title: How can I simulate SerialPort interactions for testing?
body: <p>I'm about to start developing a small app (C#) that communicates with a PLC and a testing unit via Serial Ports - this is my first venture into this area.</p>
  
  <p>In essence, I am going to send the PLC a signal to start an operation, and then I am going to wait for the result of that operation from the test unit (which will be independently communicating with the PLC) to return a ASCII string. </p>
  
  <p>Depending on the content of that string, I may want to listen to a signal from the PLC...</p>
  
  <p>It's all new to me, so at the moment, I'm just researching System.IO.Ports.SerialPort; digression: <strong>are there third part products out there than simplify interaction with the Serial Port</strong>, or are the built-in classes as good as you will get? I'm thinking of ease of use as opposed to better features.</p>
  
  <p>However, it will be a few weeks before the hardware is available for development and testing, so I was wondering <strong>how I could simulate communication to/from the serial port so that I can start developing my app?</strong></p>
  
  <p>[I don't yet know how the PLC and the PC are due to communicate - I understand it will be binary rather than text, but at the moment, that is all I know.]</p>