Search serial input

Question

Hi, ive only just started programming in java. My FYP involves getting gps info over serial port and searching the data rxed for time etc. I've managed to get SImpleRead working for the GPS im using so it reads everything in fine. I have to search through the sentences (input) received now for the word $GPRMC and im having great difficulty. i cant see exactly what is my input in the code, is it inputStream or buffer??? can anyone help heres my code so far
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.comm.*;
public class SerialRead implements Runnable, SerialPortEventListener {
     static CommPortIdentifier portId;
     static Enumeration portList;
     InputStream inputStream;
     SerialPort serialPort;
     Thread readThread;
     boolean portOpen;
     BufferedInputStream in;
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          System.out.println("Starting....");
          portList = CommPortIdentifier.getPortIdentifiers();
          while (portList.hasMoreElements()) {
               portId = (CommPortIdentifier) portList.nextElement();
               if (portId.getPortType() == CommPortIdentifier.PORT_SERIAL) {
                    if (portId.getName().equals("COM1")) {
                         System.out.println("Found Serial Port!!!");
                         SerialRead reader = new SerialRead();
     public SerialRead() {
          System.out.println("Opening Serial......");
          try {
               serialPort = (SerialPort) portId.open("SimpleReadApp", 2000);
               portOpen = true;
          } catch (PortInUseException e) {}
          try {
               System.out.println("Getting input stream....");
               inputStream = serialPort.getInputStream();
               in = new BufferedInputStream(inputStream, 1024);
          } catch (IOException e) {
               serialPort.close();
          System.out.println("Error opening i/o streams");}
     try {
               serialPort.addEventListener(this);
     } catch (TooManyListenersException e) {}
          serialPort.notifyOnDataAvailable(true);
          try {
               serialPort.setSerialPortParams(4800,
                    SerialPort.DATABITS_8,
                    SerialPort.STOPBITS_1,
                    SerialPort.PARITY_NONE);
          } catch (UnsupportedCommOperationException e) {}
          System.out.println("Parameters set");
          readThread = new Thread(this);
          readThread.start();
     public void run() {
          try {
               Thread.sleep(10000);
          } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
     public void serialEvent(SerialPortEvent event) {
//          Create a StringBuffer and int to receive input data.
          StringBuffer inputBuffer = new StringBuffer();
          int newData = 0;      
          //Determine type of event
          switch(event.getEventType()) {
          case SerialPortEvent.BI:
               System.out.println("\n--- BREAK RECEIVED ---\n");
          case SerialPortEvent.OUTPUT_BUFFER_EMPTY:
          break;
          case SerialPortEvent.DATA_AVAILABLE:
               while (newData != -1) {
                    try {
                         newData = inputStream.read();
                    if (newData == -1){
                    break;
                    if('\r' == (char)newData) {
                    inputBuffer.append('\n');
                    } else{
                         inputBuffer.append((char)newData);
                         //GetGPRMC();
                         System.out.print(new String(inputBuffer));
                    } catch (IOException ex) {
                         System.err.println(ex);
                         return;
//     //Method to find GPRMC in buffer
//     public void GetGPRMC()
//     int counter = 0;
//     do{
//          //search the i/p buffer to find GPRMC word
//          if(inputBuffer.regionMatches(counter, GPRMC, 0, 5)){
//          //store 127 characters starting at GPRMC
//          String temp = inputBuffer.substring(counter, counter + 127);
//          counter = 0;
//          //Tokenize string with respect to commas
//          StringTokenizer tokens = new StringTokenizer(temp, ",");
//          while(tokens.hasMoreTokens() && (counter < 11))
//                    gpsData[counter] = tokens.nextToken();
     //Close connection method
     public void CloseConnection()
          if (!portOpen)
               return;                          // if the port is already closed, do nothing
          try {
               inputStream.close();          //close inputstream
          catch (IOException e) {
               CloseConnection();
               System.err.println(e);
          serialPort.close();                // close port
i know its not an incredibly difficult thing to do but ive been puzzling over it for a while now and still cant see how to go about it. i know i could use regionMatches method but i dont know which string to use to call it.....
confused laela

Answer 1

Hi!
My project is basically the same thing, only I get data from the GPS on one computer (using C) and send it through a GSM modem.
On the reciever PC, I have to extract the data from the modem (the GPS string)
I will try to use your code, if that's ok.
I have very little time and the reciever PC part is giving me lots of problems
Thanks