SerialInspector.cs

/*
 * FLOSS Serial Port Inspector
 * License: MIT
 * * A minimalistic, dependency-free C# tool to list COM ports and their status.
 * Compatible with legacy .NET Framework 4.x (csc.exe).
 */

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Management; // Requires reference to System.Management.dll
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

namespace SerialInspector
{
    class Program
    {
        // Structure to hold our port data
        struct PortInfo
        {
            public string Name;          // e.g. COM3
            public string Status;        // Available, Busy, or Access Denied
            public string Description;   // e.g. USB Serial Port
            public string Manufacturer;  // e.g. FTDI
        }

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Scanning Serial Ports... Please wait.");
            Console.WriteLine();

            // 1. Get List of all active ports from the OS
            string[] rawPorts = SerialPort.GetPortNames();
            List<PortInfo> finalContext = new List<PortInfo>();

            // 2. Fetch Hardware Info via WMI (Win32_PnPEntity is more reliable than Win32_SerialPort for USB adapters)
            var wmiData = GetWmiDeviceData();

            foreach (string portName in rawPorts)
            {
                PortInfo info = new PortInfo();
                info.Name = portName;
                info.Description = "Generic Serial Device"; // Default
                info.Manufacturer = "Unknown";
                
                // Match WMI data to this port name
                if (wmiData.ContainsKey(portName))
                {
                    info.Description = wmiData[portName].Description;
                    info.Manufacturer = wmiData[portName].Manufacturer;
                }

                // 3. Check Status (The invasive check)
                // Note: This attempts to open the port. If it fails with UnauthorizedAccess, it's Busy.
                info.Status = CheckPortStatus(portName);

                finalContext.Add(info);
            }

            // 4. Sort (Natural sort logic: COM1, COM2, COM10)
            finalContext.Sort((x, y) => {
                int nX = ExtractNumber(x.Name);
                int nY = ExtractNumber(y.Name);
                return nX.CompareTo(nY);
            });

            // 5. Print Table
            PrintTable(finalContext);
        }

        // Helper to check port status
        static string CheckPortStatus(string portName)
        {
            SerialPort sp = null;
            try
            {
                sp = new SerialPort(portName);
                sp.Open();
                // If we get here, it opened successfully
                sp.Close();
                return "Available";
            }
            catch (UnauthorizedAccessException)
            {
                // Port exists but is locked by another process
                return "BUSY / OCCUPIED";
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                // Other hardware errors
                return "Error: " + ex.GetType().Name;
            }
            finally
            {
                if (sp != null && sp.IsOpen) sp.Close();
                if (sp != null) sp.Dispose();
            }
        }

        // Helper to get WMI data
        static Dictionary<string, PortInfo> GetWmiDeviceData()
        {
            Dictionary<string, PortInfo> data = new Dictionary<string, PortInfo>();

            try
            {
                // Query PnP Entities that are Ports
                // ClassGuid for Ports: {4d36e978-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
                ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(
                    "root\\CIMV2",
                    "SELECT * FROM Win32_PnPEntity WHERE ClassGuid=\"{4d36e978-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\""
                );

                foreach (ManagementObject queryObj in searcher.Get())
                {
                    string caption = queryObj["Caption"] != null ? queryObj["Caption"].ToString() : "";
                    
                    // Regex to find "COMx" in the caption (e.g. "Intel SOL (COM3)")
                    Match match = Regex.Match(caption, @"\((COM\d+)\)");
                    
                    if (match.Success)
                    {
                        string comName = match.Groups[1].Value;
                        PortInfo p = new PortInfo();
                        p.Description = caption; // Use full caption as description
                        p.Manufacturer = queryObj["Manufacturer"] != null ? queryObj["Manufacturer"].ToString() : "Unknown";
                        
                        if (!data.ContainsKey(comName))
                        {
                            data.Add(comName, p);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            catch { /* WMI failure - ignore and just return empty map */ }

            return data;
        }

        // Helper to formatting
        static void PrintTable(List<PortInfo> ports)
        {
            if (ports.Count == 0)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("No Serial Ports found.");
                return;
            }

            // Headers
            string hFormat = "{0,-10} | {1,-15} | {2,-40}";
            Console.WriteLine(hFormat, "PORT", "STATUS", "DESCRIPTION");
            Console.WriteLine(new String('-', 75));

            foreach (var p in ports)
            {
                // Colorize based on status
                ConsoleColor original = Console.ForegroundColor;
                if (p.Status.StartsWith("BUSY")) Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
                else if (p.Status == "Available") Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
                else Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;

                Console.WriteLine(hFormat, p.Name, p.Status, Truncate(p.Description, 40));
                
                Console.ForegroundColor = original;
            }
            Console.WriteLine();
        }

        static int ExtractNumber(string name)
        {
            Match m = Regex.Match(name, @"\d+");
            return m.Success ? int.Parse(m.Value) : 0;
        }

        static string Truncate(string val, int max)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(val)) return "";
            return val.Length <= max ? val : val.Substring(0, max - 3) + "...";
        }
    }
}