Please explain or see if I have this right.

I have a piece of code that enables the main serial on the uno for other communications. I also open the softserial on pin 6 and 7 for the debugger.
However, download is still via the main serial and when I send anything down there the debugger still answers. I dont get the breakpoints either.

Am I doing this right or was the intention with the softserial something else?

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
String inputString = "";         // a string to hold incoming data
boolean stringComplete = false;  // whether the string is complete

SoftwareSerial Serial1(6,7);

//Serial1.begin(115200);

void setup() {
  // initialize serial:

  Serial.begin(9600);
  // reserve 200 bytes for the inputString:
  inputString.reserve(200);
}

void loop() {
  // print the string when a newline arrives:
  if (stringComplete) {
    Serial.println(inputString);
    // clear the string:
    inputString = "";
    stringComplete = false;
  }
}

/*
  SerialEvent occurs whenever a new data comes in the
 hardware serial RX.  This routine is run between each
 time loop() runs, so using delay inside loop can delay
 response.  Multiple bytes of data may be available.
 */
void serialEvent() {
  while (Serial.available()) {
    // get the new byte:
    char inChar = (char)Serial.read();
    // add it to the inputString:
    inputString += inChar;
    // if the incoming character is a newline, set a flag
    // so the main loop can do something about it:
    if (inChar == '\n') {
      stringComplete = true;
    }
  }
}

 

By the way, in my haste to keep the debug strings on the local pc and not on the arduino I forgot to bring user/code strings through to the variables reader. It's a minor change that should be in a version within the next week.

Not sure, I haven't tested the break/pause very much. I've done more trace stuff.

I suggest that the serialEvent be treated like a timer event which has little access to the core. read the stuff in serial but put a breakpoint in the loop or main code where you check your serial arrived flag (stringComplete)

FYI

When you press F5 to continue a breakpoint VS just sends 1 byte of data over the serial. The actual problem is more likely to be an arduino issue with reading softwareserial in the serialEvent. The F5 Continue on breakpoints will ONLY auto continue if arduino says that there is softserial data available. So the question is "why does arduino say there is bytes available from softerial in the serial event?? It seems wrong. I'll test it more and write this up when I get a mo.

PS:

You don't really need to use the serialEvent, it's more for novices. This would work the same way, interested to know if we still have a problem if we do it this way?

[code]
void loop() {  
RunMainProgram();
ReadSerial1();
}

void RunMainProgram()
{
// print the string when a newline arrives:  
if (stringComplete) {   
Serial.println(inputString);     
// clear the string:   
inputString = "";    
stringComplete = false;  
}
}

void ReadSerial1()
{
while (Serial.available()) 
{  
  // get the new byte:   
char inChar = (char)Serial.read();    
// add it to the inputString:   
inputString += inChar;    
// if the incoming character is a newline, set a flag   
// so the main loop can do something about it:    

if (inChar == '\n') 
{     
stringComplete = true;    
}  
}
}

[/code]