.GetDir();
dir.getCoords(Origin.Text, Destination.Text, Application.StartupPath + #"\temp2.html", "temp2.xml");
dataBrowser.Navigate(Application.StartupPath + #"\temp2.html");
dataBrowser.Update();
waypoints = dir.coordsLat.Length;
counter = dir.coordsLat.Length;
coords = new double[dir.coordsLat.Length, 2];
for (int i = 0; i < counter; i++)
{
coords[i, 0] = (Convert.ToDouble(dir.coordsLat[i]));
coords[i, 1] = (Convert.ToDouble(dir.coordsLon[i]));
}
serialPort1.Close();
try
{
serialPort1.Open();
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
MessageBox.Show(exception.Message, "Cannot open serial port");
}
if (serialPort1.IsOpen)
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);
using (serialPort1)
{
serialPort1.Write("^");
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
Console.WriteLine("^");
serialPort1.Close();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);
}
}
else
{
button3.Enabled = true;
}
}
private void serialPort1_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
//SerialPort sp = (SerialPort)sender;
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10000);
/*if (!serialPort1.IsOpen)
{
serialPort1.Close();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10000);
serialPort1.Open();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10000);
}*/
//serialPort1.Open();
//using (sp)
using (serialPort1)
{
serialPort1.Open();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);
readData = serialPort1.ReadExisting();
Console.WriteLine(readData);
// If microcontroller sends "&", it is ready to receive next piece of data
if (readData == "&")
{
sendRequest = true;
}
else
{
sendRequest = false;
}
// Write next piece of data to microcontroller if it is ready
if (sendRequest)
{
this.BeginInvoke(new EventHandler(write_serialPort1));
}
}
}
In Code 2, the event handler does get called and the button3_click only runs once. But when it tries to open the port, it returns the error 'Access to Port X denied'. Furthermore, I wish I didn't have to close and open the ports like this, but when the event handler is called (in an earlier code) it returned the error that the COM Port was not opened. In order to satisfy that error, I had to close it and reopen it during button3_click and event handling.
I've added a lot of delay in the code after I read about many problems dealing with the threading issues with serial communication. I had even tried a minute delay in hopes of a thread ending to solve the problem. However, no luck there.
I also specified my serial port in the MainForm designer instead of declaring it in the code (At first I did both and realized it was redundant). I'm not sure if this contributes to the problem, but I've seen examples of both being used.
Lastly, it could definitely deal with the Arduino auto resetting everytime a serial connection has been made (eg. opening and closing a port). In summary, it seems be sending data through serial, but unable to read the incoming data from serial.
Thank you for reading this and if someone could point me in the right direction, it would be very much appreciated.
Edit #1: Even after using BeginInvoke in Code 1, it still deadlocks because the event handler was never called.
Edit #2: Edits to Code 1 as per newbie's suggestions.
Edit #3: Added mainform initialization and updated Code 1 to current state.
Edit #4: Deleted (Commented out) the sleep at the event handler. I was sleeping during the event handler, thus I couldn't receive anything that the microcontroller would send to me. Code works fine as expected now.

Make sure you are using COM1, if you do not COM1 serial port,
change through Computer -> Device Manager -> Ports (COM & LPT) ->
Select the COM to be changed -> Port Settings -> Advanced -> ComPort Number -> select COM1.
Make sure that you have installed jumper / connect with a screwdriver
between pin2 and pin3 of COM1.
Add button1 and textBox1 to Form and run this program
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Threading;
using System.Text;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1 {
public partial class Form1 : Form {
const int MAX_BUFFER = 100;
int i = 0;
byte[] DataReceived = new byte[MAX_BUFFER];
SerialPort serialPort = new SerialPort();
public Form1() {
InitializeComponent();
serialPort.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(serialPort_DataReceived);
}
void serialPort_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e) {
// wait data ready
Thread.Sleep(500);
// while data ready in buffer
while (serialPort.IsOpen && serialPort.BytesToRead > 0) {
// read data serial
DataReceived[i] = Convert.ToByte(serialPort.ReadByte());
// counter data
i++;
// reset conter if more then maxvalue
if (i >= MAX_BUFFER) {
i = 0;
}
}
if (i == 1 && DataReceived[0] == ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes("^")[0]) {
this.textBox1.Invoke(new Action(() => {
this.textBox1.Text = ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetString(DataReceived, 0, 1);
}));
}
}
public void InitSerialPort() {
serialPort.PortName = "COM1";
serialPort.BaudRate = 9600;
serialPort.Parity = Parity.None;
serialPort.DataBits = 8;
serialPort.StopBits = StopBits.One;
serialPort.ReceivedBytesThreshold = 1;
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
// initialize serial port
InitSerialPort();
// assure port is closed before open it
if (serialPort != null && serialPort.IsOpen) {
serialPort.Close();
}
serialPort.Open();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
if (serialPort.IsOpen) {
serialPort.Write("^");
// wait data sent
Thread.Sleep(500);
}
}
}
}

In accordance to my 4th edit, deleted (Commented out) the sleep at the event handler. I was sleeping during the event handler, thus I couldn't receive anything that the microcontroller would send to me. Code works fine as expected now. Nothing was wrong with the serial ports on either components.

