What is EasyNearby?

EasyNearby is a wrapper around Google’s Nearby Connections API (previously known as Nearby Messages API).

Demo (Youtube)

Quick Start

Setup
Permissions
Start advertising
Start discovery
Connect
Send payload
Get payload
Close connection
Stop advertising
Stop discovering

Setup

include dependency into your project

implementation("io.github.easynearby:android:0.0.2")

Permissions

The following permissions required depending on the Android API version:

/**
 * These permissions are required before connecting to Nearby Connections.
 */
private var REQUIRED_PERMISSIONS: Array<String> =
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU) {
        arrayOf(
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH_SCAN,
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADVERTISE,
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE,
            Manifest.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE,
            Manifest.permission.NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES,
        )
    } else if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S) {
        arrayOf(
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH_SCAN,
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADVERTISE,
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE,
            Manifest.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION,
        )
    } else if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.Q) {
        arrayOf(
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH,
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE,
            Manifest.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION,
        )
    } else {
        arrayOf(
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH,
            Manifest.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE,
            Manifest.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE,
            Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION,
        )

Start advertising

In order to advertise the device you have to acquire Advertiser via EasyNearby.getAdvertiseManager() and invoke startAdvertising method with a DeviceInfo object that represents your intention.

EasyNearby.getAdvertiseManager().startAdvertising(DeviceInfo("myDeviceName", "serviceId", ConnectionStrategy.STAR))

This will return a Result which in case of success gives you a flow of ConnectionCandidateEvents. The event has inside ConnectionCandidate - that represents a remote device and one of the two event types:

DISCOVERED - when a new ConnectionCandidate is found and there is a possibility to connect ot it
LOST - when previously found ConnectionCandidate is lost and there is no possibility to connect to it

fun start(deviceInfo: DeviceInfo) {
    viewModelScope.launch {
        EasyNearby.getAdvertiseManager().startAdvertising(deviceInfo)
            .onSuccess {
                // listen flow events
            }.onFailure {
                // Handle failure
            }
    }
}

Start discovering

Discovering process are very similar to advertising. You just have to use EasyNearby.getDiscoverManager() and invoke startDiscovery method with a DeviceInfo object that represents your intention.

This will return a Result which in case of success gives you a flow of ConnectionCandidateEvents. The event has inside ConnectionCandidate - that represents a remote device and one of the two event types:

DISCOVERED - when a new ConnectionCandidate is found and there is a possibility to connect ot it
LOST - when previously found ConnectionCandidate is lost and there is no possibility to connect to it

fun start(deviceInfo: DeviceInfo) {
    viewModelScope.launch {
        EasyNearby.getDiscoverManager().startDiscovery(deviceInfo)
            .onSuccess {
                // listen flow events
            }.onFailure {
                // Handle failure
            }
    }
}

Connect

In order to either initiate a connection or accept incomming connection you have to invoke connect method on the ConnectionCandidate. In this method you provide your device name and optionally you can pass authValidator callback in order to verify authentication digits with your partner. In case of Success you’ll get a Connection object that represent the established connection

 connectionCandidate.connect(myDeviceName ?: "unknown") { authenticationDigits: String ->
    val authResult:Boolean = showDitisToUserAndVerify(authenticationDigits)
    return authResult
 }.onSuccess {
    // handle success, for example keep connection
     saveConnection(it)
 }.onFailure {
     // handle failure
 }

Send payload

In order to send payload you can use sendPayload function on a Connection that you’ve established

val message = "Hello"
connection.sendPayload(message.toByteArray())

Get payload

In order to get payload you can use getPayload function on a Connection that returnes a Flow. **This flow will be cancelled once the connection is closed**.

connection.getPayload().onCompletion {
               // Chandle connection close
           }.collect { payload ->
                // handle received payload            
           }
       }

Close connection

In order to close a connection you can use close function on a Connection.

connection.close()

Stop advertising

In order to stop advertising you can invoke startAdvertising method on the AdvertiseManager.

Even after that devices can initiate connection if they have alredy discovered the device

EasyNearby.getAdvertiseManager().stopAdvertising()

Stop discoverring

In order to stop discovering you can invoke stopDiscovery method on the DiscoveryManager.

Even after that the device can initiate connection if they have alredy discovered devices

EasyNearby.getDiscoverManager().stopDiscovery()