Reading from a BluetoothGattCharacteristic is failing - android

Im trying to read the value stored in a BluetoothGattCharacteristic. The following is my BluetoothGattCallback code, where most of the action takes place:
private final BluetoothGattCallback mGattCallback =
new BluetoothGattCallback() {
#Override
public void onConnectionStateChange(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status,
int newState) {
if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_CONNECTED) {
Log.i(TAG, "Connected to GATT server.");
Log.i(TAG, "Getting services....");
gatt.discoverServices();
} else if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_DISCONNECTED) {
Log.i(TAG, "Disconnected from GATT server.");
}
}
#Override
public void onServicesDiscovered(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status) {
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
BluetoothGattService serv = gatt.getService(Constants.MY_UUID);
if (serv != null) {
BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic = serv.getCharacteristic(Constants.ANOTHER_UUID);
boolean res = gatt.readCharacteristic(characteristic);
if (res) {
Log.d(TAG, "res was true");
} else {
Log.d(TAG, "res was false");
}
}
} else {
Log.w(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered received: " + status);
}
}
#Override
public void onCharacteristicRead(BluetoothGatt gatt,
BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic,
int status) {
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
Log.d(TAG, "Succesfully read characteristic: " + characteristic.getValue().toString());
} else {
Log.d(TAG, "Characteristic read not successful");
}
}
};
So to read from the characteristic, i'm attempting to use the gatt.readCharacteristic() method, which takes a characteristic and returns a boolean indicating a successful operation or not. Here, this method is returning false (printing "res was false"), indicating it failed.
There is no error message being printed. What is the proper way to read a characteristic? Why would this method be returning false?
EDIT:
As suggested by Inferno, went ahead and downloaded the needed sources and then set a breakpoint in the BluetoothGatt readCharacteristic() method:
Here is the readCharacteristic() method in android-23..\BluetoothGatt
public boolean readCharacteristic(BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic) {
if ((characteristic.getProperties() &
BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_READ) == 0) return false;
(characteristic.getProperties() & BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_READ) is returning 0 so false is being immediately returned. Now according to the debugger characteristic.getProperties() is returning a value of 8, while BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_READ has a static int value of 0x02.
As I understand, 0x08 & 0x02 == 0. Since the PROPERTY_READ is a hardcoded value, I assume something is wrong with the value returned from characteristic.getProperties(). What could be going wrong here?

What is the proper way to read a characteristic?
First of all, you call gatt.readCharacteristic(characteristic) from inside of the onServicesDiscovered() callback, which is alright. I can't see any serious flaws in your code.
What you could add in onConnectionStateChange() is an additional check before you verify newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_CONNECTED:
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) { ...
Why would this method be returning false?
I checked the android source of BluetoothGatt here and it turns out, the return value of false is returned in many different cases as you can see in the code below:
public boolean readCharacteristic(BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic) {
if ((characteristic.getProperties() &
BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_READ) == 0) return false;
if (VDBG) Log.d(TAG, "readCharacteristic() - uuid: " + characteristic.getUuid());
if (mService == null || mClientIf == 0) return false;
BluetoothGattService service = characteristic.getService();
if (service == null) return false;
BluetoothDevice device = service.getDevice();
if (device == null) return false;
synchronized(mDeviceBusy) {
if (mDeviceBusy) return false;
mDeviceBusy = true;
}
try {
mService.readCharacteristic(mClientIf, device.getAddress(),
characteristic.getInstanceId(), AUTHENTICATION_NONE);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
Log.e(TAG,"",e);
mDeviceBusy = false;
return false;
}
return true;
}
So what I recommend you to do is, start the debugger in Android Studio and set a breakpoint inside the readCharacteristic() method (in BluetoothGatt.java) and carefully step through the code to see where false gets returned. That way you will hopefully be able to localize the issue. Besides that, anything else would be wild guessing.
Of course you need to have the sources downloaded to be able to view BluetoothGatt.java. But Android Studio will give you a small yellow bar at the top of the editor which asks you if you want to download and install. Just do it and restart Android Studio after the download is complete. Then you should be able to set a breakpoint in BluetoothGatt.java.
UPDATE:
As I understand, 0x08 & 0x02 == 0. Since the PROPERTY_READ is a
hardcoded value, I assume something is wrong with the value returned
from characteristic.getProperties(). What could be going wrong here?
According to BLUETOOTH SPECIFICATION Version 4.2 [Vol 3, Part G] page 533, the value of 0x8 which is returned by characteristic.getProperties() means, that your characteristic has write only permissions. Not a surprise that all reading attempts fail. In other words: your bluetooth device does not allow you to read that particular characteristic.
Quote from the specification:
The Characteristic Properties bit field determines how the Characteristic Value
can be used, or how the characteristic descriptors (see Section 3.3.3) can be
accessed.

