how to append the contents of an ArrayList

[Darren Alexandria]

Good day!

I have this code snippet:

int bytesRead;
ArrayList<String> lstStrip = new ArrayList<String>();
inputStream = serialPort.getInputStream();
       
while ((bytesRead = inputStream.read()) != -1)
{
 strBytesRead = Integer.toString(bytesRead);
  lstStrip.add(strBytesRead);
               
    System.out.println("BytesRead: "+ strBytesRead);
}

Once the ArrayList stops collecting data, I want its contents to be
concatenated or appended to each other and then store it in a
String variable.

Thanks.

[Rob Spoor]

Don't use ArrayList<String> but ArrayList<Byte> instead. Then cast bytesRead to a byte* and add that byte directly - autoboxing will make sure that the byte will be converted to a Byte, while caching all the Byte objects.
Then afterwards create a byte[] of the size of the list, iterate through the list and set the right values. Finally, create a String object using this byte array.

* InputStream.read() will return the byte value between 0 and 255. However, when 255 is returned the actually byte value is -1; likewise for 128 and -128. Casting the integer to a byte will result in that actual byte value again.
The reason why only values between 0 and 255 are returned is that this allows -1 to be used as the end marker.



Of course you can also use a better strategy: wrap the InputStream in an InputStreamReader, create a StringWriter, copy all the chars from the InputStreamReader directly to the StringWriter, and once done use the StringWriter's toString method to get the string:

Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(serialPort.getInputStream());
StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
char charRead;
while ((charRead = reader.read()) != -1)
{
    writer.write(charRead);
}
String result = writer.toString();

You could also play around with using the other read and write methods; sometimes using the versions with byte[] or char[] will be faster than the byte-per-byte or char-per-char reading.

[Darren Alexandria]

Thanks for the code snippet, I have tried it and it worked.
However, when I debugged the program, I only get one character at a time
I want to store this characters in an Array then convert it to a
string.
And when I added this:

result = writer.toString();
[B]System.out.println("Result: " + result);[/B]

so that I can see its contents, the program doesn't "go" there.

Here's the code:

package com.cimapps.services;
 
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
 
import javax.comm.CommPortIdentifier;
import javax.comm.SerialPort;
import javax.comm.SerialPortEventListener;
import javax.comm.PortInUseException;
import javax.comm.UnsupportedCommOperationException;
import javax.comm.SerialPortEvent;
import com.cimapps.actionform.StripMapDownloadForm;
public class ReadWriteC implements Runnable, SerialPortEventListener {

 InputStream   inputStream;
 Thread        readThread;
 String        strReadBytes,strBytesRead,result;
 ArrayList<String> lstStrip = new ArrayList<String>(); 
 int index = 0;
 
 static CommPortIdentifier portId;
 static Enumeration      portList;
     static OutputStream      outputStream;
 static SerialPort        serialPort;
 static byte[] messageString = {0x52, 0x45, 0x41, 0x44, 0x0D};
 
public void getPorts() throws ClassNotFoundException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException{


portList = CommPortIdentifier.getPortIdentifiers();
 while (portList.hasMoreElements()) { 
   portId = (CommPortIdentifier) portList.nextElement();
        if (portId.getPortType() == CommPortIdentifier.PORT_SERIAL) {
            if (portId.getName().equals("COM1")) {
            try {
                            serialPort = (SerialPort)
                            portId.open("SimpleWriteApp", 2000);
                    } catch (PortInUseException e) {}
                    
                    try {
                        outputStream = serialPort.getOutputStream();
                    } catch (IOException e) {}
                    try {
                        serialPort.setSerialPortParams(9600,
                            SerialPort.DATABITS_8,
                            SerialPort.STOPBITS_1,
                            SerialPort.PARITY_NONE);
                    } catch (UnsupportedCommOperationException e) {}
                    
                              
                for(int i = 0; i < messageString.length; i++ ) 
                    {
                        try {                        
                        outputStream.write(messageString[i]);
                                                } catch (IOException e) {}
                    }// end of for
                    
