Android BluetoothAdapter getRemoteDevice is cached - android

I am developing an Android application, where I use Bluetooth Low Energy.
My code logic includes using the BluetoothAdapter and method getRemoteDevice(MAC-adddress).
The problem is that when I use this method, Android seems to have cached it. Because when I am not close or the device is not on, it still creates the BluetoothDevice-object with the name and all that. But I cannot connect ofcourse.
How can I prevent Android from caching this old BluetoothDevice?
I have tried reflection with
Method m = device.getClass().getMethod("removeBond", (Class[]) null);
m.invoke(device, (Object[]) null);
But it wont yield any better result.
Thank you!

According to the documentation for getRemoteDevice:
A BluetoothDevice will always be returned for a valid hardware
address, even if this adapter has never seen that device.
So, it is not caching the result, it is just creating a dumb BluetoothDevice object, which has no idea if that MAC address even exists.
You could attempt to connect to the GATT service of the device, or start discovery, or use the LE scanner object, and use the appropriate callback to check if the connection has succeeded or not.

Related

Which method is called when someone tries to connect using WifiP2PManager.connect(Channel, WifiP2pConfig,ActionListener)?

I am tring to setup WIFI P2P on 2 devices using
manager.addLocalService(channel, service, ActionListener)
and then connect both devices using
manager.connect(channel, config, ActionListener).
I would like to know which method is called before the popup to accept/reject connection is shown on the target device. All I was able to find was onConnectionInfoAvailable(WifiP2pInfo p2pInfo), but it is called after the connection is established.
I basically want to receive the "instance name" of the device trying to connect to me using WIFI P2P and then reject the connection request without showing system dialog(that allows the user to accept/reject connection).
I can't anything that can help me do this on docs or any other place. If anyone knows how to do it or can point me in the right direction then please let me know.
I solved it. I can put the instancename and devicename (of device I want to connect to) in Map that is passed when setting up service. From other device I can retrieve map of all devices available using this and find the instancename of one I need.

How do Bluetooth SDP and UUIDs work? (specifically for Android)

My understanding is that the SDP is a list of UUIDs that other devices can fetch.
According to this PDF from MIT, "A more general way to think of
SDP is as an information database." Does this mean I can add multiple values to SDP? Since Android has BluetoothDevice.fetchUuidsWithSdp(), how do I set the UUIDs of a device?
Also, what does each section of an UUID mean? UUIDs look like 00000000-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB, but what information does this convey?
An UUID identifies a service that is available on a particular device. So if you call BluetoothDevice.fetchUUidsWithSdp() your BroadcastReceiver will receive the relevant Intent ACTION_UUID containing the device and the service UUID.
The bluetooth specification defines some common UUIDs.
If you don't want to connect to one of these well known services but intent to implement your own bluetooth application, then you have to just generate your own UUID (use uuidgen from a unix console or an online generator) that identifies your application/service.
You can create an UUID instance in java like this UUID uuid = UUID.fromString("785da8ea-1220-11e5-9493-1697f925ec7b");.
So if you create the server side for your bluetooth application on Android you typically do this
BluetoothAdapter adapter = BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter();
BluetoothServerSocket serverSocket = adapter.listenUsingRfcommWithServiceRecord("YourHumanReadableServiceName", uuid);
And this is where you "set" your UUID. The Android bluetooth API creates the SDP-entry consisting of YOUR application's UUID and name for you. Other devices can now retrieve this entry. Androids bluetooth stack will now associate a bluetooth channel to your BluetoothServerSocket. If you want to connect to this ServerSocket, the connecting side usually connects doing this:
// you will most likely already have this instance from a discovery or paired device list
BluetoothDevice serverDevice = adapter.getRemoteDevice(bluetoothMacAddress);
// connect to your ServerSocket using the uuid
BluetoothSocket socket = serverDevice.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(uuid);
socket.connect();
Android will again do the heavy lifting for you: It checks the SDP-Records on the remote device, looks up the bluetooth channel that corresponds to your service's UUID and connects using this information.
There is a common code snippet spooking around here on SO that advices you to use "reflection" to get to a hidden API looking similar to this code:
try {
// this is the way to go
socket = device.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(uuid);
socket.connect( );
} catch ( IOException exception ) {
// don't do that! You will bypass SDP and things will go sideways.
Method m = device.getClass().getMethod("createRfcommSocket", new Class[] {int.class});
socket = (BluetoothSocket) m.invoke(device, 1);
socket.connect();
}
Most people try this and it "just works" in their dev environment but you should know what you do using this. You actively bypass the SDP lookup that retrieves the right bluetooth channel to be used with your service and you will end up connecting to channel 1. If you have more than one Service running on the device, things WILL go sideways in this cases and you will end up in debugging hell ;-)
I developed a small middleware called Blaubot to create small networks using bluetooth/wifi/nfc and experienced all sorts of problems on the devices I used to test with (12 models). It was often the case that the bluetooth stack was not fully functional anymore in cases where it got some load or after many connects/disconnects (which you usually will have, if you are developing your app). In these cases the device.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(uuid) would occasionally fail and only turning the bluetooth adapter off and on again helped to bring the bluetooth adapters back to life (in some cases only after a full power cycle). If this happens and you use the reflection method, you will probably not have much fun with bluetooth.
But if you know this and keep concurrent calls to the BluetoothAdapter within bounds, bluetooth connections and the adapters will be pretty stable.