I was trying to read data back from a cow brush scratcher that had BLE chip.
It was under a read characteristic on a BLE module.
The data was coming back in hex i.e. 0x00 for BRUSH_OFF & 0x01 for BRUSH_ON
I was trying to read in this data in my android app and it kept coming back as blank.
Problem is 0x00 = NUll in ascii and 0x01 = SOH ascii it cannot be displayed on the screen.
0x30 = 0 in ascii 0x31 = 1 in ascii
Maybe you have escape characters coming back in hex and they cannot be read.
I spent months trying to figure out why i couldn't read back the values.
Hope this might help you.

Related

Android Ble status code 14 in onCharacteristicwrite

I am developing an app using BLE where i have to send some commands to peripheral device to get response. Write characteristics code is written below:
public void writeCustomCharacteristic(String value) {
this.value = "";
if (mBluetoothAdapter == null || mBluetoothGatt == null) {
Log.w(TAG, "BluetoothAdapter not initialized");
return;
}
/*check if the service is available on the device*/
BluetoothGattService mCustomService = mBluetoothGatt.getService(SERVICE_UUID);
if (mCustomService == null) {
Log.w(TAG, "Custom BLE Service not found");
return;
}
/*get the read characteristic from the service*/
BluetoothGattCharacteristic mWriteCharacteristic = mCustomService.getCharacteristic(CHARACTERSTICS_UUID);
mWriteCharacteristic.setWriteType(BluetoothGattCharacteristic.WRITE_TYPE_DEFAULT);
mWriteCharacteristic.setValue(value.getBytes());
if (!mBluetoothGatt.writeCharacteristic(mWriteCharacteristic)) {
Log.w(TAG, "Failed to write characteristic");
}
}
And after write characteristics i got response in following method here it returns status code 14, which is not mentioned in official document as well:
public void onCharacteristicWrite(BluetoothGatt gatt, BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic, int status) {
System.out.println("BluetoothLeService.onCharacteristicWrite");
System.out.println(BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS + " :status: " + status);
}
Status code 14 probably means ATT error code 14, which is defined in Bluetooth Core specification v5.0, Vol 3, Part F, section 3.4.1.1 Table 3.3.
This error code is sent from the remote device so it's most likely no error on the Android side. Error code 14 in ATT means "Unlikely Error". You need to investigate why the remote device sends this error code.

