U3.b3 = System.IO.Ports?

My 2.6.1f3 project uses System.IO.Ports to communicate with an Arduino. I'm trying the new 3.0.0b3 and I get this error:

error CS0234: The type or namespace name `Ports' does not exist in the namespace `System.IO'. Are you missing an assembly reference?

..this is on OSX 10.6.4

I understand the Mono version has changed to 2.6 with the new version of Unity, but System.IO.Ports should still be available, correct?

Thanks for any info or suggestions,
Jack

 

....finally just yanked the arudino plugin stuff and realized that every other plugin is failing to work as well. I use a QuickTime playback plugin, and it errors with:

error CS1729: The type `System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute' does not contain a constructor that takes `1' arguments

and,

error CS0626: `TexturePlayback.AddMovie(ref uint, string, int, int, bool)' is marked as an external but has no DllImport attribute. Consider adding a DllImport attribute to specify the external implementation

So, I guess plugins aren't working on b3? :-(

Jack

 

I'm having the same problem. Too bad, would have been nice to see what our project would have looked like in U3...

 

...same here. Our project is pretty far along and will be installed in several weeks. Was hoping I could just pop it over, fix a few minor things, take advantage of some of the improvements and all would work....oh well.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought of that, and it was set to .Net 2.0 subset, but didn't make a difference when I set it to pure 2.0. Maybe the beta is Unity standard instead of Pro (ie, no plugins)?

 

mono stuff is, aside of DLLImports, commonly not distinct between Unity and Unity Pro at least it was not in unity 2 (perhaps they further disabled all circumvention tricks to get around plugins through other meanings in U3)

and what the beta is depends on what you bought. if you upgrade only unity iphone basic, to unity iphone 3, then yeah its only the non-pro unity 3

 

I have the full Pro, iPhone advanced, asset server.....

 

The type `System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute' does not contain a constructor that takes `1' arguments

I'm using pro U3 b3

 

I feel for you. We've regrettably upgraded to Unity 3 Pro and Unity iPhone 3 Pro. My first impressions were squashed quicker than lightning when I found they totally ripped out System.IO.

Unless they provide an equal work around, I'm afraid this Unity 3 is nothing more than an expensive coaster. Not impressed at all. Sure the new features are great an all but when you get right down to the functionality it's unusable. None of our builds work. Even when you make some of the name syntax modifications.

I'm extremely disappointed in this release and would not recommend anyone even try the beta - just stick with 1.7. I'm going to remove Unity 3 from my Mac and Windows machine because I could find a better use for the space it's taking up... like maybe put some more desktop wallpaper up or something.

Oh and yes, I've tried keeping the .Net to 2.0 and it does nothing. I got word from Novell that Unity has gone ahead and created their own frankenstien edition of Mono so there's no support there.

I truely wish I could get my money back, what an absolute waste of $1000.

Maybe they'll fix it, maybe they won't - why would they? they already got my money. So what if I have key features that are now useless. However, I'm the fool here - hoping that I'd be able to get compiling and use some of the profiling tools and extra features in version 3.

However, be smart - stick with 1.7 - don't bang your head against a wall trying to get your app to work because unless you've got a game with a fancy reflective cube - you won't be getting far.

Yes, I know it's a beta, but sheesh - should it not work at some level? Especially after charging me $1000 for this??

 

Just to appease myself that the problem had nothing to do with my particular plugins, I downloaded the example AudioInput project from the wiki. Same thing, problems with DllImport. So, I guess it's safe to say no plugins with U3.b3 (thus the post subject change).

Like "scott_ase", with nothing said to the contrary, I would have thought plugins would work, even in a beta, but since they don't I'll just have to wait.

I DO expect they will work in the final version, however! Unity is worthless to me without them. We are about to upgrade 20 of our lab machines to 3.0 (if we haven't already submitted the order -- gotta check on that) and I'm not going to upgrade without confirmation that plugins are supported.

Here's a screenshot showing a base project with plugin, the config, and errors. I'll file a bug report as well:

 

Shawn,

Thanks for the reply. I admit to being over the top frustrated because I can into trouble right out of the gate. Without the ability to have access to objects such as FileStream, FileInfo and the functions therein there Isnt't really much of a work around.

If Unity wants to remove an assembly that deals with file reading/writing it would be worthwhile to write up some type of wrapper class in it's place.

Realizing it's a beta build I'm fully aware of bugs and/errors to overcome. At least if it's a beta bug that implies it's temporary and will be addresses. Cosmetic glitches don't bother me in a beta build. Compilation errors such as "CheckConsistency" errors can be fixed and aren't show stoppers and again, I can get used to. AOL Crossatform compilation crashes can get annoying but a simple reboot of Unity fixes that.

