danchitnis / comport

A simple package for using W3C Serial Api

ComPort

A simple package to use the new Serial Api available in Chrome (also Edge based on Chromium)

🔥 Notice : Serial Api is under Chrome's experimental flag since Chrome 79 and on Origins Trail since Chrome 80. The API is unstable.

Why Serial Api

Although WebUSB has been around for some years, it is mainly targeted at companies intending to developed web-based firmwares. A major downside of WebUSB is once a native driver is installed on the OS, the device will no longer be recognized by WebUSB. Unlike WebUSB, the Serial Api is intended for use as a traditional COM port (Serial port) which includes many microcontroller based devices and USB-to-Serial devices such as FTDI and Cypress chipsets. Additionally, you can still implement your own USB CDC protocol, and have the OS driver and Web driver co-exist. The Serial Api opens doors for new and exciting web-based front-ends for small and medium sized embedded projects.

Why ComPort

ComPort makes it easy for embedded developers to quickly build a modern front-end for their applications. It removes the hassle of dealing with async/await functions. This package is not intended for high-performance and high data-rate applications, but for quick and simple development. If high-performance is required then a browser based app is probably the wrong choice.

Potential use cases

all serial communication to and from embedded hardware via USB-to-Serial bridges like FTDI cables and Arduino boards.

How to enable Serial Api (Chrome 79 and above)

Enable it in: chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features

Build instructions

npm i
npm run build

installation

npm i @danchitnis/comport

Example

import the library

import { ComPort } from "@danchitnis/ComPort";

initialize:

const port = new ComPort();
port.connect(9600);
port.addEventListener("rx", dataRX);

data RX event:

function dataRX(e) {
  log(e.detail + "\n");
}

API documentation

See here 🧾

Demos

See here examples tested with Arduino Nano 33 BLE, but also extendable to other boards as it is simply using serial communication.

Useful links

• W3C Serial Api working draft
• Serial Api Chrome status
• Google Serial Api example
• Serial Api Explainer