Appcelerator Bluetooth Module

The Bluetooth module allows you to access the Bluetooth service on Android devices and makes it possible to communicate using Bluetooth. It can be used to find the devices that are either paired or available in the local area, connecting devices, and transferring data between them.

Accessing the Bluetooth Module

To access this module from JavaScript, you would do the following:

var bluetooth = require("appcelerator.bluetooth");

The bluetooth variable is a reference to the Module object.

Getting Started

• Set the <module> element in tiapp.xml, such as this:

  <modules>
      <module platform="android">appcelerator.bluetooth</module>
  </modules>

Methods

• isSupported

  Checks that the Bluetooth is supported to the local Bluetooth device.

  Return value

  True if supported and false if not.

  Example

  if (bluetooth.isSupported()) {
      Ti.API.info('Bluetooth is supported');
  } else {
      Ti.API.info('Bluetooth is not supported in this device');
  }

• getPairedDevices

  This is a method used to get the paired devices with the local adapter.

  Return Value

  It returns a dictionary with keys:

  • message[String]: Description of the reason for not getting pairedDevices.
  • pairedDevices[Object]: Set of the devices which are paired to the local adapter.
  • success[Boolean]: Determines whether the paired devices are successfully fetched or not.

  Example

  var dict = bluetooth.getPairedDevices();
  var device = []; // array for paired devices.
  if (dict.success) {
      var pdevices = dict.pairedDevices;
      for (var index = 0; index < pdevices.length; index++){
          device[index] = pdevices[index];
      }
  } else {
      //Failed to get paired devices.
      Ti.API.info(dict.message);
  }

• createSocket

  It creates a RFCOMM Bluetooth Socket.

  Arguments

  • UUID[String]: UUID of the service this socket will connect to.
  • secure[Boolean]: It specifies whether the connection is secure or insecure

  Return value

  Returns the created socket for the device.

  Example

  // device can be obtained by either getRemoteDevice method, getPairedDevice method or via deviceFound event.
  var socket = device.createSocket('8ce255c0-200a-11e0-ac64-0800200c9a66', false);
  // To connect the socket
  socket.connect();

• createServerSocket

  It creates an object of the BluetoothServerSocketProxy class, which can be used for listening the incoming connections.

  Arguments

  • name[String]: Name of the service for SDP record.
  • uuid[String]: UUID of the service for SDP record.
  • secure[Boolean]: It specifies whether the connection is secure or insecure

  Return Value

  Returns the object of the BluetoothServerSocketProxy class

  Example

  var serverSocket = bluetooth.createServerSocket({
    		name: 'Test_Server_Socket',
    		uuid: '8ce255c0-200a-11e0-ac64-0800200c9a66',
    		secure: true
    });
  // To accept the incoming connections.
  serverSocket.startAccept(false); 

Properties

• name

  Name of the local Bluetooth device.

  Arguments

  • name[String]: Name for the local Bluetooth Adapter.

  Return Value

  Returns the name of the local Bluetooth Adapter.

  Example

  // To get the name
  var btName = bluetooth.name;
  
  // To set the name
  var btName = 'XYZ';
  bluetooth.name = btName;

• state

  State of the local Bluetooth Adapter.

  Return value

  Returns the current state of the local Bluetooth Adapter.

  Example

  var state = bluetooth.state;
  if(state === bluetooth.STATE_ON)
  {
      Ti.API.info('Bluetooth is on');
  }

Constants

• Bluetooth Scan Modes

  bluetooth.SCAN_MODE_CONNECTABLE

  bluetooth.SCAN_MODE_CONNECTABLE_DISCOVERABLE

  bluetooth.SCAN_MODE_NONE

• Bluetooth Adapter States

  bluetooth.STATE_OFF

  bluetooth.STATE_ON

  bluetooth.STATE_TURNING_OFF

  bluetooth.STATE_TURNING_ON

• Bluetooth Device Types

  bluetooth.DEVICE_TYPE_CLASSIC

  bluetooth.DEVICE_TYPE_DUAL

  bluetooth.DEVICE_TYPE_LE

  bluetooth.DEVICE_TYPE_UNKNOWN

Example

Please see the example/ folder. By default, the example would work on exchanging of the chat data. If you would like to exchange the image, simply update the file serversocket.js(line#115) and client_socket.js(line#151) to include the image_sender.js and image_receiver.js file there.

Observations

• This is the android native behaviour as observed. On a bluetooth socket object with a given uuid, if device A connects to device B (via BluetoothSocket connect() method), and then device A creates another socket object with the same uuid and attempts to connect with the same device B, then it won’t be successful to connect as a connected socket connection already exists. Moreover, while attempting for connection, the already connected socket would get disconnected. Recommendation: It would always be recommended to close the socket properly before trying to connect using the newly created socket object on the same device and same uuid.

• This is the android native behaviour as observed. While device scanning/discovery process, the same device can be found multiple times from the deviceFound event in span of 12 seconds. This scenario should be handled by the application. More information for same is available in the apidoc of bluetooth module class in section deviceFound event and startDiscovery method.

Building

Simply run appc run -p android --build-only which will compile and package your module.

Copy the module zip file into the root folder of your Titanium application or in the Titanium system folder (e.g. /Library/Application Support/Titanium).

Author

Axway

License

Copyright (c) 2020 by Axway, Inc. Please see the LICENSE file for further details.