Trying to compile a project and have Unity not generating the proper header files (AppController.h and a few other ones that I can't recall right now can give me a near stroke when my Xcode project reaches over 224 build errors) but a reboot of the entire system can fix that.

I've been designing apps and tools for nearly 15 years and the one thing that software developers should never do is remove key assemblies wihtout providing a warning like "assembly xxxxxx was moved so you'll have to accomplish your task by using x,y and z".

I understand that the were syntax changes to various data types, that too is only a temporary problem.

What would be an excellent way of handling issues like this (because it may have been removed to reduce build size or something like that) is to give the iPhone Advanced/Pro the ability to add or remove assemblies. I know there's a few assemblies I don't need which it would be great if I could just "untag" them from a list. That way the onus is on me to lighten the build load. For regular Iphone basic users, perhaps they can have the option to configure .Net versions 1,2 or 2 Subset.

I also understand that you gus want to eliminate as much of the .Net overhead as possible however I feel that the decision of what's removed should be the decision of the builder.

I'm sorry if my message came off strong, I will file a bug report today, I've read that others are having the same problem with this removal of System.IO.

The last thing that put me over the edge was reading an email from our executive producer saying that Apple may stop approving Unity iPhone apps. Which to me seems ludacris in and of itself - but that's a other issue.

So if you could please either A) re-include the System.IO assembly or B) provide one that handles the file reading, writing, checking, directory access and so forth.

On a separate topic, my original beta code allowed me to see the AssetServer which was really nice (especially since we have people working in both Kingston and Dallas) too bad it expires tomorrow - I just noticed I had that enabled last night.

 

Okay, I changed to topic back to the original. Unity 3.0b3 does work with plugins...It just doesn't look like System.IO.Ports is available.

To fix the "`System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute' does not contain a constructor that takes `1' arguments" problem, in Build Settings, you have to select PC and Mac Standalone and THEN PRESS THE SWITCH PLATFORMS button at the bottom left. This will cause Unity to reimport a bunch of stuff and adjust things so your plugins function. It's a VERY PC-centric, "apply settings" kind of gui design, but at least now my plugins work...except my arduino stuff :-(

HTH,
Jack

 

I'm impressed with the performance of U3 in rendering but yes, the lack of System.IO.Ports is a showstopper for me too.

Any work-around? We were using this for OSC protocol handling

Thanks

Michela

 

I just downloaded Unity 3 - beta 4 and it seems this is still an issue.. which is not really an issue because I can continue to work in 2.6... but it would be good to get confirmation that this is just a beta issue and support of System.IO.ports has not been dropped intentionally for what ever reason and that all will be well by release time (like those above system.IO.ports is a vital part of my projects)..

cheers

 

Yes, please, can we get confirmation of this or alternatives to implement the same functionality ie: system.ioports.

ty!

 

I've summoned some expert assistance with this - you should get a reply shortly.

 

System.IO.Ports should work in the next drop of the public beta, as long asyou make sure API compatibility is set to 2.0. it should always work for editorscripts.

If it doesn't work for you with the next build, please let us know by filing a bug.

We care about not breaking your stuff.

Bye, Lucas

 

Wonderful, thanks. Great news!!!

 

thanks for looking into this.. good news, initial test on beta 5 all seems to be working fine.. I had to change API compatibility to 2.0, then toggle build target to iphone and back to standalone again, but then all was well..thanks again.

 

I'm trying System.IO.Ports on unity 3 b7 under osx 10.6.4.

with "api compatibility level .net 2.0", I can run the script.
but I got an error like below.

DllNotFoundException: MonoPosixHelper
System.IO.Ports.SerialPortStream..ctor (System.String portName, Int32 baudRate, Int32 dataBits, Parity parity, StopBits stopBits, Boolean dtrEnable, Boolean rtsEnable, Handshake handshake, Int32 readTimeout, Int32 writeTimeout, Int32 readBufferSize, Int32 writeBufferSize)
(wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.Ports.SerialPortStream:.ctor (string,int,int,System.IO.Ports.Parity,System.IO.Ports.StopBits,bool,bool,System.IO.Ports.Handshake,int,int,int,int)
System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.Open ()
(wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.Ports.SerialPort:Open ()

How can I fix this problem?

 

Filing a bug report would be a good place to start. Then post the report number here, that way the devs know where to find it.

 

System.IO.Ports.SerialPort is working on unity 3 b7 under windows.

only it doesn't work under osx.

 

i'm on unity 3.0.0f3

and am trying to get the OSC code from this thread http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=403707#403707 working.

seems like no dice without plugins.

