where to begin with bluetooth programming?
have just decided to begin with bluetooth programming? well, there is no easy way. just begin understanding what's bluetooth specification and profiles. see this post.do you understand bluetooth's specificaction and which profile you need and why? so the first step is discover, pair and establish connection between bluetooth devices... let's take a look an Microsoft's Bluetooth Stack example (Windows Embedded Source Tools for Bluetooth Technology).
don't forget that this library is only available to Microsoft Bluetooth Stack, do you know if your device supports it? look this device list. (don't forget register before)
see how to BluetoothRadio class method called PairedDevices shows the paired devices. this devices are hosted in registry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Bluetooth\Device). this class also allows to set/get the radio state. this state could be on, off and discoverable. the last state is a good way in order to prevent battery. it's very interesant to know what is the bluetooth specification version, the manufacturer and your device availables profiles . the next post I'll show you how to get this information in order to enhance BluetoothRadio class.
if you do need and WIDCOMM example let's go to high-point site. unfortunaly, the WIDCOMM stack it's not free but you may download a trial assemblies. this assemblies are compiled so you only may use it. in this way is possible you don't want to developer a entire bluetooth library (with Ms Bluetooth Stack), so you want to use it! see Peter Foort's 32feet.net site and his library called InTheHand, see chat sample. You'll find a managed library to develop a bluetooth based applications. If you want to see examples about, look 32feet.net examples and Lawrence Patricio blog has a lot of example based on InTheHand library. do you want to play chess through bluetooth?
posted by José Miguel Torres @ 9:37 AM
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