QSerialPort Class

Provides functions to access serial ports. More...

#include <QSerialPort>

Note: All functions in this class are reentrant.

This class was introduced in QtSerialPort 5.1.

Public Types

enum BaudRate { Baud1200, Baud2400, Baud4800, Baud9600, ..., UnknownBaud }
enum DataBits { Data5, Data6, Data7, Data8, UnknownDataBits }
enum DataErrorPolicy { SkipPolicy, PassZeroPolicy, IgnorePolicy, StopReceivingPolicy, UnknownPolicy }
enum Direction { Input, Output, AllDirections }
flags Directions
enum FlowControl { NoFlowControl, HardwareControl, SoftwareControl, UnknownFlowControl }
enum Parity { NoParity, EvenParity, OddParity, SpaceParity, MarkParity, UnknownParity }
enum PinoutSignal { NoSignal, TransmittedDataSignal, ReceivedDataSignal, DataTerminalReadySignal, ..., SecondaryReceivedDataSignal }
flags PinoutSignals
enum SerialPortError { NoError, DeviceNotFoundError, PermissionError, OpenError, ..., UnknownError }
enum StopBits { OneStop, OneAndHalfStop, TwoStop, UnknownStopBits }

Properties

Public Functions

QSerialPort(QObject * parent = 0)
QSerialPort(const QString & name, QObject * parent = 0)
QSerialPort(const QSerialPortInfo & serialPortInfo, QObject * parent = 0)
virtual ~QSerialPort()
bool atEnd() const
qint32 baudRate(Directions dir = AllDirections) const
qint64 bytesAvailable() const
qint64 bytesToWrite() const
bool canReadLine() const
bool clear(Directions dir = AllDirections)
void clearError()
void close()
DataBits dataBits() const
DataErrorPolicy dataErrorPolicy() const
SerialPortError error() const
FlowControl flowControl() const
bool flush()
bool isDataTerminalReady()
bool isRequestToSend()
bool isSequential() const
bool open(OpenMode mode)
Parity parity() const
PinoutSignals pinoutSignals()
QString portName() const
qint64 readBufferSize() const
bool sendBreak(int duration = 0)
bool setBaudRate(qint32 baudRate, Directions dir = AllDirections)
bool setBreakEnabled(bool set = true)
bool setDataBits(DataBits dataBits)
bool setDataErrorPolicy(DataErrorPolicy policy = IgnorePolicy)
bool setDataTerminalReady(bool set)
bool setFlowControl(FlowControl flow)
bool setParity(Parity parity)
void setPort(const QSerialPortInfo & serialPortInfo)
void setPortName(const QString & name)
void setReadBufferSize(qint64 size)
bool setRequestToSend(bool set)
void setSettingsRestoredOnClose(bool restore)
bool setStopBits(StopBits stopBits)
bool settingsRestoredOnClose() const
StopBits stopBits() const
bool waitForBytesWritten(int msecs)
bool waitForReadyRead(int msecs)

Signals

void baudRateChanged(qint32 baudRate, QSerialPort::Directions dir)
void dataBitsChanged(QSerialPort::DataBits dataBits)
void dataErrorPolicyChanged(QSerialPort::DataErrorPolicy policy)
void dataTerminalReadyChanged(bool set)
void error(QSerialPort::SerialPortError error)
void flowControlChanged(QSerialPort::FlowControl flow)
void parityChanged(QSerialPort::Parity parity)
void requestToSendChanged(bool set)
void settingsRestoredOnCloseChanged(bool restore)
void stopBitsChanged(QSerialPort::StopBits stopBits)

Protected Functions

qint64 readData(char * data, qint64 maxSize)
qint64 readLineData(char * data, qint64 maxSize)
qint64 writeData(const char * data, qint64 maxSize)

Detailed Description

Provides functions to access serial ports.

You can get information about the available serial ports using the QSerialPortInfo helper class, which allows an enumeration of all the serial ports in the system. This is useful to obtain the correct name of the serial port you want to use. You can pass an object of the helper class as an argument to the setPort() or setPortName() methods to assign the desired serial device.

After setting the port, you can open it in read-only (r/o), write-only (w/o), or read-write (r/w) mode using the open() method.

Note: The serial port is always opened with exclusive access (that is, no other process or thread can access an already opened serial port).

Having successfully opened, QSerialPort tries to determine the current configuration of the port and initializes itself. You can reconfigure the port to the desired setting using the setBaudRate(), setDataBits(), setParity(), setStopBits(), and setFlowControl() methods.