Receiving multiple BLE Packets per one connection interval in Android

My device information
Nordic board :
MTU size : 247.
This board send notification multiple packets in one connection interval (Just counter value like 1,2,3,4...) at "Heart Rate Measurement".
Android device :
Version 5.0 and 6.0. (Using two device).
communicate Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE) with board.
board connect with my Android app MTU is setting 244.
Application source is google sample project BluetoothLeGatt
App send notification value at "Heart Rate Service" characteristic.
Receive notification value at Gattcallback "onCharacteristicChanged()"
Problem
My Android app lost some packet.
I read this post. Maximizing BLE Throughput on iOS and Android. So I send E-mail this post author and I search another information for Android.
I found some similarly question. but that question answer was not work. Then I found one question what I want exactly. but this question have no answers. Android receiving multiple BLE packets per connection interval. Unfortunately I don't have any reply E-mail answer.
My question is how do I set Android BLE notification. (Not Nordic board setting)
(My question is same Android receiving multiple BLE packets per connection interval)
Under line is my sample code. at notification.
#Connect
public boolean connect(final String address) {
if (mBluetoothAdapter == null || address == null) {
Log.w(TAG, "BluetoothAdapter not initialized or unspecified address.");
return false;
}
// Previously connected device. Try to reconnect.
if (mBluetoothDeviceAddress != null && address.equals(mBluetoothDeviceAddress) && mBluetoothGatt != null) {
Log.d(TAG, "Trying to use an existing mBluetoothGatt for connection.");
if (mBluetoothGatt.connect()) {
mConnectionState = STATE_CONNECTING;
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}
final BluetoothDevice device = mBluetoothAdapter.getRemoteDevice(address);
if (device == null) {
Log.w(TAG, "Device not found. Unable to connect.");
return false;
}
// We want to directly connect to the device, so we are setting the autoConnect
// parameter to false.
mBluetoothGatt = device.connectGatt(this, false, mGattCallback);
Log.d(TAG, "Trying to create a new connection.");
mBluetoothDeviceAddress = address;
mConnectionState = STATE_CONNECTING;
return true;
}
#GattCallback
/*broadcastUpdate method is display value*/
#Override
public void onConnectionStateChange(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status, int newState) {
if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_CONNECTED) {
mConnectionState = STATE_CONNECTED;
// Attempts to discover services after successful connection.
Log.i(TAG, "Attempting to start service discovery:");
mBluetoothGatt.discoverServices();
} else if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_DISCONNECTED) {
Log.i(TAG, "Disconnected from GATT server.");
mConnectionState = STATE_DISCONNECTED;
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_GATT_DISCONNECTED);
}
}
#Override
public void onServicesDiscovered(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status) {
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
Log.d(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered success: (status)" + status);
//findServiceOther(gatt);
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED);
Log.d(TAG, "Request MTU");
gatt.requestMtu(SET_MTU);
} else {
Log.w(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered failed: (status)" + status);
}
}
#Override
public void onCharacteristicRead(BluetoothGatt gatt, BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic, int status) {
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
Log.d(TAG, "onCharRead Success");
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE, characteristic);
} else {
Log.d(TAG, "OnCharRead Error: " + status);
}
}
#Override
public void onCharacteristicChanged(BluetoothGatt gatt, BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic) {
if (characteristic.getUuid().equals(SampleGattAttributes.UUID_HEART_RATE_MEASUREMENT))
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE, characteristic, FLAG_HEART_RATE);
else
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE, characteristic);
}
#Override
public void onMtuChanged(BluetoothGatt gatt, int mtu, int status) {
super.onMtuChanged(gatt, mtu, status);
boolean priority = gatt.requestConnectionPriority(BluetoothGatt.CONNECTION_PRIORITY_HIGH);
Log.d(TAG, "MTU changed (mtu/status) / Priority : (" + mtu + "/" + status + ") / " + priority);
changed_MTU_Size = mtu;
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_DATA_AVAILABLE, changed_MTU_Size, FLAG_MTU);
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_GATT_CONNECTED);
}
#set notification
public void setCharacteristicNotification(BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic, boolean enabled) {
if (mBluetoothAdapter == null || mBluetoothGatt == null) {
Log.w(TAG, "BluetoothAdapter not initialized");
return;
}
mBluetoothGatt.setCharacteristicNotification(characteristic, enabled);
if (SampleGattAttributes.UUID_HEART_RATE_MEASUREMENT.equals(characteristic.getUuid())) {
// This is specific to Heart Rate Measurement.
BluetoothGattDescriptor descriptor = characteristic.getDescriptor(SampleGattAttributes.UUID_CLIENT_CHARACTERISTIC_CONFIG);
descriptor.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_NOTIFICATION_VALUE);
mBluetoothGatt.writeDescriptor(descriptor);
}
}
Edit_1
I test Nordic offical app in Google play store.
nRF Connect for Mobile
but this app miss packet too.
Edit_2
I found some problem too.
< Nordic board constant setting>
HEART_RATE_MEAS_INTERVAL : 10
MIN_CONN_INTERVAL : MSEC_TO_UNITS(40, UNIT_1_25_MS)
MAX_CONN_INTERVAL : MSEC_TO_UNITS(40, UNIT_1_25_MS)
SLAVE_LATENCY 0
CONN_SUP_TIMEOUT MSEC_TO_UNITS(4000, UNIT_10_MS)
< Run in my Android app >
skip requestMTU : receive 20byte packet successful. (Data rate average is 2200byte/second in my app)
requestMTU : I try so many MTU size (ex: 23(can small size), 40, 100, 255(target) ...) but lost some packet (Data rate 8500 ~ 9500 byte/second in my app)
I wonder requestMTU and notification receive interrelation.
i have implemented a file transfer over LE on a nrf51422 and SD310 by using the Nordic UART Service. The android App is written in CPP by using Qt and the QtBluetooth library. Therefore, this answer my not really help you. But, i have taken some afford to achive a usable data rate. 1st, set the connection parameters to 7.5ms (min) and 15ms (max). 2nd, on the peripheral side, i send up to 7 packets (til the buffer is full). So the peripheral send up to 7 packets per connection event.
On the Android side, the charachteritic changed event arrive me frequently with a data size of 20 bytes (due to the maximum MTU size of 23, 3 bytes used by nordic uart service) and i read the data instantly.
Perhaps your mistake is the MTU size of 244. The default BLE MTU size is 23 (Core spec 4.1).
Regards

