Serial Port

BeagleBone has in-built serial port functionality and OctalBoneScript provides a way to access it without loading any aditional cape. These functions are essentially wrapper around serialport library.

We recommned that you use these functions instead of the library because these functions automatically performs required pinMode on the pins to make them ready for serial communication.

Please note that original bonescript functions like serialOpen are deprecated and you must use serial.open like functions documented below.

serial.open(path, options, handler[data], callback[err|null, serialPort])

• path is the BeagleBone path of serial port. Valid values are /dev/ttyO1, /dev/ttyO2, /dev/ttyO4, /dev/ttyO5
• check https://github.com/voodootikigod/node-serialport#methods for options
• handler funciton is called when data is received on serial port. First argument contains data received.
• callback function is called upon completion of serial port open. If there is error, first argument is verror object otherwise it is null
• callback function second argument is same as the object you get after calling new SerialPort as per this example: https://github.com/voodootikigod/node-serialport#to-use

Example

var b = require('octalbonescript'); //load the library

b.serial.open('/dev/tty01', {}, function(data){
  console.log(data);
}, function(err){
  if(err){
    console.error(err.message);
  }
});

serial.write(path, buffer, callback[error|null])

• this function should be called after calling serial.open. path argument is same as serial.open.
• The buffer parameter accepts a Buffer object, or a type that is accepted by the Buffer constructor (ex. an array of bytes or a string).
• called upon writing data. First argument is error object if error occured or null.

serial.parsers

• same as parsers provided by serialport library. Documentation for the same is here: https://github.com/voodootikigod/node-serialport#parsers

serial.enable(path, callback[error|null])

• this is optional function provided to just enable serialport on BeagleBone. It does not open the port it just performs pinMode on respective pins. This enables you to use the serial port with other applications.
• path argument is same as serial.open.