The status of the control pinout signals is determined with the isDataTerminalReady(), isRequestToSend, and pinoutSignals() methods. To change the control line status, use the setDataTerminalReady(), and setRequestToSend() methods.

Once you know that the ports are ready to read or write, you can use the read() or write() methods. Alternatively the readLine() and readAll() convenience methods can also be invoked. If not all the data is read at once, the remaining data will be available for later as new incoming data is appended to the QSerialPort's internal read buffer. You can limit the size of the read buffer using setReadBufferSize().

Use the close() method to close the port and cancel the I/O operations.

See the following example:

int numRead = 0, numReadTotal = 0;
char buffer[50];

forever {
    numRead  = serial.read(buffer, 50);

    // Do whatever with the array

    numReadTotal += numRead;
    if (numRead == 0 && !serial.waitForReadyRead())
        break;
}

If waitForReadyRead() returns false, the connection has been closed or an error has occurred.

Programming with a blocking serial port is radically different from programming with a non-blocking serial port. A blocking serial port does not require an event loop and typically leads to simpler code. However, in a GUI application, blocking serial port should only be used in non-GUI threads, to avoid freezing the user interface.

For more details about these approaches, refer to the example applications.

The QSerialPort class can also be used with QTextStream and QDataStream's stream operators (operator<<() and operator>>()). There is one issue to be aware of, though: make sure that enough data is available before attempting to read by using the operator>>() overloaded operator.

See also QSerialPortInfo.

Member Type Documentation

enum QSerialPort::BaudRate

This enum describes the baud rate which the communication device operates with. Note: only the most common standard baud rates are listed in this enum.

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::Baud120012001200 baud.
QSerialPort::Baud240024002400 baud.
QSerialPort::Baud480048004800 baud.
QSerialPort::Baud960096009600 baud.
QSerialPort::Baud192001920019200 baud.
QSerialPort::Baud384003840038400 baud.
QSerialPort::Baud576005760057600 baud.
QSerialPort::Baud115200115200115200 baud.
QSerialPort::UnknownBaud-1Unknown baud.

See also QSerialPort::baudRate.

enum QSerialPort::DataBits

This enum describes the number of data bits used.

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::Data55Five bits.
QSerialPort::Data66Six bits.
QSerialPort::Data77Seven bits
QSerialPort::Data88Eight bits.
QSerialPort::UnknownDataBits-1Unknown number of bits.

See also QSerialPort::dataBits.

enum QSerialPort::DataErrorPolicy

This enum describes the policies for the received symbols while parity errors were detected.

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::SkipPolicy0Skips the bad character.
QSerialPort::PassZeroPolicy1Replaces bad character to zero.
QSerialPort::IgnorePolicy2Ignores the error for a bad character.
QSerialPort::StopReceivingPolicy3Stops data reception on error.
QSerialPort::UnknownPolicy-1Unknown policy.

See also QSerialPort::dataErrorPolicy.

enum QSerialPort::Direction
flags QSerialPort::Directions

This enum describes the possible directions of the data transmission.

Note: This enumeration is used for setting the baud rate of the device separately for each direction on some operating systems (for example, POSIX-like).

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::Input1Input direction.
QSerialPort::Output2Output direction.
QSerialPort::AllDirectionsInput | OutputSimultaneously in two directions.

The Directions type is a typedef for QFlags<Direction>. It stores an OR combination of Direction values.

enum QSerialPort::FlowControl

This enum describes the flow control used.

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::NoFlowControl0No flow control.
QSerialPort::HardwareControl1Hardware flow control (RTS/CTS).
QSerialPort::SoftwareControl2Software flow control (XON/XOFF).
QSerialPort::UnknownFlowControl-1Unknown flow control.

See also QSerialPort::flowControl.

enum QSerialPort::Parity

This enum describes the parity scheme used.

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::NoParity0No parity.
QSerialPort::EvenParity2Even parity.
QSerialPort::OddParity3Odd parity.
QSerialPort::SpaceParity4Space parity.
QSerialPort::MarkParity5Mark parity.
QSerialPort::UnknownParity-1Unknown parity.

See also QSerialPort::parity.

enum QSerialPort::PinoutSignal
flags QSerialPort::PinoutSignals

This enum describes the possible RS-232 pinout signals.