Android BLE - read custom service

I try to communicate with an µ-controller through an android device via BLE. I am able to write my custom characteristic (toggle an LED on my Dev-Kit) but can't read the value of the LED status ('0x00' for off, '0x01' for on).
I want to read it when i click on the ExpandableListView when i click on an item. For the moment i implemented it within the onChildClickListener. If a characteristic-permission "PROPERTY_WRITE" > 0 then it should write the value.
private final ExpandableListView.OnChildClickListener servicesListClickListner =
new ExpandableListView.OnChildClickListener() {
#Override
public boolean onChildClick(ExpandableListView parent, View v, int groupPosition,
int childPosition, long id) {
if (mGattCharacteristics != null) {
final BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic =
mGattCharacteristics.get(groupPosition).get(childPosition);
final int charaProp = characteristic.getProperties();
if ((charaProp | BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_READ) > 0) {
// If there is an active notification on a characteristic, clear
// it first so it doesn't update the data field on the user interface.
if (mNotifyCharacteristic != null) {
mBluetoothLeService.setCharacteristicNotification(
mNotifyCharacteristic, false);
mNotifyCharacteristic = null;
}
mBluetoothLeService.readCharacteristic(characteristic);
}
if ((charaProp | BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_NOTIFY) > 0) {
mNotifyCharacteristic = characteristic;
mBluetoothLeService.setCharacteristicNotification(
characteristic, true);
}
if ((charaProp | BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_WRITE) > 0) {
mBluetoothLeService.readCustomCharacteristic();
mBluetoothLeService.writeCustomCharacteristic(0x01);
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
But it always fails to read the characteristic. The LED value is written and the LED switches to 'ON' but it doesn't read the value of the LED.
I want to read the value for switching the LED on/off with clicking on the characteristic in my list.
I can't figure out what i'm doing wrong. It should be reading the characteristic, write it in a textfield. On my BLE-Device i have enabled reading. I can read the value with my ubuntu-terminal using gatttool -> char-read-hnd [hnd] [val].
This is my implementation of the readCustomCharacteristic() in mBluetoothLeService
public void readCustomCharacteristic() {
if (mBluetoothAdapter == null || mBluetoothGatt == null) {
Log.w(TAG, "BluetoothAdapter not initialized");
return;
}
/*check if the service is available on the device*/
BluetoothGattService mCustomService = mBluetoothGatt.getService(UUID.fromString("edfec62e-9910-0bac-5241-d8bda6932a2f"));
if(mCustomService == null){
Log.w(TAG, "Custom BLE Service not found");
return;
}
/*get the read characteristic from the service*/
BluetoothGattCharacteristic mReadCharacteristic = mCustomService.getCharacteristic(UUID.fromString("18192021-2223-2425-2627-282930313233"));
mBluetoothGatt.readCharacteristic(mReadCharacteristic);
if(mBluetoothGatt.readCharacteristic(mReadCharacteristic) == false){
Log.w(TAG, "Failed to read characteristic");
}
return;
}
It looks like what you're probably missing is setting the descriptor to Notify/indicate. It's a pain that we have to do this manually (iOS doesn't), but I guess these are the tools we're given. Here's a little snippet that might help:
BluetoothGattDescriptor descriptor = characteristic.getDescriptor(DESCRIPTOR_CONFIG_UUID);
bleGatt.setCharacteristicNotification(characteristic, true);
descriptor.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_NOTIFICATION_VALUE);
bleGatt.writeDescriptor(descriptor);
Depending on your peripheral, you might have to set the desciptor value to ENABLE_INDICATION_VALUE instead. If you don't know the descriptor UUID, you can do
characteristic.getDescriptors()
to get a list of the available descriptors.
After writing the descriptor, you should get a call to onDescriptorWrite in your gatt callback. If everything works correctly, and future characteristic changes should call the onCharacteristicChanged method in your gatt callback.
Hope this helps!

