Receiving data using Bluetooth Dongle (BLED 112)

[milan12]

Hello Everyone,

I am doing a project where i need to develop a C# windows application. I need to receive data in my laptop (windows 7) using BLED 112 Dongle from NRF 8001 which is Bluetooth Low Power. Actually NRF 8001 is connected to a sensor and it is streaming the sensor's data. I need to receive those data using Dongle and save those data.

I tried doing this by using the library provided by 32feet.net but using this i could only discover the device but wasn't able to connect my Dongle to NRF 8001. So i couldn't proceed further and i am stuck since couple of weeks already :(

I already tried searching in the internet but didn't find much help however i recently i got a API for my Dongle in this link https://github.com/ahouben/BleDriver.NET
but still as i am new in this programming it didn't help me much. I am not sure how i could use it in a right way.

Any help or supporting example is highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance :)

[Oralloy]

milan12,

Welcome to bytes.com!

You gave us a very nice problem statement, but you neglected to post the code that you are having difficulty with.

Also, when you post code, be sure to surround it with CODE tags. Here is the BB CODE reference page.

Regards,
Oralloy

[milan12]

Hello Oralloy,

My apology for not posting the code, here is the current version of the code i am working on

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO;
 
using InTheHand.Net;
using InTheHand.Net.Bluetooth;
using InTheHand.Net.Sockets;
 
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {     
 
        private BluetoothClient bluetoothClient;        
 
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
 
        private void Search_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
 
            BluetoothRadio.PrimaryRadio.Mode = RadioMode.Discoverable;
            BluetoothRadio myRadio = BluetoothRadio.PrimaryRadio;
            label1.Text = "  " + myRadio.LocalAddress.ToString();
 
            bluetoothClient = new BluetoothClient();
            Cursor.Current = Cursors.WaitCursor;
 
            BluetoothDeviceInfo[] bluetoothDeviceInfo = { };
            bluetoothDeviceInfo = bluetoothClient.DiscoverDevices(10); //list max 10 devices
 
            comboBox1.DataSource = bluetoothDeviceInfo;
            comboBox1.DisplayMember = "DeviceName";
            comboBox1.ValueMember = "DeviceAddress";
            comboBox1.Focus();
            Cursor.Current = Cursors.Default;
        }
 
        private void Pair_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (comboBox1.SelectedValue != null)
            {
                try
                {
                    BluetoothSecurity.PairRequest((BluetoothAddress)comboBox1.SelectedValue, null); //pair request with no pass key
 
 
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
 
 
                }
            }
        }
 
 
        private void Exit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            this.Close();
        }
 
 
    }
}

I am working with the library 32feet.net but today i discover that 32feet.net doesn't support BLE (Bluetooth low Energy) devices here but now there is something i really don't understand. As the developer of 32feet.net said that their library doesn't support BLE devices so here is something i would like to know,

1. Why is my code which is using their library being able to discover the NRF 8001 (BLE device) if the library itself doesn't support BLE devices?
2. I am using two Dongles BCM 20702 (its Dual Mode) and BLED 112 (Single mode) both of them supports BLE. So now i want to know is it my code which is searching the surrounding BLE devices or its the dongles characteristics which is allowing it to search BLE devices?

Please do answer me if you know something about it.

I also found the C# API for BLED 112 Dongle here but i have no idea how i could use it for my project. I couldn't find any sample programs using that API :(

I am really stuck and haven't got much help, so i hope you can suggest me something. I really need some help in here.

Thanks in advance

[Oralloy]

Hello Milan12,

Thanks for posting your code up.

First off, I notice that you do not close the BluetoothClient when you exit (close) the dialogue. That might cause problems if you use the dialogue multiple times to search, I'm not sure.

Also, is there a reason for the NULL PIN in the paring request? This may be giving you problems, I'm unsure.

As to why discovery works, but not data transfer - it is quite likely that BLE wants to have backwards compatible discovery, so that multi-capability devices will work properly with old systems. Backwards compatibility and all that.

As for your second question - you have to install a driver for each dongle. That driver presents a well-defined interface to the operating system, which then presents a well defined interface (DLLs) to you. If we didn't have standards for interfaces, I dear say that we would be still writing low-level I/O packages for hard disks.

BY THE WAY, from reading Wikipedia, Windows 7 does not support BLE in the built-in stack, that capability comes in in Windows 8. I did not verify by going to microsoft's web site, though. You may have to install a third party stack in addition to the drivers, whether you want to or not.

I like Alexander Houben's C# package that you found on github. Have you tried compiling it and invoking the basic New/Open/Close sequence, yet, just to see what happens? Since this supports BLE, it may be the way for you to go. You will have to go through carefully to make sure it does what you expect it to, however.

I also liked the example outlined in this question. I don't know if there is anything useful for you there, or not.

Good Luck!

Hopefully some of that helps you get going. I'll keep looking for a bit, while you work on implementing Houben's package from github.

Cheers,
Oralloy

[milan12]

Hello Oralloy,

Thank you for your reply.

Closing the BluetoothClient didn't solved the problem and the reason behind using NULL PIN is that there is not security key required to connect.

As it was mentioned in 32feet.net that their library didn't supported BLE devices. This is true i finally received the BLED 112 Dongle (it's a single mode so it can only connect with BLE devices) and i tried to use the same code to discover the Bluetooth devices but then the code didn't worked at all for this Dongle. Also one surprising thing i saw is that when i installed the driver for BLED 112 then i saw this


why doesn't the BLED 112 Dongle act as a normal Bluetooth device? after all it's also a Bluetooth device?

I also tried using the API from Alexander Houben's but i couldn't succeed but then i found one example here i complied it in C# it run's like a charm. I checked the code but couldn't understand much from it.

By the help of this code i was also able to receive some data's in my Laptop but i am not sure if it is a good data as my transmitter (NRF8001) is only transmitting 20 byte's of data at a time and I am receiving 25 byte's in my laptop :( How is this possible?

Also Windows 7 doesn't support BLE in the biult in stack does this mean that i will need windows 8 to do the project?

Looking forward to hear from you.

Thanks in advance.