Arduino to UART

Projects General Guidance
1

First, very very new to Arduino. I've only done a few of the tutorials for the Arduino Uno. So what I'm trying to do might be too advanced but it is use a UART to send, receive and display data from the Arduino which then turns on and off relays accordingly. Like on the terminal it says "What would you like to do" and I hit, "2" it turns on position/relay 2.
I'm fairly sure what I'm trying to do is possible so my questions are:

  1. Is there any literature on how to do this I can download or buy, specifically the code terms I need to program with?
  2. Where is this literature? I've looked in products and learning and the forums and none seemed to really spell it out.

Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance,

2

Load up the Arduino IDE. Go to the File menu, then -> Examples -> 04 Communications and there you will find lots of examples of serial communications with the Arduino using the built in UART or serial coms as it is known.

3

Doug, is there some reason not to use the UART(s) already on the chip?
With a Mega2560 you get 4, with a 328-based Arduino you get 1.

You may to connect a MAX232 or other serial chip (like for RS485) to get the right voltage levels (AVR chips are TTL at 5V or less) to connect to like devices.

Hey Grumpy_Mike, those examples use C++ String. That's like teaching kids to talk wrong.

Doug, if you want to get farther with these small environment MCU's, learn C strings (char arrays).