Android BLE: onCharacteristicChanged never fires

I'm trying to write an Android app that mimics functionality already present in an iOS app I wrote. I am interfacing with 2 different BLE devices:
Blood Pressure Cuff
Weight Scale
On iOS, I have both devices working well and reporting data. On Android, I can't get it to work. After hours of research and testing, I think the basic issue I'm trying to solve is this:
On iOS, I call the following code to enable the BLE device to notify my iOS device when it has data to report:
#pragma mark - CBPeripheralDelegate Protocol methods
- (void)peripheral:(CBPeripheral *)peripheral didDiscoverCharacteristicsForService:(CBService *)service error:(NSError *)error {
for (CBCharacteristic *characteristic in [service characteristics]) {
[peripheral setNotifyValue:YES forCharacteristic:characteristic];
}
}
That's it. The notes for this method in iOS say the following:
If the specified characteristic is configured to allow both notifications and indications, calling this method enables notifications only.
Based on that (and the fact that it works in iOS), I'm figuring that the configuration descriptor for the characteristic for which I want notifications should be configured like this:
descriptor.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_INDICATION_VALUE);
gatt.writeDescriptor(descriptor);
With that in mind, my BLEDevice class looks like this:
public abstract class BLEDevice {
protected BluetoothAdapter.LeScanCallback mLeScanCallback;
protected BluetoothGattCallback mBluetoothGattCallback;
protected byte[] mBytes;
protected Context mContext;
protected GotReadingCallback mGotReadingCallback;
protected String mDeviceName;
public final static UUID UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_SERVICE
= UUID.fromString(GattAttributes.WEIGHT_SCALE_SERVICE);
public final static UUID UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_READING_CHARACTERISTIC
= UUID.fromString(GattAttributes.WEIGHT_SCALE_READING_CHARACTERISTIC);
public final static UUID UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_CONFIGURATION_CHARACTERISTIC
= UUID.fromString(GattAttributes.WEIGHT_SCALE_CONFIGURATION_CHARACTERISTIC);
public final static UUID UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_CONFIGURATION_DESCRIPTOR
= UUID.fromString(GattAttributes.WEIGHT_SCALE_CONFIGURATION_DESCRIPTOR);
abstract void processReading();
interface GotReadingCallback {
void gotReading(Object reading);
}
public BLEDevice(Context context, String deviceName, GotReadingCallback gotReadingCallback) {
mContext = context;
BluetoothManager btManager = (BluetoothManager)mContext.getSystemService(Context.BLUETOOTH_SERVICE);
final BluetoothAdapter btAdapter = btManager.getAdapter();
if (btAdapter != null && !btAdapter.isEnabled()) {
Intent enableIntent = new Intent(BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_REQUEST_ENABLE);
mContext.startActivity(enableIntent);
}
mDeviceName = deviceName;
mBluetoothGattCallback = new BluetoothGattCallback() {
#Override
public void onCharacteristicChanged(BluetoothGatt gatt, final BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic) {
byte[] data = characteristic.getValue();
mBytes = data;
Log.d("BluetoothGattCallback.onCharacteristicChanged", "data: " + data.toString());
}
#Override
public void onConnectionStateChange(final BluetoothGatt gatt, final int status, final int newState) {
// this will get called when a device connects or disconnects
if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_CONNECTED) {
gatt.discoverServices();
} else if (newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_DISCONNECTED) {
if (mBytes != null) {
processReading();
}
}
}
#Override
public void onDescriptorWrite(BluetoothGatt gatt, BluetoothGattDescriptor descriptor, int status) {
super.onDescriptorWrite(gatt, descriptor, status);
Log.d("onDescriptorWrite", "descriptor: " + descriptor.getUuid() + ". characteristic: " + descriptor.getCharacteristic().getUuid() + ". status: " + status);
}
#Override
public void onServicesDiscovered(final BluetoothGatt gatt, final int status) {
// this will get called after the client initiates a BluetoothGatt.discoverServices() call
BluetoothGattService service = gatt.getService(UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_SERVICE);
if (service != null) {
BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic;
characteristic = service.getCharacteristic(UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_READING_CHARACTERISTIC);
if (characteristic != null) {
gatt.setCharacteristicNotification(characteristic, true);
}
characteristic = service.getCharacteristic(UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_CONFIGURATION_CHARACTERISTIC);
