Office Hours — Today, April 17

Monday, April 14

Mark M.
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Mark M.
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Apr 17
7:35 PM
Vani
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Mark M.
hello, Vani!
how can I help you today?
Vani
hi Mark
I have a question regarding NFC
I need to write an app which can send and receive messages
kind of Peer to peer..
but dont want to do tap or beam for each msg send
is that possible with current Android NFC implementation?
Mark M.
it's not possible with any NFC implementation
NFC range is extremely short
contact is preferable
a centimeter might work
for P2P over longer ranges, use NFC to bootstrap some other form of communication, like WifiDirect
7:40 PM
Mark M.
or possibly Bluetooth
Vani
both devices will be in contact.. ie., tap..
but I dont want to swipe each time like the beam app does..
Mark M.
oh
I have no idea if there is a way to do that
Vani
swipe or tap I guess on the phone ui
well,
Mark M.
the NDEF-based APIs won't support that, AFAIK
Vani
I dont know what to say
Mark M.
there might be something at lower levels
but I haven't tried any of that
as NDEF is what most developers would need and what meets my needs
Vani
well, we set on doing a pretty interesting app, and we kind of need NDEF to do that way..
but when we went for implementing .. didnt find a way..
the P2P kind of misleading in a way
Mark M.
all the NDEF-based APIs are focused on sending a single NDEF message with a fixed number of NDEF records
Vani
right..
Mark M.
and, AFAIK, won't send another message until things are moved out of range and back together again
Vani
thank you for confirming my understanding
Is it possible for you to give me some direction?
Mark M.
north!
Vani
we are not very particular on NDEF.. it is good to have.. but
:)
7:45 PM
Mark M.
sorry, bad joke -- go ahead
Vani
The idea is to have few commands and responses exchanged
between two NFC enabled devices, so one of the device goes and finishes the job..
but to do that, with current implementation it needs going back and forth contact and taps
we assumed, P2P will work for us, and decided to do that way, with NDEF.. etc
but got blocked as the Android NDEF/BEAM doesnt work that way..
I came across one blog about Host card emulation sample, and using the enableReadermode() apis
but not sure if we can do in our context.
Mark M.
that is what I meant by "lower levels"
and I have not played with any of that, sorry
7:50 PM
Vani
will you be interested to play with them?
Mark M.
it's not high on my priority list
Vani
By any chance do you know if Google planning to add this support?
Mark M.
I know very little about what Google is planning regarding anything :-)
that being said, Google has previously suggested the bootstrap model I mentioned at the outset
in fact, Android Beam does that for you, which is why you can pull the devices apart and still transfer
it's transferring over Bluetooth
using NFC for any act that takes more than a couple of seconds likely will be considered aggravating by users, who basically cannot move while the NFC work is going on
7:55 PM
Mark M.
hence, I will be surprised if Google emphasizes long-duration NFC transfers in the future
but, I cannot say whether they will or they will not
Vani
that is not possible for us, due to other constraints, one of the devices in question doesnt support the BT
Mark M.
I presume that is custom hardware, as I cannot think of any mainstream Android device that has NFC and not Bluetooth
Vani
yes, second device is not android
Mark M.
OK
that is part of the reason I do not have host card emulation high on my list -- I think you need specialized hardware on one side of the communications
Vani
hmm
Mark M.
and I spend enough money on hardware as it is... :-)
Vani
okay, would it be okay if I come back to you on next chat with more info..
Mark M.
sure
Vani
Thank you for confirming about the NDEF and single message transfer
Mark M.
you are very welcome
Vani
I will talk to you next week then..
8:00 PM
Vani
Have a nice evening..
Mark M.
you too!
Vani
thanks, bye
8:30 PM
Mark M.
that's a wrap for today's chat
the transcript will be posted to http://commonsware.com/office-hours/ shortly
the next chat is Monday at 10am US Eastern Daylight Time
have a pleasant day!
Vani
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Mark M.
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Monday, April 14

 

Office Hours

People in this transcript

  • Mark Murphy
  • Vani