SerialPort Read() vs BaseStream.Read()

Question

I'm currently reading the serial port via .BaseStream.Read(), but I noticed this in the documentation:

Because the SerialPort class buffers data, and the stream contained in the BaseStream property does not, the two might conflict about how many bytes are available to read. The BytesToRead property can indicate that there are bytes to read, but these bytes might not be accessible to the stream contained in the BaseStream property because they have been buffered to the SerialPort class.

While I don't use BytesToRead, the latter part of the above concerns me a bit, as the wording suggests that data can be "missed" when reading the BaseStream directly, i.e. it is no loner in the stream and is now in the SerialPort's buffer. So should I be using SerialPort.Read() instead?

Charlieface · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-11 16:05:58Z

1

BytesToRead adds together the streams's BytesToRead and the CachedBytesToRead. It is definitely the case that you will miss data if you buffer into SerialPort and then try to read the BasStream.

But the Open() function does not buffer any data, as you can see from the code. Only the Read functions buffer.

So, as long as you don't actually use any of the Read functions on SerialPort, it should be safe to use BaseStream alone. Just don't mix and match. It's a shame that SerialStream is not exposed as an API, and we need to go through SerialPort to do this.

answered Sep 11 at 16:05

Charlieface

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