Hey I think I found the source code for the chat VB application.
Pasting it:
Visual Basic 2005 band up – Chat over serial port
Imports System
Imports System.IO.Ports
Imports System.Threading
Public Class PortChat
Shared _continue As Boolean
Shared _serialPort As SerialPort
Public Shared Sub Main()
Dim name As String
Dim message As String
Dim sComparer As StringComparer = StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase
Dim readThread As Thread = New Thread(AddressOf Read)
' Create a new SerialPort object with default settings.
_serialPort = New SerialPort()
' Allow the user to set the appropriate properties.
_serialPort.PortName = SetPortName(_serialPort.PortName)
_serialPort.BaudRate = SetPortBaudRate(_serialPort.BaudRate)
_serialPort.Parity = SetPortParity(_serialPort.Parity)
_serialPort.DataBits = SetPortDataBits(_serialPort.DataBits)
_serialPort.StopBits = SetPortStopBits(_serialPort.StopBits)
_serialPort.Handshake = SetPortHandshake(_serialPort.Handshake)
' Set the read/write timeouts
_serialPort.ReadTimeout = 500
_serialPort.WriteTimeout = 500
_serialPort.Open()
_continue = True
readThread.Start()
Console.Write("Name: ")
name = Console.ReadLine()
Console.WriteLine("Type QUIT to exit")
While (_continue)
message = Console.ReadLine()
If sComparer.Equals("quit", message) Then
_continue = False
Else
_serialPort.WriteLine( _
String.Format("<{0}>: {1}", name, message))
End If
end while
readThread.Join()
_serialPort.Close()
End Sub
Public Shared Sub Read()
While (_continue)
Try
Dim message As String = _serialPort.ReadLine()
Console.WriteLine(message)
Catch ex As TimeoutException
' Do nothing
End Try
End While
End Sub
Public Shared Function SetPortName(ByVal defaultPortName As String) As String
Dim newPortName As String
Console.WriteLine("Available Ports:")
Dim s As String
For Each s In SerialPort.GetPortNames()
Console.WriteLine(" {0}", s)
Next s
Console.Write("COM port({0}): ", defaultPortName)
newPortName = Console.ReadLine()
If newPortName = "" Then
newPortName = defaultPortName
End If
Return newPortName
End Function
Public Shared Function SetPortBaudRate(ByVal defaultPortBaudRate As Integer) As Integer
Dim newBaudRate As String
Console.Write("Baud Rate({0}): ", defaultPortBaudRate)
newBaudRate = Console.ReadLine()
If newBaudRate = "" Then
newBaudRate = defaultPortBaudRate.ToString()
End If
Return Integer.Parse(newBaudRate)
End Function
Public Shared Function SetPortParity(ByVal defaultPortParity As Parity) As Parity
Dim newParity As String
Console.WriteLine("Available Parity options:")
Dim s As String
For Each s In [Enum].GetNames(GetType(Parity))
Console.WriteLine(" {0}", s)
Next s
Console.Write("Parity({0}):", defaultPortParity.ToString())
newparity = Console.ReadLine()
If newparity = "" Then
newparity = defaultPortParity.ToString()
End If
Return CType([Enum].Parse(GetType(Parity), newParity), Parity)
End Function
Public Shared Function SetPortDataBits(ByVal defaultPortDataBits As Integer) As Integer
Dim newDataBits As String
Console.Write("Data Bits({0}): ", defaultPortDataBits)
newDataBits = Console.ReadLine()
If newDataBits = "" Then
newDataBits = defaultPortDataBits.ToString()
End If
Return Integer.Parse(newDataBits)
End Function
Public Shared Function SetPortStopBits(ByVal defaultPortStopBits As StopBits) As StopBits
Dim newStopBits As String
Console.WriteLine("Available Stop Bits options:")
Dim s As String
For Each s In [Enum].GetNames(GetType(StopBits))
Console.WriteLine(" {0}", s)
Next s
Console.Write("Stop Bits({0}):", defaultPortStopBits.ToString())
newStopBits = Console.ReadLine()
If newStopBits = "" Then
newStopBits = defaultPortStopBits.ToString()
End If
Return CType([Enum].Parse(GetType(StopBits), newStopBits), StopBits)
End Function
Public Shared Function SetPortHandshake(ByVal defaultPortHandshake As Handshake) As Handshake
Dim newHandshake As String
Console.WriteLine("Available Handshake options:")
Dim s As String
For Each s In [Enum].GetNames(GetType(Handshake))
Console.WriteLine(" {0}", s)
Next s
Console.Write("Stop Bits({0}):", defaultPortHandshake.ToString())
newHandshake = Console.ReadLine()
If newHandshake = "" Then
newHandshake = defaultPortHandshake.ToString()
End If
Return CType([Enum].Parse(GetType(Handshake), newHandshake), Handshake)
End Function
End Class