SerialPort First Command OK. Second Command Error

I'm writing a serialport app to talk to a Bluetooth module over serial port. The first At command I send to the device runs fine and I get a response of the module version. All subsequent commands fail with a response of ERROR.
Part of the code is here:
namespace PhoneApp
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
//SerialPort myport = OPenPort.OpenIt();
SerialPort myport = new SerialPort();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
myport.PortName = "COM3";
myport.BaudRate = 115200;
myport.Parity = Parity.None;
myport.DataBits = 8;
myport.StopBits = StopBits.One;
myport.NewLine = System.Environment.NewLine;
myport.ReadTimeout = 500;
myport.WriteTimeout = 500;
myport.DtrEnable = false;
myport.RtsEnable = false;
myport.WriteBufferSize = 4096;
myport.ReadBufferSize = 4096;
myport.Handshake = Handshake.None;
myport.Encoding = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII;
if (!myport.IsOpen)
{
myport.Open();
}
calling.Visible = false;
myport.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(port_DataReceived);
mycommand.Text = #"AT+BGVER";
the button which sends the command. The device requires a newline after each comand.
private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
myport.WriteLine(mycommand.Text.Trim());
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
}
Not sure what I'm missing here.

Thanks for the replies. i found the problem. In fact I had to use myport.Write instead of myport.WriteLine. I deleted the line myport.NewLine and I appended "\r" to every command. Now the device responds as expected. As for DTR and RTS they are not required by the device according to the vendor

Not sure if this solves your problem, but I noticed that you don't have flow control enabled (e.g. myport.RtsEnable = false; myport.DtrEnable = false;).
Have you checked the documentation to make sure that the Bluetooth module doesn't require it? Typically devices with 115kbps and higher need flow control.
Another thing to check is the NewLine constant. You set it to the sys default which is likely Cr+Lf. Make sure that the module expects that.

C# check if a COM (Serial) port is already open

Is there an easy way of programmatically checking if a serial COM port is already open/being used?
Normally I would use:
try
{
// open port
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// handle the exception
}
However, I would like to programatically check so I can attempt to use another COM port or some such.

I needed something similar some time ago, to search for a device.
I obtained a list of available COM ports and then simply iterated over them, if it didn't throw an exception i tried to communicate with the device. A bit rough but working.
var portNames = SerialPort.GetPortNames();
foreach(var port in portNames) {
//Try for every portName and break on the first working
}

This is how I did it:
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern SafeFileHandle CreateFile(string lpFileName, int dwDesiredAccess, int dwShareMode, IntPtr securityAttrs, int dwCreationDisposition, int dwFlagsAndAttributes, IntPtr hTemplateFile);
then later on
int dwFlagsAndAttributes = 0x40000000;
var portName = "COM5";
var isValid = SerialPort.GetPortNames().Any(x => string.Compare(x, portName, true) == 0);
if (!isValid)
throw new System.IO.IOException(string.Format("{0} port was not found", portName));
//Borrowed from Microsoft's Serial Port Open Method :)
SafeFileHandle hFile = CreateFile(#"\\.\" + portName, -1073741824, 0, IntPtr.Zero, 3, dwFlagsAndAttributes, IntPtr.Zero);
if (hFile.IsInvalid)
throw new System.IO.IOException(string.Format("{0} port is already open", portName));
hFile.Close();
using (var serialPort = new SerialPort(portName, 115200, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One))
{
serialPort.Open();
}

For people that cannot use SerialPort.GetPortNames(); because they are not targeting .net framework (like in my case I am using .Net Core and NOT .Net Framework) here is what I ended up doing:
In command prompt if you type mode you get something like this:
mode is an executable located at C:\Windows\System32\mode.com. Just parse the results of that executable with a regex like this:
// Code that answers the question
var proc = new Process
{
StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
{
FileName = #"C:\Windows\System32\mode.com",
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
CreateNoWindow = true
}
};
proc.Start();
proc.WaitForExit(4000); // wait up to 4 seconds. It usually takes less than a second
// get ports being used
var output = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
Now if you want to parse the output this is how I do it:
List<string> comPortsBeingUsed = new List<string>();
Regex.Replace(output, #"(?xi) status [\s\w]+? (COM\d) \b ", regexCapture =>
{
comPortsBeingUsed.Add(regexCapture.Groups[1].Value);
return null;
});
foreach(var item in comPortsBeingUsed)
{
Console.WriteLine($"COM port {item} is in use");
}