Android Bluetooth Connectivity with RN42 Module

I'm trying to connect my app to the RN42 module.
// Create a socket based on the application ID with a paired device
// Fetch the published UUIDs from the mbed and use the first one
bluetoothSocket = connectedDevice.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(connectedDevice.getUuids()[0].getUuid());
// Connect to the device
if (!bluetoothSocket.isConnected())
bluetoothSocket.connect();
// Create the input and output streams for sending/receiving messages
socketInput = bluetoothSocket.getInputStream();
socketOutput = bluetoothSocket.getOutputStream();
I've got these in the Android Manifest
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH"/>
I'm getting this error when I call bluetoothSocket.connect().
Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void android.bluetooth.BluetoothSocket.connect()' on a null object reference
After calling this line
bluetoothSocket = connectedDevice.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(connectedDevice.getUuids()[0].getUuid());
I've inspected the variable bluetoothSocket using Android Studio and it's not null. It somehow becomes null when bluetoothSocket.connect() is called.
Is that the expected behaviour? What can I do to fix it? The RN42 module works fine as I've tested it with the RN Bluetooth Chat app on Play Store.
I'm on Android 5.1 on a Nexus 7 if that helps.
I've managed to sort the issue by removing my Bluetooth connectivity code and instead basing it around the Android Bluetooth Chat example. I don't know what the exact issue was but Bluetooth Chat example managed to fix it. Nothing obvious stands out so my best guess is, it was something subtle. If you are having a similar issue and connection between RN42 and Android is fiddly, create a sample Bluetooth Chat application and reuse that Bluetooth connectivity code.
Many less headaches! :)
Seethis reference guide for the module (p. 21) .
This might or might not apply to your case but is probably worth trying. They have special recommendations (default UUID and custom UUID respectively) for the module when connecting to Android devices.
Use the createInsecureRfcommSocketToServiceRecord instead. Insecure socket allows the RFCOMM to communicate with a non-authenticated paired device. Embedded devices like the RN42 or KC2114 have a difficult time performing authenticated pairing, because user interaction is required (numeric comparison, yes-no response). The "Just Works" automatic pairing will not produce an authenticated pairing. KC2114 supports both automatic authenticated pairing (with a small hack) and Just Works non-authenticated pairing.

