HANDLE hTemplateFile // handle to file with attributes to LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpSecurityAttributes,ĭWORD dwCreationDisposition, // how to createĭWORD dwFlagsAndAttributes, // file attributes LPCTSTR lpFileName, // pointer to name of the fileĭWORD dwDesiredAccess, // access (read-write) mode On success CreateFile() returns a handle that can be used to access the file or device depending on the flags and attributes specified. The CreateFile() is a Win32 API that creates or opens a file or I/O device. In Windows using the CreateFile(), we can open the serial port. Here I am assuming that you know how to create the console application using the visual studio and familiar with win32 API. You can also use MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows) an Open Source programming tool. In my laptop, I have attached an Arduino board (Atmega 2560) and its COM id would be shown in com port section (Control Panel > Device Manager > Ports). It also possible that com id could be virtual ( for example static virtual com port).

Generally, COM1 and COM2 refer to the hardware serial ports present in the PC and another com port number is export when any serial device or USB to serial device attached to PC.

In windows, the serial device will display in com port section of device manager with name as COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4. Get COM PORT of USB Serial Device using the VID and PID.Change properties of COM Port Using win32 API.

You can also see the below articles that how to change the properties of com-port like baud rate, parity using the Windows API. In Windows, serial port programming is very easy, MSDN provide all the required win32 API information which require for the serial port programming.

In this blog post, we will learn serial port programming using the Win32 API. In windows, it is easy to create the custom serial application using the win32 API. We can use any one of them for serial communication but sometimes we require to create our own custom serial application for communication. There is a lot of serial application available like Hercules, HyperTerminal, Docklight. Sometimes we require to communicate with an external device like a printer, microcontroller board or any serial device using the serial port of a windows machine.

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