 

Resurrecting this thread because I am running into the same problem missing System.IO.Ports. Without this I am fully blocked and cannot make further progress. I will be reverting to Unity 2.x until this is addressed.

My Unity version is 3.0.0f5 (51258)

Assets/Plugins/UDPPacketIO.cs(2,17): error CS0234: The type or namespace name `Ports' does not exist in the namespace `System.IO'. Are you missing an assembly reference?

Please advise.

 

In Unity 3's version of MonoDevelop, I had to go the menu Project: Edit References... and then check the System package, and maybe some other System.* packages to get rid of the "missing assembly reference" error. I haven't started building an actual Unity project though, just pure C#, so I don't know if it will fail to compile when tied to a Unity project.

Also, Unity 3 uses an older version of Mono runtime 2.6.4 whose System.IO.Ports (serial) "Read" methods are pretty much broken on Mac according to this bug report. Or, more accurately, Mac OS X is buggy. There's a patch and replacement library which I'm trying to test. I don't know how much of the Unity Mono platform you can replace safely.

A single library replacement seems feasible. Can we upgrade in general to newer versions of Mono for use in Unity or have they heavily modified the code base?

 

I'm still waiting to hear from someone at Unity about this issue. I am currently blocked and cannot use Unity 3 without access to System.IO.Ports.

Luckily I saved a backup of my projects before upgrading and was able to revert to 2.x. I very much hope to be able to upgrade to 3 to make use of the new features and stay current.

This seems to have affected many people here in this thread. If anyone from Unity reads this would you please look into whether this issue will be addressed in a future release of Unity? Or if there is a work around please let me know.

My Unity version is 3.0.0f5 (51258)

My error again is:

Assets/Plugins/UDPPacketIO.cs(2,17): error CS0234: The type or namespace name `Ports' does not exist in the namespace `System.IO'. Are you missing an assembly reference?

Again, please advise.

 

I also want to complain that this still hasn't been addressed, this is a feature we use in some of our projects and it's very frustrating to not be able to upgrade to Unity 3 due to something like this.

 

Happy to find this thread (misery loves company), distressed that I am in the same boat. Identical issue:

Assets/Plugins/UDPPacketIO.cs(2,17): error CS0234: The type or namespace name `Ports' does not exist in the namespace `System.IO'. Are you missing an assembly reference?

On OS X, Unity 3.0.0f5 (51258)

Filed bug report Case 381252

This is critical to my moving forward. Please fix this ASAP.

 

please ensure to report bugs.

mentioning stuff here is basically totally useless

 

File Bug Report - DONE (see my previous post for the number)

Thanks Big Kahuna and Dreamora!

 

dpentecost: Thank you for filing the bug report. If you hear back about whether it is planned to be fixed please post here and let us know. There are a lot of people blocked by this as far as I can tell.

I posted my own bug report (Case 381631) and I will also announce if I hear about it getting fixed or not.

 

I had an opportunity at Unite yesterday to bring this issue up with David Helgason in a public setting (I should also have grabbed a dev in the hands-on sessions but missed that chance). And another high profile user, who noted in his presentation how great OSC is with Unity, was made aware that it does not work now, at least on Macs. So I'm hoping for some progress.

 

There may be a fix.

I missed this before, but someone in the forums posted this tip:

"I just changed line 2 of UDPPacketIO.cs to remove the .Ports from the end so that it just says using System.IO; and it seems to work."

I just tried this with 3.1 and it seems to work. If someone else could confirm, that would be great.

 

I'm able to use this to work around the problem in Unity 3.1 on Windows (just changing the target from windows to web and then back again while using .NET 2.0).

 

I have been sending OSC messages successfully on a mac since beta 5.

I just tried from scratch in a new project to be sure. I encountered the error (The type or namespace name `Ports' does not exist in the namespace `System.IO'. Are you missing an assembly reference?) but following the my own advice (reposted above) all was once again working perfectly...

On the other hand the patch to get 'system.io.port.serialport' working under this version of mono os x has not been implemented, so still no direct arduino access in unity

Tibbar, if you have any success patching it yourself I would be grateful of on any info you have to pass on...

cheers
andrew

 

I just tested this and it worked. Thanks, dpentecost!

Here is what my UDPPacketIO.cs looks like now:

using System;
using System.IO;//.Ports;
using System.Collections;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Threading;
using UnityEngine;

 

Tried the work around and it got rid of the ports error, but now I have the error

I am trying to connect an arduino to unity using the instructions here: http://code.google.com/p/unity-arduino-serial-connection/wiki/English_step_by_step_guide

Any insights, thoughts, help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I was concerned that commenting System.IO.Ports would be bad for Arduino users... sagacious has confirmed that. All I am using this script for is sending and receiving OSC messages to interoperate wtih Pure Data so fortunately I am no longer blocked. But this issue is still not fixed and is blocking others. I want to eventually use Arduino boards as part of my project so I hope this issue gets addressed soon.