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::NoSignal0x00No line active
QSerialPort::TransmittedDataSignal0x01TxD (Transmitted Data).
QSerialPort::ReceivedDataSignal0x02RxD (Received Data).
QSerialPort::DataTerminalReadySignal0x04DTR (Data Terminal Ready).
QSerialPort::DataCarrierDetectSignal0x08DCD (Data Carrier Detect).
QSerialPort::DataSetReadySignal0x10DSR (Data Set Ready).
QSerialPort::RingIndicatorSignal0x20RNG (Ring Indicator).
QSerialPort::RequestToSendSignal0x40RTS (Request To Send).
QSerialPort::ClearToSendSignal0x80CTS (Clear To Send).
QSerialPort::SecondaryTransmittedDataSignal0x100STD (Secondary Transmitted Data).
QSerialPort::SecondaryReceivedDataSignal0x200SRD (Secondary Received Data).

The PinoutSignals type is a typedef for QFlags<PinoutSignal>. It stores an OR combination of PinoutSignal values.

See also pinoutSignals(), QSerialPort::dataTerminalReady, and QSerialPort::requestToSend.

enum QSerialPort::SerialPortError

This enum describes the errors that may be contained by the QSerialPort::error property.

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::NoError0No error occurred.
QSerialPort::DeviceNotFoundError1An error occurred while attempting to open an non-existing device.
QSerialPort::PermissionError2An error occurred while attempting to open an already opened device by another process or a user not having enough permission and credentials to open.
QSerialPort::OpenError3An error occurred while attempting to open an already opened device in this object.
QSerialPort::ParityError4Parity error detected by the hardware while reading data.
QSerialPort::FramingError5Framing error detected by the hardware while reading data.
QSerialPort::BreakConditionError6Break condition detected by the hardware on the input line.
QSerialPort::WriteError7An I/O error occurred while writing the data.
QSerialPort::ReadError8An I/O error occurred while reading the data.
QSerialPort::ResourceError9An I/O error occurred when a resource becomes unavailable, e.g. when the device is unexpectedly removed from the system.
QSerialPort::UnsupportedOperationError10The requested device operation is not supported or prohibited by the running operating system.
QSerialPort::UnknownError11An unidentified error occurred.

See also QSerialPort::error.

enum QSerialPort::StopBits

This enum describes the number of stop bits used.

ConstantValueDescription
QSerialPort::OneStop11 stop bit.
QSerialPort::OneAndHalfStop31.5 stop bits.
QSerialPort::TwoStop22 stop bits.
QSerialPort::UnknownStopBits-1Unknown number of stop bit.

See also QSerialPort::stopBits.

Property Documentation

baudRate : qint32

This property holds the data baud rate for the desired direction.

If the setting is successful, returns true; otherwise returns false and sets an error code which can be obtained by accessing the value of the QSerialPort::error property. To set the baud rate, use the enumeration QSerialPort::BaudRate or any positive qint32 value.

Warning: Only the AllDirections flag is support for setting this property on Windows, Windows CE, and Symbian.

Warning: Returns equal baud rate in any direction on Windows, Windows CE, and Symbian.

Access functions:

qint32 baudRate(Directions dir = AllDirections) const
bool setBaudRate(qint32 baudRate, Directions dir = AllDirections)

Notifier signal:

void baudRateChanged(qint32 baudRate, QSerialPort::Directions dir)

dataBits : DataBits

This property holds the data bits in a frame.

If the setting is successful, returns true; otherwise returns false and sets an error code which can be obtained by accessing the value of the QSerialPort::error property.

Access functions:

DataBits dataBits() const
bool setDataBits(DataBits dataBits)

Notifier signal:

void dataBitsChanged(QSerialPort::DataBits dataBits)

dataErrorPolicy : DataErrorPolicy

This property holds the error policy how the process receives the character in case of parity error detection.

If the setting is successful, returns true; otherwise returns false. The default policy set is IgnorePolicy.

Access functions:

DataErrorPolicy dataErrorPolicy() const
bool setDataErrorPolicy(DataErrorPolicy policy = IgnorePolicy)

Notifier signal:

void dataErrorPolicyChanged(QSerialPort::DataErrorPolicy policy)

dataTerminalReady : bool

This property holds the state (high or low) of the line signal DTR.

If the setting is successful, returns true; otherwise returns false. If the flag is true then the DTR signal is set to high; otherwise low.