I wanted to open the next available port and did it like this.
Please note, is it not for WPF but for Windows Forms.
I populated a combobox with the com ports available.
Then I try to open the first one. If it fails, I select the next available item from the combobox. If the selected index did not change in the end, there were no alternate com ports available and we show a message.
private void GetPortNames()
{
comboBoxComPort.Items.Clear();
foreach (string s in SerialPort.GetPortNames())
{
comboBoxComPort.Items.Add(s);
}
comboBoxComPort.SelectedIndex = 0;
}
private void OpenSerialPort()
{
try
{
serialPort1.PortName = comboBoxComPort.SelectedItem.ToString();
serialPort1.Open();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
int SelectedIndex = comboBoxComPort.SelectedIndex;
if (comboBoxComPort.SelectedIndex >= comboBoxComPort.Items.Count - 1)
{
comboBoxComPort.SelectedIndex = 0;
}
else
{
comboBoxComPort.SelectedIndex++;
}
if (comboBoxComPort.SelectedIndex == SelectedIndex)
{
buttonOpenClose.Text = "Open Port";
MessageBox.Show("Error accessing port." + Environment.NewLine + ex.Message, "Port Error!!!", MessageBoxButtons.OK);
}
else
{
OpenSerialPort();
}
}
if (serialPort1.IsOpen)
{
StartAsyncSerialReading();
}
}

The SerialPort class has an Open method, which will throw a few exceptions.
The reference above contains detailed examples.
See also, the IsOpen property.
A simple test:
using System;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
namespace SerPort1
{
class Program
{
static private SerialPort MyPort;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
MyPort = new SerialPort("COM1");
OpenMyPort();
Console.WriteLine("BaudRate {0}", MyPort.BaudRate);
OpenMyPort();
MyPort.Close();
Console.ReadLine();
}
private static void OpenMyPort()
{
try
{
MyPort.Open();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error opening my port: {0}", ex.Message);
}
}
}
}

Sharing what worked for me (a simple helper method):
private string portName { get; set; } = string.Empty;
/// <summary>
/// Returns SerialPort Port State (Open / Closed)
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
internal bool HasOpenPort()
{
bool portState = false;
if (portName != string.Empty)
{
using (SerialPort serialPort = new SerialPort(portName))
{
foreach (var itm in SerialPort.GetPortNames())
{
if (itm.Contains(serialPort.PortName))
{
if (serialPort.IsOpen) { portState = true; }
else { portState = false; }
}
}
}
}
else { System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Error: No Port Specified."); }
return portState;
}
Notes:
- For more advanced technique(s) I recommend using ManagementObjectSearcher Class.
More info Here.
- For Arduino devices I would leave the Port Open.
- Recommend using a Try Catch block if you need to catch exceptions.
- Check also: "TimeoutException"
- More information on how to get SerialPort (Open) Exceptions Here.

public void MobileMessages(string ComNo, string MobileMessage, string MobileNo)
{
if (SerialPort.IsOpen )
SerialPort.Close();
try
{
SerialPort.PortName = ComNo;
SerialPort.BaudRate = 9600;
SerialPort.Parity = Parity.None;
SerialPort.StopBits = StopBits.One;
SerialPort.DataBits = 8;
SerialPort.Handshake = Handshake.RequestToSend;
SerialPort.DtrEnable = true;
SerialPort.RtsEnable = true;
SerialPort.NewLine = Constants.vbCrLf;
string message;
message = MobileMessage;
SerialPort.Open();
if (SerialPort.IsOpen )
{
SerialPort.Write("AT" + Constants.vbCrLf);
SerialPort.Write("AT+CMGF=1" + Constants.vbCrLf);
SerialPort.Write("AT+CMGS=" + Strings.Chr(34) + MobileNo + Strings.Chr(34) + Constants.vbCrLf);
SerialPort.Write(message + Strings.Chr(26));
}
else
("Port not available");
SerialPort.Close();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
message.show("The port " + ComNo + " does not exist, change port no ");
}
}

I have been fighting with this problem for a few weeks now. Thanks to the suggestions on here and from the site, https://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/91090-c%23-serial-port-unauthorizedaccessexception/ .
I finally came up with a solution that seems to work.
The application I am working on allows a user to connect to a USB device and display data from it.
The Problem I was battling. Along side the application I am writing, I use another serial terminal application for doing my testing. Sometimes I forget to disconnect the COMport being used on the other application. If I do, and try to connect with the application I am writing, I would get an “UnAuthorizedAccessException” error. Along with this exception came some side effects, such as double lines of data being spit out and the application locking up on closing down.
My Solution
Thanks to the advice on here and the other site referenced, this was my solution.
private void checkAndFillPortNameList()
{
SerialPort _testingSerialPort;
AvailablePortNamesFound.Clear();
List<string> availablePortNames = new List<string>();//mySerial.GetAvailablePortNames();
foreach (string portName in SerialPortDataAccess.GetAvailablePortNames())
{
try
{
_testingSerialPort = new SerialPort(portName);
_testingSerialPort.Open();
if (_testingSerialPort.IsOpen)
{
availablePortNames.Add(portName);
_testingSerialPort.Close();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}
availablePortNames.Sort();
AvailablePortNamesFound = new ObservableCollection<string>(availablePortNames);
}
This routine connects to a combobox which holds the available Comports for selection. If a Comport is already, in use by another application, that port name will not appear in the combo box.

You can try folloing code to check whether a port already open or not. I'm assumming you dont know specificaly which port you want to check.
foreach (var portName in Serial.GetPortNames()
{
SerialPort port = new SerialPort(portName);
if (port.IsOpen){
/** do something **/
}
else {
/** do something **/
}
}