raacampbell:
PeterH:
Serial port handling is usually simple and only involves a few lines of code. I suggest you write a test sketch that demonstrates your problem in the simplest possible way, and then post it here.You're right, I should have done that. You guys have provided valuable suggestions, though. It does looks like I need an extra check that characters are available. I try that today and see what happens.
Could you just explain one thing?
Why make a program so big it can't be posted that includes parts you do not have working, practiced understanding of?
I'm not poking at you to make fun or anything. I just see so much of this that the question of "Why?" comes ever more clearly to mind.
I've seen that going back to 1980 when I had to fix piece by piece a PhD thesis business package in line number basic while I was still learning basic and had no degree myself.
What is the view of programming that leads to writing a pile of errors before checking let alone fixing any of them? I would truly like to understand because perhaps somewhere in the knowing of that there might be a simple way to get people to stop doing that.
Years could be saved in which to waste in other less productive ways!