if (characteristic != null) {
BluetoothGattDescriptor descriptor = characteristic.getDescriptor(UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_CONFIGURATION_DESCRIPTOR);
if (descriptor != null) {
descriptor.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_INDICATION_VALUE);
gatt.writeDescriptor(descriptor);
}
}
}
}
};
mLeScanCallback = new BluetoothAdapter.LeScanCallback() {
#Override
public void onLeScan(final BluetoothDevice device, final int rssi, final byte[] scanRecord) {
Log.d("LeScanCallback", device.toString());
if (device.getName().contains("{Device Name}")) {
BluetoothGatt bluetoothGatt = device.connectGatt(mContext, false, mBluetoothGattCallback);
btAdapter.stopLeScan(mLeScanCallback);
}
}
};
btAdapter.startLeScan(mLeScanCallback);
}
}
NOTE: It might be important to know that these 2 devices function in the following way:
The BLE device is turned on an a measurement is initiated on the device.
Once the measurement has been taken, the BLE device attempts to initiate a BLE connection.
Once the BLE connection is made, the device pretty much immediately sends the data, sometimes sending a couple of data packets. (If previous data measurements haven't been successfully sent over BLE, it keeps them in memory and sends all of them, so I only really care about the final data packet.)
Once the final data packet is sent, the BLE device disconnects rapidly.
If the BLE device fails to send data (as is currently happening on the Android app), the BLE device disconnects pretty rapidly.
In my LogCat, I see a lot of output that's exactly like I'd expect.
I see a list of services like I expect, including the data service I want.
I see a list of characteristics like I expect, including the data characteristic I want.
I see a list of descriptors like I expect, including the "configuration" (0x2902) descriptor.
The most recent failure I'm experiencing is a status of "128" being reported in onCharacteristicWrite. The comments to question #3 (below) seem to indicate this is a resource issue.
I've looked at the following questions:
Android BLE onCharacteristicChanged not called
Android BLE, read and write characteristics
Android 4.3 onDescriptorWrite returns status 128
Here's why they don't give me what I need:
This question's answer was not to read the descriptor's value. I'm not doing that, so that can't be what's getting in the way.
This is basically an overview of the various methods that are available, which I think I now understand. The big key in this question/answer is not to write multiple times to different descriptors, but I'm also not doing that. I only care about the one characteristic.
This question/answer seems to be related to BLE resource limitations, but I don't think this applies. I'm only connecting this one device and I'm trying to do a very, very simple data transfer. I don't think I'm hitting resource ceilings.
I've tried a bunch of examples and tutorials, including Google's Android sample code. None of them seem to enable the BLE device to notify my Android device of data updates. It's obviously not the device, since the iOS version works. So, what is the iOS code doing in the background to get the notifications to work and what code on the Android side will mimic that functionality?
EDIT/UPDATE
Based on #yonran's comments, I updated my code by changing the onServicesDiscovered implementation to this:
#Override
public void onServicesDiscovered(final BluetoothGatt gatt, final int status) {
// this will get called after the client initiates a BluetoothGatt.discoverServices() call
BluetoothGattService service = gatt.getService(UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_SERVICE);
if (service != null) {
BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic = service.getCharacteristic(UUID_WEIGHT_SCALE_READING_CHARACTERISTIC);
if (characteristic != null) {
if (gatt.setCharacteristicNotification(characteristic, true) == true) {
Log.d("gatt.setCharacteristicNotification", "SUCCESS!");
} else {
Log.d("gatt.setCharacteristicNotification", "FAILURE!");
}
BluetoothGattDescriptor descriptor = characteristic.getDescriptors().get(0);
if (0 != (characteristic.getProperties() & BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_INDICATE)) {
// It's an indicate characteristic
Log.d("onServicesDiscovered", "Characteristic (" + characteristic.getUuid() + ") is INDICATE");
if (descriptor != null) {
descriptor.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_INDICATION_VALUE);
gatt.writeDescriptor(descriptor);
}
} else {
// It's a notify characteristic
Log.d("onServicesDiscovered", "Characteristic (" + characteristic.getUuid() + ") is NOTIFY");
