So I took a crack at this and came up with a very crude but effective solution that I hope others can use. My basic goal was to indicate when comms to a device is lost without locking up the application. This solution flashes a Label that I put "Loss of Comms" in the text field and works in conjunction with a BasicLabel control and Timer. I point the BasicLabel to a register that I expect only an integer and triggers on the presence of text from Archie's error messages. Please let me know if you have a better or simpler solution. Thanks
Private Sub CommLossLabel_TextChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles CommLossLabel.TextChanged 'initiates Loss of Comms display by looking for any text in label value
If Integer.TryParse(CommLossLabel.Text, Nothing) Then
CommLossTimer.Enabled = False
Label2.Visible = False
Else : CommLossTimer.Enabled = True
Label2.Visible = True
End If
End Sub
Private Sub CommLossTimer_Tick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles CommLossTimer.Tick 'handles Loss of Comms display interval
If Label2.Visible = True Then
Label2.Visible = False
ElseIf Label2.Visible = False Then
Label2.Visible = True
End If
End Sub