[Interest] Bluetooth Low Energy on Windows: Options and feasabilty of implementing own backend

[Denis Shienkov]

Hi all,

> So far, I was not able to communicate with a custom BLE peripheral using
either Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 8.1 on a desktop.

Hmm, it is strange. Can you please describe your steps and your env? Maybe
your custom BLE peripheral chip has wrong firmware.
I'm too faced earlier with a similar situation when a BLE peripheral works
on Max/Linux, but does not works on Windows 8.1 Desktop (the reason was in
a wrong FW).

BR,
Denis

2015-01-12 12:01 GMT+03:00 Blasche Alexander <
alexander.blasche at theqtcompany.com>:

>  How do you define a custom BLE peripheral (aka what BLE devices work and
> which don't) on Win 8.1? Is it one that is not defined by some well known
> service or characteristic UUID?
>
>
>   --
>
> Alex
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Axel Jäger <axeljaeger at googlemail.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, January 11, 2015 22:35
> *To:* Blasche Alexander; interest at qt-project.org
> *Subject:* AW: [Interest] Bluetooth Low Energy on Windows: Options and
> feasabilty of implementing own backend
>
>
> Hello Alex,
>
> thank you for your answer. So if there is someone working on a port of
> windows, time might be my friend and I might start on my mac using 5.5.
> However, in the meantime I found out that the implementation of Bluetooth
> LE on Windows behaves differently regarding the need to bond and pair
> devices.
>
>
>
> So far, I was not able to communicate with a custom BLE peripheral using
> either Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 8.1 on a desktop.
>
>
>
> I guess an implementation of the Qt Bluetooth LE API will inherit this
> behaviour. If this is case and currently I guess it is the case, I better
> go with the bluegiga SDK directly.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Axel
>
>
>
> *Von:* interest-bounces+axeljaeger=googlemail.com at qt-project.org [mailto:
> interest-bounces+axeljaeger=googlemail.com at qt-project.org] *Im Auftrag
> von *Blasche Alexander
> *Gesendet:* Mittwoch, 7. Januar 2015 09:28
> *An:* interest at qt-project.org
> *Betreff:* Re: [Interest] Bluetooth Low Energy on Windows: Options and
> feasabilty of implementing own backend
>
>
>
> Hi Axel,
>
>
>
> Your assumption about 5.5 is correct. Android gets LE support and ios/OSX
> get classic and LE support.
>
>
>
> Windows is currently work in progress. There is a wip/win branch on
> codereview. The windows port is mostly community driven at this stage which
> makes prediction somewhat hard. Ccurrently, you can find devices and I
> believe the initial connect to a BTLE device is somewhat done. This is done
> for classic desktop windows (which would cover win 8.1). There is no WinRT
> code at this stage.
>
>
>
> to your questions:
>
>
>
> 1.) I am confident Windows should have no unfixable problems. In many
> cases it is better than ios/OSX/Android when it comes to LE. I cannot say
> much about WinRT.
>
>
>
> 2.) I am not the WinRT expert but I was told in some cases it works in
> other's it doesn't. QtPositioning apparantly couldn't use RT on desktop. Qt
> doesn't mix desktop and RT and I got the feeling that the responsiple devs
> would like to keep it that way.
>
>
>
> 3.) The QtBluetooth library doesn't use a backend plugin. It is hardcoded
> into the library.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Alex
>    ------------------------------
>
> *From:* interest-bounces+alexander.blasche=theqtcompany.com at qt-project.org
> <interest-bounces+alexander.blasche=theqtcompany.com at qt-project.org> on
> behalf of Axel Jäger <axeljaeger at googlemail.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 6, 2015 23:51
> *To:* interest at qt-project.org
> *Subject:* [Interest] Bluetooth Low Energy on Windows: Options and
> feasabilty of implementing own backend
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I have created a Bluetooth Low Energy Peripheral and need to develop a
> companion application on a windows desktop for it. I see that windows is
> currently not in the list of supported plattforms of Qt’s Low Energy Module
> and it looks like it will not be in Qt 5.5 according to this commit:
>
>
> https://qt.gitorious.org/qt/qtconnectivity/commit/ffbb91da8e8f14d7d5ffa8bbeace3e6c42eb525b
>
>
>
> I am using bluetooth modules from bluegiga and they also offer a bluetooth
> stick with an own C API.
>
>
>
> I see three options getting my task done and I am asking you which one you
> think is most sensible one:
>
> 1) Implement my application using bluegiga’s API
>
> 2) Implement a backend for Qt to use bluegiga’s hardware
>
> 3) Implement a backend for Qt to use the Windows Bluetooth API from
> WinRT/Windows 8.1
>
>
>
> The options are ordered by estimated amount of work from least to most.
> Surprisingly I get the same order when sorting by sustainability.
>
>
>
> This means that actually option 3) is to be prefered. This brings me to a
> couple of questions:
>
> 1)      Has anyone already looked into the Windows API and wants to make
> a statement whether mapping Qt’s API to the Windows API is feasable?
>
> 2)      Is it actually possible to use WinRT on the Desktop as backend
> for Qt?
>
> 3)      Is there an API or a plugin interface for Bluetooth LE backends
> in Qt?
>
>
>
> Can you comment on any of my points?
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Axel
>
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