hs.serial

Communicate with external devices through a serial port (most commonly RS-232).

Powered by ORSSerialPort. Thrown together by @latenitefilms.

Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Andrew R. Madsen ([email protected])

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

API Overview

Functions - API calls offered directly by the extension

  • availablePortDetails
  • availablePortNames
  • availablePortPaths
  • deviceCallback

Constructors - API calls which return an object, typically one that offers API methods

  • newFromName
  • newFromPath

Methods - API calls which can only be made on an object returned by a constructor

  • baudRate
  • callback
  • close
  • dataBits
  • dtr
  • isOpen
  • name
  • open
  • parity
  • path
  • rts
  • sendData
  • shouldEchoReceivedData
  • stopBits
  • usesDTRDSRFlowControl
  • usesRTSCTSFlowControl

API Documentation

Functions

availablePortDetails

   
Signature hs.serial.availablePortDetails() -> table
Type Function
Description Returns a table of currently connected serial ports details, organised by port name.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • A table containing the IOKit details of any connected serial ports, organised by port name.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 655

availablePortNames

   
Signature hs.serial.availablePortNames() -> table
Type Function
Description Returns a table of currently connected serial ports names.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • A table containing the names of any connected serial port names as strings.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 631

availablePortPaths

   
Signature hs.serial.availablePortPaths() -> table
Type Function
Description Returns a table of currently connected serial ports paths.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • A table containing the names of any connected serial port paths as strings.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 683

deviceCallback

   
Signature hs.serial.deviceCallback(callbackFn) -> none
Type Function
Description A callback that's triggered when a serial port is added or removed from the system.
Parameters
  • callbackFn - the callback function to trigger, or nil to remove the current callback
Returns
  • None
Notes
  • The callback function should expect 1 argument and should not return anything:
  • devices - A table containing the names of any serial ports connected as strings.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 1161

Constructors

newFromName

   
Signature hs.serial.newFromName(portName) -> serialPortObject
Type Constructor
Description Creates a new hs.serial object using the port name.
Parameters
  • portName - A string containing the port name.
Returns
  • An hs.serial object or nil if an error occurred.
Notes
  • A valid port name can be found by checking hs.serial.availablePortNames().
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 525

newFromPath

   
Signature hs.serial.newFromPath(path) -> serialPortObject
Type Constructor
Description Creates a new hs.serial object using a path.
Parameters
  • path - A string containing the path (i.e. "/dev/cu.usbserial").
Returns
  • An hs.serial object or nil if an error occurred.
Notes
  • A valid port name can be found by checking hs.serial.availablePortPaths().
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 558

Methods

baudRate

   
Signature hs.serial:baudRate([value], [allowNonStandardBaudRates]) -> number | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets the baud rate for the serial port.
Parameters
  • value - An optional number to set the baud rate.
  • [allowNonStandardBaudRates] - An optional boolean to enable non-standard baud rates. Defaults to false.
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns the baud rate as a number
Notes
  • This function supports the following standard baud rates as numbers: 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 14400, 19200, 28800, 38400, 57600, 115200, 230400.
  • If no baud rate is supplied, it defaults to 115200.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 783

callback

   
Signature hs.serial:callback(callbackFn) -> serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Sets or removes a callback function for the hs.serial object.
Parameters
  • callbackFn - a function to set as the callback for this hs.serial object. If the value provided is nil, any currently existing callback function is removed.
Returns
  • The hs.serial object
Notes
  • The callback function should expect 4 arguments and should not return anything:
  • serialPortObject - The serial port object that triggered the callback.
  • callbackType - A string containing "opened", "closed", "received", "removed" or "error".
  • message - If the callbackType is "received", then this will be the data received as a string. If the callbackType is "error", this will be the error message as a string.
  • hexadecimalString - If the callbackType is "received", then this will be the data received as a hexadecimal string.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 591

close

   
Signature hs.serial:close() -> serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Closes the serial port.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • The hs.serial object.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 765

dataBits

   
Signature hs.serial:dataBits([value]) -> number | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets the number of data bits for the serial port.
Parameters
  • value - An optional number to set the number of data bits. It can be 5 to 8.
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns the data bits as a number.
  • The default value is 8.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 1091

dtr

   
Signature hs.serial:dtr([value]) -> boolean | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets the state of the serial port's DTR (Data Terminal Ready) pin.
Parameters
  • value - An optional boolean.
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns a boolean.
Notes
  • The default value is false.
  • Setting this to true is most likely required for Arduino devices prior to opening the serial port.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 972

isOpen

   
Signature hs.serial:isOpen() -> boolean
Type Method
Description Gets whether or not a serial port is open.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • true if open, otherwise false.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 1122

name

   
Signature hs.serial:name() -> string
Type Method
Description Returns the name of a hs.serial object.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • The name as a string.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 707

open

   
Signature hs.serial:open() -> serialPortObject | nil
Type Method
Description Opens the serial port.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • The hs.serial object or nil if the port could not be opened.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 743

parity

   
Signature hs.serial:parity([value]) -> string | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets the parity for the serial port.
Parameters
  • value - An optional string to set the parity. It can be "none", "odd" or "even".
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns a string value of "none", "odd" or "even".
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 834

path

   
Signature hs.serial:path() -> string
Type Method
Description Returns the path of a hs.serial object.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • The path as a string.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 725

rts

   
Signature hs.serial:rts([value]) -> boolean | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets the state of the serial port's RTS (Request to Send) pin.
Parameters
  • value - An optional boolean.
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns a boolean.
Notes
  • The default value is false.
  • Setting this to true is most likely required for Arduino devices prior to opening the serial port.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 1001

sendData

   
Signature hs.serial:sendData(value) -> none
Type Method
Description Sends data via a serial port.
Parameters
  • value - A string of data to send.
Returns
  • None
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 1140

shouldEchoReceivedData

   
Signature hs.serial:shouldEchoReceivedData([value]) -> boolean | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets whether the port should echo received data.
Parameters
  • value - An optional boolean.
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns a boolean.
Notes
  • The default value is false.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 1030

stopBits

   
Signature hs.serial:stopBits([value]) -> number | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets the number of stop bits for the serial port.
Parameters
  • value - An optional number to set the number of stop bits. It can be 1 or 2.
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns the number of stop bits as a number.
Notes
  • The default value is 1.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 1058

usesDTRDSRFlowControl

   
Signature hs.serial:usesDTRDSRFlowControl([value]) -> boolean | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets whether the port should use DTR/DSR Flow Control.
Parameters
  • value - An optional boolean.
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns a boolean.
Notes
  • The default value is false.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 916

usesRTSCTSFlowControl

   
Signature hs.serial:usesRTSCTSFlowControl([value]) -> boolean | serialPortObject
Type Method
Description Gets or sets whether the port should use RTS/CTS Flow Control.
Parameters
  • value - An optional boolean.
Returns
  • If a value is specified, then this method returns the serial port object. Otherwise this method returns a boolean.
Notes
  • The default value is false.
Examples None
Source extensions/serial/libserial.m line 944

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