FlowControl - Specify data flow control method to use

Description

You can configure FlowControl to be none, hardware, or software. If FlowControl is none, then data flow control (handshaking) is not used. If FlowControl is hardware, then hardware handshaking is used to control data flow. If FlowControl is software, then software handshaking is used to control data flow.

Hardware handshaking typically utilizes the Request to Send (RTS) and Clear to Send (CTS) pins to control data flow. Software handshaking uses control characters (Xon and Xoff) to control data flow. To learn more about hardware and software handshaking, refer to Using Control Pins.

You can return the value of the CTS pin with the PinStatus property. You can specify the value of the RTS pin with the RequestToSend property. However, if FlowControl is hardware, and you specify a value for RequestToSend, then that value might not be honored.

If you set the FlowControl property to hardware on a serial object, and a hardware connection is not detected, the fwrite and the fprintf functions will return an error message. This occurs if a device is not connected, or a connected device is not asserting that is ready to receive data. Check you remote device's status and flow control settings to see if hardware flow control is causing errors in MATLAB.

Notes   If you want to check to see if the device is asserting that it is ready to receive data, set the FlowControl to none. Once you connect to the device check the PinStatus structure for ClearToSend. If ClearToSend is off, there is a problem on the remote device side. If ClearToSend is on, there is a hardware FlowControl device prepared to receive data and you can execute fprintf and fwrite. Although you might be able to configure your instrument for both hardware handshaking and software handshaking at the same time, the toolbox does not support this behavior.

Characteristics

Usage	Serial port, VISA-serial
Read only	Never
Data type	String

Values

{none}	No flow control is used.
hardware	Hardware flow control is used.
software	Software flow control is used.

See Also

Properties

PinStatus, RequestToSend

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