OBEX/OPP File sender, problems with initializing device address

Source:
The OPs Working Solution:
Sending a File using Bluetooth OBEX Object Push Profile (OPP)
I am trying to use this source in order to test transfer with my app. I have also tried running with variants but the main issue I am getting is that Eclipse wants to initialize this line:
BluetoothDevice device;
to
BluetoothDevice device=null;
In which case then the app gives me an error upon running.
In another case with similar code it will flag a problem with the actual getAddress().
Am I missing something here? Is it because I need to setup a bluetooth connection previously?
Usually BluetoothDevice is available when you find a remote device,
Hence you should first use BluetoothAdapter to discover remotedevices then use the code to send data to the remotedevice.
you can find a great tutorial in this regard here: (http://www.developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth.html‎)

Connecting to a specific bluetooth port on a bluetooth device using Android

Is there any way for Android to connect to a Bluetooth device using a specific port instead of using service UUID?
I know this option is available in other platforms which provide Bluetooth support (Java ME for example by specifying a "btspp://" style URL).
Thanks!
Ok, it's been a while, but I found a solution to the problem. I actually intended to give up and use UUID, but I kept getting a Service Discovery Failed (IO)exception, and when I tried to find a solution to the service discovery issue, I found the solution to my original question... Ain't life something?:)
Anyways, this is the link I stumbled upon, though you should note there is a mistake in the answer (they actually simply connected to port 1, instead of using a service UUID).
And after this short history lesson, here is the solution:
Using reflection, it is possible to create the Rfcomm socket connecting to a port number instead of UUID:
int bt_port_to_connect = 5; // just an example, could be any port number you wish
BluetoothDevice device = ... ; // get the bluetooth device (e.g., using bt discovery)
BluetoothSocket deviceSocket = null;
...
// IMPORTANT: we create a reference to the 'createInsecureRfcommSocket' method
// and not(!) to the 'createInsecureRfcommSocketToServiceRecord' (which is what the
// android SDK documentation publishes
Method m = device.getClass().getMethod("createInsecureRfcommSocket", new Class[] {int.class});
deviceSocket = (BluetoothSocket) m.invoke(device,bt_port_to_connect);
A few things to notice:
since we're using Invoke, the first parameter is the object we're invoking the method on, the second parameter of invoke is actually the first function parameter)
There is also a secure version available ('createRfcommSocket'), which accepts a bluetooth channel number as a single parameter (again, since this is invoke style, you'll need to pass the object to invoke the method on, as mentioned in -1- )
I found what appears to be a link to these functions' prototypes
Good luck to all.
Bluetooth Android connections are exclusively done via UUID. Each Bluetooth device has a UUID for every service it runs (see Bluetooth SDP).
You just give Android the UUID to watch for and, in client mode, it will find a socket to connect to automatically (including port). In server mode, it will wait for the specified device to initiate a connection using the specified UUID.
The BluetoothSocket object is also valid when connection is established (use getInput/Output Stream)
See Server Socket documentation and Client Socket documentation.
If you really want to check everything, you can see what Android decodes from the other device's SDP and the UUID you provided.
Use this tutorial to get the Bluetooth interface (very easy to do).
Then the code should look something like this:
IBluetooth ib =getIBluetooth();
Int otherDevicePort = ib.getRemoteServiceChannel(otherDeviceAddress, UUID);
I'm using bluecove which allow me to do so with the function Connector.open().
I use the following url:
btspp://" + phoneID + ":" + phonePort
N.b.: Some options can be added (e.g.: authenticate=false; or encrypt=false;).
With phoneID being the the being the Bluetooth address and phonePort the port number.
How to find the Bluetooth address?
From this link:
From the Home screen, open the app drawer, then open “Settings“.
Select “System“. (Skip this step on some models)
Scroll down to the bottom and tap “About Phone“, “About device“, or “About tablet“.
Scroll down to the bottom and tap “Status“.
Scroll down and the “Bluetooth address” will be shown in the list.
How to find the port number?
I haven't been able to find which port is supposed to be used yet...
I used 5 and it works but I need to research why and if I want to change the phone I will need to know if I also need to change the port.

Categories

Resources