How to do robust SerialPort programming with .NET / C#?

Question

I\'m writing a Windows Service for communication with a Serial Mag-stripe reader and a relay board (access control system).

I run into problems where the code stops

Answer 1

Have you tried leaving the port open in your application, and just turning DtrEnable on/off, and then closing the port when your application closes? i.e:

using (SerialPort serialPort = new SerialPort("COM1", 9600))
{
    serialPort.Open();
    while (true)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
        serialPort.DtrEnable = true;
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
        serialPort.DtrEnable = false;
    }
    serialPort.Close();
}

I'm not familiar with DTR semantics, so I don't know if this would work.