                    System.out.println("The Strip ID is:  ");
            }//end of if (portId.getName().equals("COM1"))
            }// end of if if (portId.getPortType() == CommPortIdentifier.PORT_SERIAL
 }// end of while (portList.hasMoreElements()
}// end of main
 
public ReadWriteC() {

try {
getPorts();
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
} catch (InstantiationException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
} catch (IllegalAccessException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}

 try {
 
            serialPort = (SerialPort) portId.open("SimpleReadApp", 2000);
           
 } catch (PortInUseException e) {
        }
        try {
            inputStream = serialPort.getInputStream();
           // System.out.println("Open input stream...");
        } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Cannot open input stream");
        }
try {
            serialPort.addEventListener(this);
} catch (TooManyListenersException e) {}
        serialPort.notifyOnDataAvailable(true);
        try {
            serialPort.setSerialPortParams(9600,
                SerialPort.DATABITS_8,
                SerialPort.STOPBITS_1,
                SerialPort.PARITY_NONE);
        } catch (UnsupportedCommOperationException e) {}
        readThread = new Thread(this);
        readThread.start();
 }// end of  public ReadWriteC()
 
public void run() {
 try {
            Thread.sleep(1000);
            System.out.println("End of thread.");
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
        // terminates the program
}
public void serialEvent(SerialPortEvent event) {

switch(event.getEventType()) {
        case SerialPortEvent.BI:
        case SerialPortEvent.OE:
        case SerialPortEvent.FE:
        case SerialPortEvent.PE:
        case SerialPortEvent.CD:
        case SerialPortEvent.CTS:
        case SerialPortEvent.DSR:
        case SerialPortEvent.RI:
        case SerialPortEvent.OUTPUT_BUFFER_EMPTY:
            break;
        case SerialPortEvent.DATA_AVAILABLE:
            byte[] readBuffer = new byte[8];
           
            
            try {
           {   
            
            int bytesRead;
            
            Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(serialPort.getInputStream());
            StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
            char charRead;
            
                while ((charRead = (char) reader.read()) != -1)
                {
                    writer.write(charRead);
                }
                
                result = writer.toString();
                System.out.println("Result: " + result);
                
            
           
         } catch (IOException e) {
            System.out.println("There is no byte to read.");
            }
            break;
        }// end of switch
}// end of public void serialEvent(SerialPortEvent event)
 
 
 

public String getReadBytes() {

return (result);
    }// end of getBytes()

}// end of public class ReadWriteC implements Runnable, SerialPortEventListener
 

[ October 17, 2007: Message edited by: Darren Alexandria ]

[Rob Spoor]

Originally posted by Darren Alexandria:
Thanks for the code snippet, I have tried it and it worked.
However, when I debugged the program, I only get one character at a time
I want to store this characters in an Array then convert it to a
string.
And when I added this:

result = writer.toString();
[B]System.out.println("Result: " + result);[/B]

so that I can see its contents, the program doesn't "go" there.

If it doesn't reach this statement, it means that the input stream still has not reached the end. Now I haven't worked with serial ports yet, but it could be possible that it will never reach the end as long as the serial port is available.

If this is the case you will have to know what to read, and read exactly the number of bytes/chars you need, always taking into consideration that read() still might return -1. You'd have to have a counter that counts the number of bytes/chars. After each byte/char read you increase the counter, and if it has reached the number you need you break out of the loop.

[Darren Alexandria]

Thanks for your reply.

The problem is that the data coming from the machine doesn't have a fixed length. That is why I am really having a difficult time working on this.

My plan now is this:
since I am getting the data per character, I will place or store it in a
character array. Then I will convert that char array into a string.

However, getting the data from the Input Stream the directly storing it to
a character array is also my option. After the contents have been loaded up,
then I will convert it into a String.

Which is better and more feasible to do?

Thanks again.

[ October 17, 2007: Message edited by: Darren Alexandria ]
[ October 17, 2007: Message edited by: Darren Alexandria ]