noble-nan

noble

A node.js BLE (Bluetooth low energy) central module.

Want to implement a peripheral? Checkout bleno

Note: Mac OS X and Linux are currently the only supported OSes, and are still under development. Other platforms will be developed later on (see Roadmap below).

Prerequisites

OS X

• install Xcode

Linux (Ubuntu)

• Kernel version 3.6 or above
• sudo apt-get install bluetooth bluez-utils libbluetooth-dev
• Run as sudo or root

Install

npm install noble

Usage

var noble = require('noble');

Actions

Start scanning:

noble.startScanning(); // any service UUID, no duplicates


noble.startScanning([], true); // any service UUID, allow duplicates


var serviceUUIDs = ["<service UUID 1>", ...]; // default: [] => all
var allowDuplicates = <false|true>; // default: false

noble.startScanning(serviceUUIDs, allowDuplicates); // particular UUID's

Stop scanning:

noble.stopScanning();

Peripheral connect:

peripheral.connect([callback(error)]);

Peripheral disconnect or cancel pending connection:

peripheral.disconnect([callback(error)]);

Peripheral update RSSI

peripheral.updateRssi([callback(error, rssi)]);

Peripheral discover services

peripheral.discoverServices(); // any service UUID

var serviceUUIDs = ["<service UUID 1>", ...];
peripheral.discoverServices(serviceUUIDs[, callback(error, services)]); // particular UUID's

Peripheral discover all services and characteristics

peripheral.discoverAllServicesAndCharacteristics([callback(error, services, characteristics));

Peripheral discover some services and characteristics

var serviceUUIDs = ["<service UUID 1>", ...];
var characteristicUUIDs = ["<characteristic UUID 1>", ...];
peripheral.discoverSomeServicesAndCharacteristics(serviceUUIDs, characteristicUUIDs, [callback(error, services, characteristics));

Service discover included services

service.discoverIncludedServices(); // any service UUID

var serviceUUIDs = ["<service UUID 1>", ...];
service.discoverIncludedServices(serviceUUIDs[, callback(error, includedServiceUuids)]); // particular UUID's

Service discover characteristics

service.discoverCharacteristics() // any characteristic UUID

var characteristicUUIDs = ["<characteristic UUID 1>", ...];
service.discoverCharacteristics(characteristicUUIDs[, callback(error, characteristics)]); // particular UUID's

Characteristic read

characteristic.read([callback(error, data)]);

Characteristic write

characteristic.write(data, notify[, callback(error)]); // data is a buffer, notify is true|false

Characteristic broadcast

characteristic.broadcast(broadcast[, callback(error)]); // broadcast is true|false

Characteristic notify

characteristic.notify(notify[, callback(error)]); // notify is true|false

• use for characteristics with notifiy or indicate properties

Characteristic discover descriptors

characteristic.discoverDescriptors([callback(error, descriptors)]);

Descriptor read value

descriptor.readValue([callback(error, data)]);

Descriptor write value

descriptor.writeValue(data[, callback(error)]); // data is a buffer

Events

Adapter state change:

state = <"unknown" | "resetting" | "unsupported" | "unauthorized" | "poweredOff" | "poweredOn">

noble.on('stateChange', callback(state));

Scan started:

noble.on('scanStart', callback);

Scan stopped:

noble.on('scanStop', callback);

Peripheral discovered:

peripheral = {
  uuid: "<uuid>",
  advertisement: {
    localName: "<name>",
    txPowerLevel: <int>,
    serviceUuids: ["<service UUID>", ...],
    manufacturerData: <Buffer>,
    serviceData: [
        {
            uuid: "<service UUID>"
            data: <Buffer>
        },
        ...
    ]
  },
  rssi: <rssi>
};

noble.on('discover', callback(peripheral));

Peripheral connected:

peripheral.on('connect', callback);

Peripheral disconnected:

peripheral.on('disconnect', callback);

Peripheral RSSI update

peripheral.on('rssiUpdate', callback(rssi));

Peripheral services discovered

peripheral.on('servicesDiscover', callback(services));

Service included services discovered

service.on('includedServicesDiscover', callback(includedServiceUuids));

Service characteristics discovered

characteristic = {
  uuid: "<uuid>",
   // properties: 'broadcast', 'read', 'writeWithoutResponse', 'write', 'notify', 'indicate', 'authenticatedSignedWrites', 'extendedProperties'
  properties: [...]
};

service.on('characteristicsDiscover', callback(characteristics));

Characteristic read

characteristic.on('read', callback(data, isNotification));

Characteristic write

characteristic.on('write', withoutResponse, callback());

Characteristic broadcast

characteristic.on('broadcast', callback(state));

Characteristic notify

characteristic.on('notify', callback(state));

Characteristic descriptors discovered

descriptor = {
  uuid: '<uuid>'
};

characteristic.on('descriptorsDiscover', callback(descriptors));

Descriptor value read

descriptor.on('valueRead', data);

Descriptor value write

descriptor.on('valueWrite');

Read handle

peripheral.readHandle(handle, callback(error, data));

Write handle

peripheral.writeHandle(handle, data, withoutResponse, callback(error));

Running on Linux

Must be run with sudo or as root user.

hci0 is used by default to override set the NOBLE_HCI_DEVICE_ID environment variable to the interface number.

Example, specify hci1:

sudo NOBLE_HCI_DEVICE_ID=1 node <your file>.js

Roadmap (TODO)

• Mac OS X:

  • Adapter state (unknown | reseting | unsupported | unauthorized | off | on)
  • Scan
    • startScanning
      • service UUID's
      • allow duplicates
    • stopScanning
  • Peripheral
    • discovered
    • connect
    • disconnect/cancel connect
    • update RSSI
    • services
      • discover
      • disover included
      • discover characteristics for services
    • characteristics
      • read
      • write
      • set broadcast value
      • set notify/indicate value
      • descriptors
        • discover
        • read
        • write
    • handle
      • read
      • write
        • with response
        • without response
  • error handling

• Linux

  • Adapter state (unsupported | unauthorized | off | on)
  • Scan
    • startScanning
      • service UUID's
      • allow duplicates
    • stopScanning
  • Peripheral
    • discovered
    • connect
      • public address
      • random address
    • disconnect/cancel connect
    • update RSSI
    • services
      • discover
        • filter by uuid
      • discover included
      • discover characteristics for services
        • filter by uuid
    • characteristics
      • read
      • write
      • set broadcast value
      • set notify/indicate value
      • descriptors
        • discover
        • read
        • write
    • handle
      • read
      • write
        • with response
        • without response
  • error handling

• Windows

  • TDB (most likely Windows 8 only)

Useful Links

• Bluetooth Development Portal
  • GATT Specifications
• Bluetooth: ATT and GATT

License

Copyright (C) 2013 Sandeep Mistry [e-mail]

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.