Is it ok to leave a serialport open for long periods of time

Question

C# project in visual studio 2019.
I have created a multi-threaded windows service that continuously monitors and issues commands to a serial port.
I am using the standard serialport component provided in VS 2019.

This service when started, opens the serial port and never closes it. The service can be running for months at a time.

Is this a bad practice ? Should I be closing the serial port and then reopening it periodically ?

Thoughts on this greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I don't think it is necessary.

After calling the SerialPort.Close() method, the port will not be closed immediately. It takes a certain amount of time. If you call the Open() method before it is actually closed, it may cause unexpected exceptions.

Moreover, keeping SerialPort open will not cause too much burden, which is worth it in your case.

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