if (descriptor != null) {
descriptor.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_NOTIFICATION_VALUE);
gatt.writeDescriptor(descriptor);
}
}
}
}
}
That does seem to have changed some things a little bit. Here's the current Logcat, following that code change:
D/BluetoothGatt﹕ setCharacteristicNotification() - uuid: <UUID> enable: true
D/gatt.setCharacteristicNotification﹕ SUCCESS!
D/onServicesDiscovered﹕ Characteristic (<UUID>) is INDICATE
D/BluetoothGatt﹕ writeDescriptor() - uuid: 00002902-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
D/BluetoothGatt﹕ onDescriptorWrite() - Device=D0:5F:B8:01:6C:9E UUID=<UUID>
D/onDescriptorWrite﹕ descriptor: 00002902-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb. characteristic: <UUID>. status: 0
D/BluetoothGatt﹕ onClientConnectionState() - status=0 clientIf=6 device=D0:5F:B8:01:6C:9E
So, it would appear that I'm now setting everything up properly (since setCharacteristicNotification returns true and the onDescriptorWrite status is 0). However, onCharacteristicChanged still never fires.
I've been able to successfully catch onCharacteristicChanged() with multiple services and characteristics by:
Writing descriptor values in the broadcastReceiver() in the main loop after service discovery is finished.
private final BroadcastReceiver UARTStatusChangeReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
//more code...
if (action.equals(uartservice.ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED)) {
mService.enableTXNotification();
}
and
By adding a delay between descriptor value settings
public void enableTXNotification(){
/*
if (mBluetoothGatt == null) {
showMessage("mBluetoothGatt null" + mBluetoothGatt);
broadcastUpdate(DEVICE_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_UART);
return;
}
*/
/**
* Enable Notifications for the IO service and characteristic
*
*/
BluetoothGattService IOService = mBluetoothGatt.getService(IO_SERVICE_UUID);
if (IOService == null) {
showMessage("IO service not found!");
broadcastUpdate(DEVICE_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_IO);
return;
}
BluetoothGattCharacteristic IOChar = IOService.getCharacteristic(IO_CHAR_UUID);
if (IOChar == null) {
showMessage("IO charateristic not found!");
broadcastUpdate(DEVICE_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_IO);
return;
}
mBluetoothGatt.setCharacteristicNotification(IOChar,true);
BluetoothGattDescriptor descriptorIO = IOChar.getDescriptor(CCCD);
descriptorIO.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_NOTIFICATION_VALUE);
mBluetoothGatt.writeDescriptor(descriptorIO);
/**
* For some reason android (or the device) can't handle
* writing one descriptor after another properly. Without
* the delay only the first characteristic can be caught in
* onCharacteristicChanged() method.
*/
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
/**
* Enable Indications for the RXTX service and characteristic
*/
BluetoothGattService RxService = mBluetoothGatt.getService(RXTX_SERVICE_UUID);
if (RxService == null) {
showMessage("Rx service not found!");
broadcastUpdate(DEVICE_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_UART);
return;
}
BluetoothGattCharacteristic RxChar = RxService.getCharacteristic(RXTX_CHAR_UUID);
if (RxChar == null) {
showMessage("Tx charateristic not found!");
broadcastUpdate(DEVICE_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_UART);
return;
}
mBluetoothGatt.setCharacteristicNotification(RxChar,true);
BluetoothGattDescriptor descriptor = RxChar.getDescriptor(CCCD);
descriptor.setValue(BluetoothGattDescriptor.ENABLE_INDICATION_VALUE );
mBluetoothGatt.writeDescriptor(descriptor);
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
/**
* Enable Notifications for the Battery service and Characteristic?
*/
BluetoothGattService batteryService = mBluetoothGatt.getService(BATTERY_SERVICE_UUID);
if (batteryService == null) {
showMessage("Battery service not found!");
broadcastUpdate(DEVICE_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_BATTERY);
return;
}
BluetoothGattCharacteristic batteryChar = batteryService.getCharacteristic(BATTERY_CHAR_UUID);
if (batteryChar == null) {
showMessage("Battery charateristic not found!");
broadcastUpdate(DEVICE_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_BATTERY);
return;
}
}
I was facing the same problem.
that's because when the device is sending the indicate value, your application is charged in another process and that's why you never get the indicate value which make the onCharacteristicChanged never fires.
to resolve your problem try to put all traitement in a service. and just call functions from your activity.

