COMMTIMEOUT and Thread not timming out on serial port Read function - c++

Question

I am calling a function that operates an I/o board through a serial port to check that it is communicating in an instance of my main class.
I know that this is risky but unfortunately this is an old section of code that has been used for a while so I am unable to alter the functionality while I have been asked to improve it.
If there is no communication issue the application will start up, use the function and continue with no issue.
The problem arises when there is a communication fault with the I/o board, I have found that the read function is hanging and stopping the app from starting for the majority of the time. On occasion the app will load and will report that there is a communication fault.
What I am trying to achieve is for the application to load successfully every time when there is a communication fault.
The comport is set up with COMMTIMEOUTs originally which I expected would timeout the port when there has been nothing to read. I have attempted to alter the timings but with no avail.
I have also attempted to use a thread for the read function so that it would not block the start up but still it hangs.
Currently the port is set up synchronously.
Has anybody got any suggestions? I can put some code examples up if required.
Main.cpp
extern COMPort comPort;
BOOL Main::InitInstance()
{
int i = comPort.DoorLatchOff();
If(i<0) printf("Error checksum. COM port?\n");
else printf("checksum ok.\n");
}
COMPort.h
class CCOMPort
{
public:
CCOMPort (COM_PORT port = NULL_COM, DCB * state = NULL);
BOOL SetPortNumber (COM_PORT port = NULL_COM, DCB * state = NULL);
void Read(BYTE* buff, int count);
int DoorLatchOff(void);
protected:
HANDLE m_hPort;
};
static HANDLE m_hPortThreaded;
typedef struct readParam{BYTE* readBuff;int readCount;}RP, *PRP;
DWORD WINAPI ThreadedRead( LPVOID lpParam );
COMPort.cpp
CCOMPort::CCOMPort (COM_PORT port, DCB * state) : m_portNum (port), m_hPort(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
{
SetPortNumber (port, state);
}
BOOL CCOMPort::SetPortNumber (COM_PORT port, DCB * state)
{
if (m_hPort != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE){
::CloseHandle (m_hPort);
m_hPort = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
}
m_portNum = port;
m_currState = m_defState;
m_originState = m_defState;
if (m_portNum != NULL_COM){
stringstream ssPortName;
ssPortName << "COM" << (m_portNum + 1) << ":" << flush;
m_hPort = ::CreateFile (ssPortName.str().c_str(),
GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING,
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL | FILE_FLAG_WRITE_THROUGH,
NULL);
if (m_hPort == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
return FALSE;
else
{
GetState (& m_originState);
if (state)
m_currState = * state;
SetState (& m_currState);
GetCommTimeouts(m_hPort, &timeouts);
timeouts.ReadIntervalTimeout = 75; //15
timeouts.ReadTotalTimeoutMultiplier = 5; //1
timeouts.ReadTotalTimeoutConstant = 1250; //250
timeouts.WriteTotalTimeoutMultiplier = 5; //1
timeouts.WriteTotalTimeoutConstant = 1250; //250
SetCommTimeouts(m_hPort, &timeouts);
FlushOutput ();
FlushInput ();
PurgeOutput ();
PurgeInput ();
}
}
return TRUE;
}
void CCOMPort::Read(BYTE* buff, int count)
{
PRP pReadArray[1];
DWORD dwThreadArray[1];
HANDLE hThreadArray[1];
m_hPortThreaded = m_hPort;
pReadArray[0] = (PRP) HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), HEAP_ZERO_MEMORY, sizeof(RP));
if(pReadArray[0] == NULL){
ExitProcess(2);
}
pReadArray[0]->readBuff = buff;
pReadArray[0]->readCount = count;
hThreadArray[0] = CreateThread(NULL,
0,
ThreadedRead,
pReadArray[0],
0,
&dwThreadArray[0]);
if(hThreadArray[0] == NULL){
ExitProcess(3);
}
WaitForSingleObject(hThreadArray[0],500/*INFINITE*/);
CloseHandle(hThreadArray[0]);
if(pReadArray[0] != NULL){
HeapFree(GetProcessHeap(), 0, pReadArray[0]);
pReadArray[0] = NULL;
}
}
DWORD WINAPI ThreadedRead(LPVOID lpParam)
{
BOOL bDone = FALSE, bResult;
//int buff_idx = 0;
DWORD dwCommModemStatus;
DWORD dwBytesTransfered;
PRP pReadArray;
pReadArray = (PRP)lpParam;
SetCommMask(m_hPortThreaded, EV_RXCHAR);
while(!bDone){
WaitCommEvent(m_hPortThreaded, &dwCommModemStatus, 0);
if(dwCommModemStatus == 0){
bDone = TRUE;
break;
}
if(dwCommModemStatus & EV_RXCHAR){
bResult = ReadFile(m_hPortThreaded, pReadArray[0].readBuff, pReadArray[0].readCount, &dwBytesTransfered, 0);
bDone = TRUE;
}
}
return(bResult);
}
int COMPort::DoorLatchOff(void)
{
unsigned char comm_str[10];
int chksum, chksum1;
DWORD count = 6;
WriteComm(21, 7, 0);
comm.Read(comm_str, count);
chksum = comm_str[0] + comm_str[2] + comm_str[3];
chksum1 = comm_str[4];
chksum1 = (chksum1 << 8) | comm_str[5];
if(chksum == chksum1)
return(0);
else
return(-1);
}

Answer 1

Recently I stuck at the same problem, but I have solved it.
There are two ways:
On forums some people recomend to set both ReadIntervalTimeout and ReadTotalTimeoutMultiplier to MAXDWORD, as recomened in MSDN documentation in the REMARKS section. But in this case the funtion returns each time when there is at least one character in the input buffer.
The most robust decision I have found is just to set ReadIntervalTimeout and ReadTotalTimeoutMultiplier to 0, and ReadTotalTimeoutConstant to your timeout value, as below. It works pretty fine for me.
COMMTIMEOUTS commtimeouts;
GetCommTimeouts (hCommFile, &commtimeouts);
commtimeouts.ReadIntervalTimeout = 0;
commtimeouts.ReadTotalTimeoutMultiplier = 0;
commtimeouts.ReadTotalTimeoutConstant = timeout;
commtimeouts.WriteTotalTimeoutMultiplier = 0;
commtimeouts.WriteTotalTimeoutConstant = 0;
SetCommTimeouts (hCommFile, &commtimeouts);

Answer 2

Please, could you try to remove the WaitCommEvent function from ThreadedRead and see if it still hangs?
DWORD WINAPI ThreadedRead(LPVOID lpParam)
{
BOOL bResult;
DWORD dwBytesTransfered = 0;
PRP pReadArray;
pReadArray = (PRP)lpParam;
while (dwBytesTransfered == 0) {
bResult = ReadFile(m_hPortThreaded, pReadArray[0].readBuff, pReadArray[0].readCount, &dwBytesTransfered, 0);
Sleep(250);
}
return(bResult);
}

Answer 3

When dealing with hw I/O it is a best practice to decouple the Application (GUI) thread from the command-execution thread.
If you are developing a C++ Win32 app you could use SerialLib. It is an old but stable Win32 event-driven serial library.