Serial Protocol Module Overview

Provides a framework for writing software serial ports: networking protocol stacks that can implement a serial-like interface.

Writing serial protocol modules is an advanced task normally performed only by system programmers.

Serial protocol modules (CSY modules) are loaded by the Serial Comms server, and are not directly accessed by client applications. The server passes client requests, such as to read from a port, to the appropriate CSY.

Serial protocol module implementations typically call low-level device driver interfaces to access their appropriate communications hardware.

The API has three key concepts: serial service provider, serial protocol factory, and serial protocol information.

The serial service provider defines an interface that encapsulates a port, with methods largely corresponding to the port interface provided to clients by the Serial Communications Server Client Side API. A serial protocol module implements the interface to access the hardware ports for its protocol.

The serial service provider interface is provided by CPort.

The serial protocol factory defines an interface that the Serial Comms server calls to create serial service providers. A serial protocol module implements the interface to provide a factory for its own serial service provider objects.

The serial protocol factory interface is provided by CSerial.

Serial protocol information specifies information about the ports, such as name and number, accessible through the protocol. A serial protocol module provides suitably configured protocol information to the server.

The serial protocol information interface is provided by TSerialInfo.