Convert serial.read() into a useable string using Arduino?

Question

I\'m using two Arduinos to sent plain text strings to each other using newsoftserial and an RF transceiver.

Each string is perhaps 20-30 characters in length. How do

Answer 1

If you want to read messages from the serial port and you need to deal with every single message separately I suggest separating messages into parts using a separator like this:

String getMessage()
{
  String msg=""; //the message starts empty
  byte ch; // the character that you use to construct the Message 
  byte d='#';// the separating symbol 

  if(Serial.available())// checks if there is a new message;
  {
    while(Serial.available() && Serial.peek()!=d)// while the message did not finish
    {
      ch=Serial.read();// get the character
      msg+=(char)ch;//add the character to the message
      delay(1);//wait for the next character
    }
  ch=Serial.read();// pop the '#' from the buffer
  if(ch==d) // id finished
  return msg;
  else
  return "NA";
  }
else
return "NA"; // return "NA" if no message;
}

This way you will get a single message every time you use the function.