Android/Java WiFi direct peer list

Question

Yo,

I'm trying to get an Android device (it's a Nexus 7 although I can't imagine that matters too much) to communicate with a Raspberry Pi throught the wonders of WiFi Direct. Supposedly it's possible, and it seemed six hours ago like a better solution than going down the server-client route, but I'm running into issues

The Android developer website is nice in that it has two guides:

http://developer.android.com/training/connect-devices-wirelessly/wifi-direct.html http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/wifip2p.html

Which is lovely, because I don't have masses of experience in Java. But the problem with... well quite a lot on that site actually, is that elements in code they deem straightfoward (i.e. where to put things) are often missing.

I've followed both guides pretty closely but I've reached a problem - the WIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION intent is never broadcast, so when I'm looking for peers, it starts the search, says everything is fine, but doesn't give me a list of the results... which I'm guessing it should

I've been wrestling with this for most of the day with a nice case of hayfever to make life that extra bit sweeter

CODE:

Activity:

package com.example.bingotest;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import android.net.wifi.p2p.WifiP2pDevice;
import android.net.wifi.p2p.WifiP2pDeviceList;
import android.net.wifi.p2p.WifiP2pManager;
import android.net.wifi.p2p.WifiP2pManager.Channel;
import android.net.wifi.p2p.WifiP2pManager.PeerListListener;
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.annotation.TargetApi;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.IntentFilter;
import android.content.pm.ActivityInfo;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Menu;

public class BingoActivity extends Activity {

    private BingoView _view;

    private IntentFilter _intentFilter = new IntentFilter();

    private BroadcastReceiver _broadcastReceiver = null;
    private WifiP2pManager _manager;
    private Channel _channel;

    private List _peers = new ArrayList();
    private PeerListListener _peerListListener;

    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);
        _view = new BingoView(this);
        setContentView(_view);

        _intentFilter.addAction(WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION);
        _intentFilter.addAction(WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION);
        _intentFilter.addAction(WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_CONNECTION_CHANGED_ACTION);
        _intentFilter.addAction(WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_THIS_DEVICE_CHANGED_ACTION);

        _manager = (WifiP2pManager) getSystemService(Context.WIFI_P2P_SERVICE);
        _channel = _manager.initialize(this, getMainLooper(), null);
        //_broadcastReceiver = new WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver(_manager, _channel, this);
        //registerReceiver(_broadcastReceiver, _intentFilter);

        _peerListListener = new PeerListListener() {
            @Override
            public void onPeersAvailable(WifiP2pDeviceList peerList) {
                Log.d("wifi", "here");
                 // Out with the old, in with the new.
                _peers.clear();
                _peers.addAll(peerList.getDeviceList());

                if (_peers.size() == 0) {
                    Log.d("wifi", "No devices found");
                    return;
                }
            }
        };
    }

    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.bingo, menu);
        return true;
    }

    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    @Override
    public void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        _broadcastReceiver = new WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver(_manager, _channel, this, _peerListListener);
        registerReceiver(_broadcastReceiver, _intentFilter);
    }

    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    @Override
    public void onPause() {
        super.onPause();
        unregisterReceiver(_broadcastReceiver);
    }

}

WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver Class:

package com.example.bingotest;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.net.wifi.p2p.WifiP2pManager;
import android.net.wifi.p2p.WifiP2pManager.Channel;
import android.net.wifi.p2p.WifiP2pManager.PeerListListener;
import android.util.Log;

public class WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
    private WifiP2pManager _manager;
    private Channel _channel;
    private BingoActivity _activityRef;
    private List _peers = new ArrayList();

    PeerListListener _peerListListener;


    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    public WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver(WifiP2pManager manager, Channel channel, BingoActivity activity, PeerListListener peerListListener) {
        super();
        _manager = manager;
        _channel = channel;
        _activityRef = activity;        
        _peerListListener = peerListListener;


        _manager.discoverPeers(_channel, new WifiP2pManager.ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void onSuccess() {
                Log.d("wifi", "onsuccess");
            }

            @Override
            public void onFailure(int reasonCode) {
                Log.d("wifi", "onfailure");
            }
        });



    }

    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        String action = intent.getAction();

        Log.d("wifi", "receive: " + intent.getAction());

        if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {
            // Check to see if Wi-Fi is enabled and notify appropriate activity
            int state = intent.getIntExtra(WifiP2pManager.EXTRA_WIFI_STATE, -1);

            if (state == WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_STATE_ENABLED) {
                Log.d("wifi", "WIFI DIRECT ON");

            } else {
                Log.d("wifi", "WIFI DIRECT OFF");
            }

        }
        else if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {
            Log.d("wifi", "Peers changed");        
            if (_manager != null) {
                _manager.requestPeers(_channel, _peerListListener);
            }

        }
        else if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_CONNECTION_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {
            // Respond to new connection or disconnections
        }
        else if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_THIS_DEVICE_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {
            // Respond to this device's wifi state changing
        }

    }

    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

}

(apologies for potentially messy and wasteful code - I've been experimenting trying to get results)

Help would be much obliged. My guess is peerListListener is in the wrong place. My Android knowledge is pretty minimal.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I can see you did an initial discovery when constructing you WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver

and then in your Activity.onResume() you first construct WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver and then registerReceiver().

@Override
public void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    _broadcastReceiver = new WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver(_manager, _channel, this, _peerListListener);
    registerReceiver(_broadcastReceiver, _intentFilter);
}

The problem that you do not see the response come back is probably because of the sequence.Try move discoverPeers() to Activity.onResume() should solve the problem.