The Weird and The Wonderful

while (t.IsAlive)
{
    //wait for thread to exit
}

private System.IO.Ports.StopBits stopBitsFromString(string stopBitsAsString)
{
  System.IO.Ports.StopBits stopBits = StopBits.None;
  foreach (StopBits sb in Enum.GetValues(typeof(StopBits)))
  {
    if(sb.ToString()== stopBitsAsString)
    {
      return sb;
    }
  }
  return stopBits;
}

private System.IO.Ports.StopBits stopBitsFromString2(string stopBitsAsString)
{
    try
    {
        return (StopBits)Enum.Parse(typeof(StopBits), stopBitsAsString, true);
    }
    catch   {return StopBits.None;}
}

Enum NumberSize
    Bit_8 = 8
    Bit_16 = 16
    Bit_32 = 32
    Bit_64 = 64
    Bit_128 = 128
End Enum

Public Function CBin_Number(ByVal InputNumber As Double, ByVal InputNumberSize As NumberSize) As String 'converts large numbers into strings 8, 16,32, 64, or 128 characters long
    Dim FinalBinNumber As String

Dim TempNumber As Double = InputNumber
Dim PlaceCounter As Integer

Select Case InputNumberSize
    Case NumberSize.Bit_8
        PlaceCounter = 7
    Case NumberSize.Bit_16
        PlaceCounter = 15
    Case NumberSize.Bit_32
        PlaceCounter = 31
    Case NumberSize.Bit_64
        PlaceCounter = 63
    Case NumberSize.Bit_128
        PlaceCounter = 127
End Select

If (TempNumber - (2 ^ PlaceCounter)) > 0 Then
    PlaceCounter = 127
End If

Do Until (PlaceCounter < 0)
    If (TempNumber - (2 ^ PlaceCounter)) >= 0 Then
        FinalBinNumber = FinalBinNumber & "1"
        TempNumber = TempNumber - (2 ^ PlaceCounter)
    ElseIf (TempNumber - (2 ^ PlaceCounter)) < 0 Then
        FinalBinNumber = FinalBinNumber & "0"
    End If
    PlaceCounter = PlaceCounter - 1
Loop

    If FinalBinNumber = "11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111" Then
        FinalBinNumber = "11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 or Error: Number Too Large"
    End If
    Return FinalBinNumber
End Function

Public Shared Function ReaderRev(ByVal BinString As String) As String 'converts strings into ASCII character string

Dim tempstring As String = Replace(BinString, " ", "")
Dim tempbinstr As String
Dim TempChar As Char

Dim BinValue As Object
Dim counter As Integer = 0
Dim counter2 As Integer = 1
Dim i As Integer, n As Integer
Dim finalstring As String

    Do Until counter = ((Len(tempstring) \ 8) + 1)
        counter = counter + 1
        tempbinstr = Mid(tempstring, counter2, 8)
        For i = 0 To 7
            TempChar = Mid(tempbinstr, (i + 1), 1)
            If TempChar = "1" Then
                BinValue = BinValue + (2 ^ (7 - i))
            End If
        Next
        finalstring = finalstring & Chr(BinValue)
        BinValue = 0
        counter2 = counter2 + 8
    Loop
    Return finalstring
End Function