B4R Question Serial text without carriage return is not recognized.

[Tim Chapman]

I added an EMIC 2 speech synthesizer to my robot project.
It works beautifully.
When it finishes speaking, it sends a colon ":" our of its serial port.
That serial data is received on the Hardware Serial Port 2 of my Arduino Mega 2560.
Since it has no carriage return, the data is not seen by the Arduino.
Is there any way to fix this?

Line 55 of my code below is not sending anything. But it works correctly in other instances.

This is the relevant code:

Sub Process_Globals
    'TXD2/RXD2 Serial for EMIC 2 Text to Speech Synthesizer.  See:  D:\Electronics\Data Sheets\Emic 2 Text to Speech Module
    Private SerialNative2 As Stream 'https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/additional-hardware-serial-ports.67150/
    Private Emic2Stream As AsyncStreams
End Sub

Private Sub AppStart
    'Serial for EMIC 2 Text to Speech Synthesizer connected to Hardware Serial Port 1.
    RunNative("SerialNative2", Null)
    Emic2Stream.Initialize(SerialNative2, "Emic2Stream_NewData", Null)
   
        Delay(2000)
   
    CommandEMIC2("H","")
    Delay(5000)
   
    For VoiceNumber = 0 To 8

    CommandEMIC2("N",VoiceNumber)
        Delay(1000)

        CommandEMIC2("V", 18)
       
        Delay(1000)
        Speak("Hello! My name is Emic 2. Nice to meet you.")
        Delay(5000)
    Next
End Sub

Private Sub Speak(SendData As String)
    Private eol2() As Byte = Array As Byte(13)
        Dim SendData As String = JoinStrings(Array As String("S", SendData))
        'Log("Send Data = ", SendData)

        'Send data to EMIC 2 connected to Hardware Serial Port 2.
        Dim Buffer() As Byte = SendData
        Emic2Stream.Write(Buffer)
        Emic2Stream.Write(eol2) 'end of line character. AsyncStreamsText will cut the message here
End Sub

Private Sub CommandEMIC2(SendData1 As String, SendData2 As String)
    Private eol2() As Byte = Array As Byte(13)
        Dim SendData As String = JoinStrings(Array As String(SendData1, SendData2))
        Log("Command Data = ", SendData)

        'Send data to EMIC 2 connected to Hardware Serial Port 2.
        Dim Buffer() As Byte = SendData
        Emic2Stream.Write(Buffer)
        Emic2Stream.Write(eol2) 'end of line character. AsyncStreamsText will cut the message here
End Sub

Private Sub Emic2Stream_NewData (Buffer() As Byte) 'Data from EMIC 2 Text to Speech Synthesizer
    Log("Buffer = ", Buffer)
    Private eol2() As Byte = Array As Byte(13)
    PCStream.Write(Buffer) 'Send data out via Bluetooth connection to bluetooth receiver on the PC.
    PCStream.Write(eol2) 'end of line character. AsyncStreamsText will cut the message here
End Sub

 

[emexes]

Since it has no carriage return, the data is not seen by the Arduino.

Why do you say that?

Emic2Stream_NewData should be delivering the colon, regardless of whether it has a carriage return after it or not.

What is Log("Buffer = ", Buffer) showing?

Tbh I'm surprised it's showing anything, but maybe things are different in B4R.

The following works in B4J, if that's of any use:

Dim sb As StringBuilder
sb.Initialize

Dim Separator As String = ""
For Each B As Byte In Buffer
    sb.Append(Separator & B)
    Separator = ", "
Next

Log("Buffer = " & sb.ToString)

 

[Tim Chapman]

What is Log("Buffer = ", Buffer) showing?

It shows nothing.
I will see if what you sent works in B4R.

Thank you!

 

[emexes]

It shows nothing.

If was me in that situaution, I'd first temporarily add another Log to make sure that the Log communication channel is still working eg Log("anybody home?")

 

[Tim Chapman]

It does still work.

 

[emexes]

That serial data is received on the Hardware Serial Port 2 of my Arduino Mega 2560.
Since it has no carriage return, the data is not seen by the Arduino.

Maybe I've misunderstood. The colon is received but not seen? Or are there two separate Arduinos? (I thought the system had just the one Arduino)

 

[Tim Chapman]

It is sent and not seen. I have never seen it. I know it is sent because the datasheet says it is, but I have not seen it.

 

[emexes]

It is sent

From the Emic2 to the Arduino?

and not seen.

Is it the same two-way channel that commands TO the Emic2 are sent over? as in, if the other direction is working, then the serial format and bit rate are probably correct.

Has *anything* been received from the Emic2 over that serial link? Like, does it receive other stuff, but not the colon? Or is it completely dark, in which case: maybe there's a hardware issue eg cracked track, bad joint, broken wire.

I know it is sent because the datasheet says it is

Thank you for injecting some humour into the situation.

 

[Tim Chapman]

Yes. From the Emic2 to the Arduino.
I have not seen anything from the EMIC2.
Every command sends a colon in response.
The H command is supposed to send a list of available commands which sends nothing. So, maybe you are right about a hardware failure. I will check that further.
I am working on a different programming project for my business tonight so the robot is on the back burner.

 

[Tim Chapman]

I finally found the problem. Everything works now. I found (again after forgetting) that a Delay statement causes the serial input to be missed. My bad.

 

[emexes]

a Delay statement causes the serial input to be missed

That's my learn-something-new-every-day taken care of. I didn't know that.

Now I'm wondering if delays could cause other missed events too.

 

[Tim Chapman]

Since serial communication is interrupt driven and they are blocked by delays, I figure that all interrupt driven events would be blocked. Any will have to be tested to know for sure.

 

[emexes]

Since serial communication is interrupt driven and they are blocked by delays,

Might only be B4R. My understanding with B4A and B4J is that Sleep schedules a wake-up call rather than block other processing.

You had me worried there for a moment.

 

[Tim Chapman]

My understanding for that is because B4R is single thread. A delay stops the thread.
B4J and B4I are multi-thread.

 

[Tim Chapman]

Attached is my code so far.