SoftwareSerial.h is no longer included the Arduino IDE.

Components & Accessories Displays
1

I have been trying to use the Serial 7 segment displays but can’t use your Arduino program because I can’t find SoftwareSerial.h inthe Arduino IDE.Where can I download it? Is there a substitute? I can find the code but not the actual library.

2

Unfortunately, SoftwareSerial.h is not included in the Arduino IDE by default. You can download it from the following link: http://playground.arduino.cc/Interfacing/SoftwareSerial.

If you cannot find the SoftwareSerial library, there is an alternative library called AltSoftSerial, which can be found here: https://github.com/PaulStoffregen/AltSoftSerial.

3

If SoftwareSerial is supported for your board, it is normally included as part of the board library and does not need to be downloaded separately. It is installed in the libraries folder of your board library. But NOT all boards support it. Which board library do you use ?

4

Before using it, you need to declare that it contains the SoftwareSerial. h header file.

SoftwareSerial()

The constructor of the SoftwareSerial class, which allows you to specify the RX and TX pins of the soft serial port.

Grammar:

SoftwareSerial mySerial= SoftwareSerial(rxPin, txPin)

SoftwareSerial mySerial(rxPin, txPin)

Parameters:

MySerial: User defined software serial port object

RxPin: Soft serial port receiving pin

TxPin: Soft serial port sending pin