The bug I reported through the Unity editor has UDPPacketIO.cs attached with a description of how to repro the error. Still no word back about that yet. If I hear back about it I will post on this thread for others to see.

 

I need serial port communication for my project... :'-(

 

No "System.IO.Ports"
What is happening with these guys? (UT)
Unity3D only serves to develop games?

You really have nothing to do with this kind of development. Everything you want is the number of webplayer implanted worldwide. oh, and the number of iPhone applications.
Back to 2.6.1 (bugged)
In fact, I would have preferred a 2.6.2 that fixes bugs.

You are less sympathetic and more commercial ...
Perhaps too successful?

JP

 

Regarding my previous post on a buggy Mono library which has since been patched for Mac but not included with Unity 3.1...

I finally had a little more success figuring out which dylib to replace. Initially I had no luck finding the broken dylib because it was buried within MonoDevelop's package contents. I haven't figured out which Finder/Spotlight preferences to enable such that these files become visible in searches (e.g. toggling System files and File visibility don't work unless you've already opened the package contents).

Warning: Modifying your Mono installation could have unexpected consequences, so don't blame me.

1. Download the attachment from Comment #9 on the Bugzilla forum and remove the bugfix prefix so that its filename is simply libMonoPosixHelper.dylib

2. Open a Finder window or click the desktop and choose Go to Folder from the Go menu. Go to this directory:

/Applications/Unity/MonoDevelop.app/Contents/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/lib/
​

3. Remove the old libMonoPosixHelper.dylib file (put it in a backup folder) and move the patched library to the lib folder.

Using this patch I had success in reading bytes from a custom Bluetooth device in a regular Mono 2.6.4 project (non-Unity). Before, I was getting time-out errors no matter which Read() method I called. However, initializing the connection to the device is unreliable as it frequently fails to connect until I restart my program several times. I have the same issue when using the RXTX library with Java under Mac OS 10.6.6.

The next step will be to see what I can do about getting it to run in a Unity C# project. I'll try some of the other hints mentioned in this thread.

Ultimately, I think a better but more difficult solution would be using native IOKit or AMSerialPort in Xcode to write a small plugin that connects to the device at a low level. Perhaps Mono just doesn't have priority access to these hardware devices.

 

Does System.Data work in current version. I have problem with using System.Data in a js file.
I have sent the API compatibility to 2.0.

 

Just updated to Unity 3.2. I still get a DllNotFoundException: MonoPosixHelper error when attempting to open a serial port on Mac OS X 10.6.6. In the build settings I had changed the Api Compatibility Level from .NET 2.0 Subset to "full" .NET 2.0. Obviously it isn't the complete version.

The weird thing is, if you Show Package Contents for both MonoDevelop and Unity editor, libMonoPosixHelper.dylib exists in each of their Mono frameworks.

 

Did you file a bug report? It won't get any attention from UT unless you do.

 

OK, I just submitted a bug report, Case 391382.

 

Ok so i´ve seen people cheering because of their success and complaining about their failure. I tryed the advices from sucessfull ones and still got :

Assets/Standard Assets/Scripts/PadScript.cs(13,23): error CS0246: The type or namespace name `SerialPort' could not be found. Are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?

If any of the sucessfull ppl could help me and the other failfull ones, we would be most thankfull!

Hugs!

 

Currently on Unity 3.2 for Mac, it seems the only way to access serial ports is by writing a C++ plugin. There were two separate problems discussed regarding serial port access on Mac via C#.

1. Unity Editor doesn't seem to have access to Posix Helper or System.IO.Ports. Somehow the libraries were cut off from Unity. No matter where I put the needed dylibs, Unity Editor ignores them and always returns an error. Changing the build settings to .NET instead of .NET subset doesn't fix the issue.

2. Unity for Mac is using an outdated version of Mono which, due to a problem with "Posix Helper", always returns a timeout exception when attempting to read bytes. This was tested in a C# standalone program outside of Unity. I presume if we got issue #1 fixed, then you would encounter #2 within the editor. I discussed a patch that some developers came up with to fix this issue. But again, since Unity editor seems to ignore the Posix Helper dylibs, patched or not, we're stuck.

Unity 3.2 on Windows is a different story. I just tested the same C# script and I am able to get data from a Bluetooth device.

 

Anyone have a very simple script example I can see that will send a simple command to a serial device (under Windows)? I'd like to test this also.