Dashboard programs and the char variable

[Ian W.]

OK, a few quick questions...

1) Do the dashboard programs (or any serial communications program for the matter) have to use char variables to read the bytes from the serial port?

2) If you do indeed have to use char, can I use the int (char_variable) and char (int_variable) commands to insert data into the array? I'm assuming so, but I have some errors sometimes.

3) Is a -1 in a char varaible the same as a 255? I've been testing my code, and when I want a 255 to come up, a -1 comes up instead. I think they're the same, but once again, i'd like to check this out, because this may be causing errors to my program.

Thanks to anyone who can help.