Access functions:

bool isDataTerminalReady()
bool setDataTerminalReady(bool set)

Notifier signal:

void dataTerminalReadyChanged(bool set)

See also pinoutSignals().

error : SerialPortError

This property holds the error status of the serial port.

The I/O device status returns an error code. For example, if open() returns false, or a read/write operation returns -1, this property can be used to figure out the reason why the operation failed.

The error code is set to the default QSerialPort::NoError after a call to clearError()

Access functions:

SerialPortError error() const
void error(QSerialPort::SerialPortError error)
void clearError()

flowControl : FlowControl

This property holds the desired flow control mode.

If the setting is successful, returns true; otherwise returns false and sets an error code which can be obtained by accessing the value of the QSerialPort::error property.

Access functions:

FlowControl flowControl() const
bool setFlowControl(FlowControl flow)

Notifier signal:

void flowControlChanged(QSerialPort::FlowControl flow)

parity : Parity

This property holds the parity checking mode.

If the setting is successful, returns true; otherwise returns false and sets an error code which can be obtained by accessing the value of the QSerialPort::error property.

Access functions:

Parity parity() const
bool setParity(Parity parity)

Notifier signal:

void parityChanged(QSerialPort::Parity parity)

requestToSend : bool

This property holds the state (high or low) of the line signal RTS.

If the setting is successful, returns true; otherwise returns false. If the flag is true then the RTS signal is set to high; otherwise low.

Access functions:

bool isRequestToSend()
bool setRequestToSend(bool set)

Notifier signal:

void requestToSendChanged(bool set)

See also pinoutSignals().

settingsRestoredOnClose : bool

This property holds the flag which allows to restore the previous settings while closing the serial port.

If this flag is true, the settings will be restored; otherwise not. The default state of the QSerialPort class is configured to restore the settings.

Access functions:

bool settingsRestoredOnClose() const
void setSettingsRestoredOnClose(bool restore)

Notifier signal:

void settingsRestoredOnCloseChanged(bool restore)

stopBits : StopBits

This property holds the number of stop bits in a frame.

If the setting is successful, returns true; otherwise returns false and sets an error code which can be obtained by accessing the value of the QSerialPort::error property.

Access functions:

StopBits stopBits() const
bool setStopBits(StopBits stopBits)

Notifier signal:

void stopBitsChanged(QSerialPort::StopBits stopBits)

Member Function Documentation

QSerialPort::QSerialPort(QObject * parent = 0)

Constructs a new serial port object with the given parent.

QSerialPort::QSerialPort(const QString & name, QObject * parent = 0)

Constructs a new serial port object with the given parent to represent the serial port with the specified name.

The name should have a specific format; see the setPort() method.

QSerialPort::QSerialPort(const QSerialPortInfo & serialPortInfo, QObject * parent = 0)

Constructs a new serial port object with the given parent to represent the serial port with the specified helper class serialPortInfo.

QSerialPort::~QSerialPort() [virtual]

Closes the serial port, if necessary, and then destroys object.

bool QSerialPort::atEnd() const

Returns true if no more data is currently available for reading; otherwise returns false.

This function is most commonly used when reading data from the serial port in a loop. For example:

// This slot is connected to QSerialPort::readyRead()
void QSerialPortClass::readyReadSlot()
{
    while (!port.atEnd()) {
        QByteArray data = port.read(100);
        ....
    }
}

See also bytesAvailable() and readyRead().

qint64 QSerialPort::bytesAvailable() const

Returns the number of incoming bytes that are waiting to be read.

See also bytesToWrite() and read().

qint64 QSerialPort::bytesToWrite() const

Returns the number of bytes that are waiting to be written. The bytes are written when control goes back to the event loop or when flush() is called.

See also bytesAvailable() and flush().

bool QSerialPort::canReadLine() const

Returns true if a line of data can be read from the serial port; otherwise returns false.

See also readLine().

bool QSerialPort::clear(Directions dir = AllDirections)

Discards all characters from the output or input buffer, depending on a given direction dir. Including clear an internal class buffers and the UART (driver) buffers. Also terminate pending read or write operations. If successful, returns true; otherwise returns false.

void QSerialPort::close()

See also QIODevice::close().

bool QSerialPort::flush()

This function writes as much as possible from the internal write buffer to the underlying serial port without blocking. If any data was written, this function returns true; otherwise returns false.

Call this function for sending the buffered data immediately to the serial port. The number of bytes successfully written depends on the operating system. In most cases, this function does not need to be called, because the QSerialPort class will start sending data automatically once control is returned to the event loop. In the absence of an event loop, call waitForBytesWritten() instead.