How to send data over a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) link?

I am able to discover, connect to bluetooth.
Source Code---
Connect via bluetooth to Remote Device:
//Get the device by its serial number
bdDevice = mBluetoothAdapter.getRemoteDevice(blackBox);
//for ble connection
bdDevice.connectGatt(getApplicationContext(), true, mGattCallback);
Gatt CallBack for Status:
private BluetoothGattCallback mGattCallback = new BluetoothGattCallback() {
#Override
public void onConnectionStateChange(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status, int newState) {
//Connection established
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS
&& newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_CONNECTED) {
//Discover services
gatt.discoverServices();
} else if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS
&& newState == BluetoothProfile.STATE_DISCONNECTED) {
//Handle a disconnect event
}
}
#Override
public void onServicesDiscovered(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status) {
//Now we can start reading/writing characteristics
}
};
Now I want to send commands to Remote BLE device but don't know how to do that.
Once the command is sent to the BLE device, the BLE device will respond by broadcasting
data which my application can receive.
You need to break this process into a few steps, when you connect to a BLE device and discover Services:
Display available gattServices in onServicesDiscovered for your callback
To check whether you can write a characteristic or not
check for BluetoothGattCharacteristic PROPERTIES -I didn't realize that need to enable the PROPERTY_WRITE on the BLE hardware and that wasted a lot of time.
When you write a characteristic, does the hardware perform any action to explicitly indicate the operation (in my case i was lighting an led)
Suppose mWriteCharacteristic is a BluetoothGattCharacteristic
The part where to check the PROPERTY should be like:
if (((characteristic.getProperties() & BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_WRITE) |
(charaProp & BluetoothGattCharacteristic.PROPERTY_WRITE_NO_RESPONSE)) > 0) {
// writing characteristic functions
mWriteCharacteristic = characteristic;
}
And, to write your characteristic:
// "str" is the string or character you want to write
byte[] strBytes = str.getBytes();
byte[] bytes = activity.mWriteCharacteristic.getValue();
YourActivity.this.mWriteCharacteristic.setValue(bytes);
YourActivity.this.writeCharacteristic(YourActivity.this.mWriteCharacteristic);
Those are the useful parts of the code that you need to implement precisely.
Refer this github project for an implementation with just a basic demo.
A noob-friendly guide to make Android interact with a LED-lamp.
Step 1.
Get an tool to scan your BLE device. I used "Bluetooth LE Lab" for Win10, but this one will do it as well: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.macdom.ble.blescanner
Step 2.
Analyse the behavior of the BLE device by entering data, I recommend to enter hex values.
Step 3.
Get the sample of the Android docs. https://github.com/googlesamples/android-BluetoothLeGatt
Step 4.
Modify the UUIDs you find in SampleGattAttributes
My config:
public static String CUSTOM_SERVICE = "0000ffe5-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb";
public static String CLIENT_CHARACTERISTIC_CONFIG = "0000ffe9-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb";
private static HashMap<String, String> attributes = new HashMap();
static {
attributes.put(CUSTOM_SERVICE, CLIENT_CHARACTERISTIC_CONFIG);
attributes.put(CLIENT_CHARACTERISTIC_CONFIG, "LED");
}
Step 5.
In BluetoothService.java modify onServicesDiscovered:
#Override
public void onServicesDiscovered(BluetoothGatt gatt, int status) {
if (status == BluetoothGatt.GATT_SUCCESS) {
for (BluetoothGattService gattService : gatt.getServices()) {
Log.i(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered: ---------------------");
Log.i(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered: service=" + gattService.getUuid());
for (BluetoothGattCharacteristic characteristic : gattService.getCharacteristics()) {
Log.i(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered: characteristic=" + characteristic.getUuid());
if (characteristic.getUuid().toString().equals("0000ffe9-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb")) {
Log.w(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered: found LED");
String originalString = "560D0F0600F0AA";
byte[] b = hexStringToByteArray(originalString);
characteristic.setValue(b); // call this BEFORE(!) you 'write' any stuff to the server
mBluetoothGatt.writeCharacteristic(characteristic);
Log.i(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered: , write bytes?! " + Utils.byteToHexStr(b));
}
}
}
broadcastUpdate(ACTION_GATT_SERVICES_DISCOVERED);
} else {
Log.w(TAG, "onServicesDiscovered received: " + status);
}
}
Convert the byte-String using this function:
public static byte[] hexStringToByteArray(String s) {
int len = s.length();
byte[] data = new byte[len / 2];
for (int i = 0; i < len; i += 2) {
data[i / 2] = (byte) ((Character.digit(s.charAt(i), 16) << 4)
+ Character.digit(s.charAt(i + 1), 16));
}
return data;
}
PS: The above code is far away from production, but I hope it helps those, who are new to BLE.

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