Getting more info from exception

[Claire]

Regarding IOException
I'm catching this error while querying for available serial ports using a
third party component.
I attempt to open then close the comport and if this error type is thrown
then I don't list the port in a combo box.
But I would like to discern between a comport not being available and one
that is available but in use, easy with getlasterror.
Is it possible to do this?

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Claire,

I think that the way that you are going about it isn't the best. If you
can, I would use the classes in the System.Management namespace to create a
WMI query for all instances of Win32_SerialPort. This would probably be
faster than looping through and catching exceptions (which is expensive).

An added benefit is that if you query for instances of Win32_SerialPort,
then you can get all the other information you need about it (if it is
available or not).

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Claire" <bl****@blahhhhh.com> wrote in message
news:uA**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Regarding IOException
I'm catching this error while querying for available serial ports using a
third party component.
I attempt to open then close the comport and if this error type is thrown
then I don't list the port in a combo box.
But I would like to discern between a comport not being available and one
that is available but in use, easy with getlasterror.
Is it possible to do this?

[Claire]

thanks Nicholas.
I think the knowledge of how to go about this is way beyond my few days xp
of C#.
Ive added the system.management reference to my project, took a look at the
help file and my heart dropped.
Are there some example code snippets somewhere that would give me a hint on
where to start (im working from home today so no reference books. Not even
sure if they would contain this sort of thing)

"Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]" <mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com> wrote in
message news:Oh**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Claire,

I think that the way that you are going about it isn't the best. If you can, I would use the classes in the System.Management namespace to create a WMI query for all instances of Win32_SerialPort. This would probably be
faster than looping through and catching exceptions (which is expensive).

An added benefit is that if you query for instances of Win32_SerialPort, then you can get all the other information you need about it (if it is
available or not).

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Claire" <bl****@blahhhhh.com> wrote in message
news:uA**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Regarding IOException
I'm catching this error while querying for available serial ports using a third party component.
I attempt to open then close the comport and if this error type is thrown then I don't list the port in a combo box.
But I would like to discern between a comport not being available and one that is available but in use, easy with getlasterror.
Is it possible to do this?

[Claire]

I've found some code within the SelectQuery class.
Many thanks for your pointers, great :)