See also write() and waitForBytesWritten().

bool QSerialPort::isSequential() const

Always returns true. The serial port is a sequential device.

bool QSerialPort::open(OpenMode mode)

Opens the serial port using OpenMode mode, and then returns true if successful; otherwise returns false with and sets an error code which can be obtained by calling the error() method.

Warning: The mode has to be QIODevice::ReadOnly, QIODevice::WriteOnly, or QIODevice::ReadWrite. Other modes are unsupported.

See also QIODevice::OpenMode and setPort().

PinoutSignals QSerialPort::pinoutSignals()

Returns the state of the line signals in a bitmap format.

From this result, it is possible to allocate the state of the desired signal by applying a mask "AND", where the mask is the desired enumeration value from QSerialPort::PinoutSignals.

Note that, this method performs a system call, thus ensuring that the line signal states are returned properly. This is necessary when the underlying operating systems cannot provide proper notifications about the changes.

See also isDataTerminalReady(), isRequestToSend, setDataTerminalReady(), and setRequestToSend().

QString QSerialPort::portName() const

Returns the name set by setPort() or to the QSerialPort constructors. This name is short, i.e. it extract and convert out from the internal variable system location of the device. Conversion algorithm is platform specific:

PlatformBrief Description
WindowsRemoves the prefix "\\.\" from the system location and returns the remainder of the string.
Windows CERemoves the postfix ":" from the system location and returns the remainder of the string.
SymbianReturns the system location as it is, as it is equivalent to the port name.
GNU/LinuxRemoves the prefix "/dev/" from the system location and returns the remainder of the string.
Mac OSXRemoves the prefix "/dev/cu." and "/dev/tty." from the system location and returns the remainder of the string.
Other *nixThe same as for GNU/Linux.

See also setPortName(), setPort(), and QSerialPortInfo::portName().

qint64 QSerialPort::readBufferSize() const

Returns the size of the internal read buffer. This limits the amount of data that the client can receive before calling the read() or readAll() methods.

A read buffer size of 0 (the default) means that the buffer has no size limit, ensuring that no data is lost.

See also setReadBufferSize() and read().

qint64 QSerialPort::readData(char * data, qint64 maxSize) [protected]

qint64 QSerialPort::readLineData(char * data, qint64 maxSize) [protected]

bool QSerialPort::sendBreak(int duration = 0)

Sends a continuous stream of zero bits during a specified period of time duration in msec if the terminal is using asynchronous serial data. If successful, returns true; otherwise returns false.

If the duration is zero then zero bits are transmitted by at least 0.25 seconds, but no more than 0.5 seconds.

If the duration is non zero then zero bits are transmitted within a certain period of time depending on the implementation.

See also setBreakEnabled().

bool QSerialPort::setBreakEnabled(bool set = true)

Controls the signal break, depending on the flag set. If successful, returns true; otherwise returns false.

If set is true then enables the break transmission; otherwise disables.

See also sendBreak().

void QSerialPort::setPort(const QSerialPortInfo & serialPortInfo)

Sets the port stored in the serial port info instance serialPortInfo.

See also portName() and QSerialPortInfo.

void QSerialPort::setPortName(const QString & name)

Sets the name of the serial port.

The name of the serial port can be passed on as either a short name or the long system location if necessary.

See also portName() and QSerialPortInfo.

void QSerialPort::setReadBufferSize(qint64 size)

Sets the size of QSerialPort's internal read buffer to be size bytes.

If the buffer size is limited to a certain size, QSerialPort will not buffer more than this size of data. Exceptionally, a buffer size of 0 means that the read buffer is unlimited and all incoming data is buffered. This is the default.

This option is useful if the data is only read at certain points in time (for instance in a real-time streaming application) or if the serial port should be protected against receiving too much data, which may eventually causes that the application runs out of memory.

See also readBufferSize() and read().

bool QSerialPort::waitForBytesWritten(int msecs)

bool QSerialPort::waitForReadyRead(int msecs)

This function blocks until new data is available for reading and the readyRead() signal has been emitted. The function will timeout after msecs milliseconds.

The function returns true if the readyRead() signal is emitted and there is new data available for reading; otherwise it returns false (if an error occurred or the operation timed out).

See also waitForBytesWritten().

qint64 QSerialPort::writeData(const char * data, qint64 maxSize) [protected]