BLE serial library

[xixicarry]

Hi John, I'm testing the BLE serial library(v1.2) in version 1.2.76 and the firmware is up-to-date, but using my mobile phone's bluetooth test tool, I found that I can't use it, whereas it works fine with the original version(v1.1).

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[John Maloney]

Interesting. It used to provide IDE service and UART service as two mutually exclusive services. You couldn't use both at the same time. Now it provides both services at the same time. It works with several UART test tools I've tried (e.g. nrfUtils and Bluefruit Connect). What tool are you using? Is it available for iPhone, Android, or both?

[xixicarry]

I'm using the Bluefruit Connect tool on my iPhone, and I've noticed that when I use the tool to connect to my device's bluetooth, I can't connect to the IDE, is it because I'm not using it correctly?

[xixicarry]

Here's my test video, after Bluefruit Connect connects to a Bluetooth device, it keeps flickering when I make a connection to the IDE, and the IDE side won't make a connection!

[John Maloney]

A BLE "peripheral" (which is what a MicroBlocks board is) can only be connected to one thing at a time. So, if it is already connected to the IDE via BLE, then Bluefruit connect cannot connect. In addition, If the IDE is connected via a USB cable, it rejects incoming BLE connections because one one IDE can be connected at a time, even if one is BLE and other is USB. Could that explain what you are seeing?

[xixicarry]

If I want to debug in real time using a bluetooth tool (Bluefruit connect), is there a good way to do it?

[John Maloney]

In general, you can't do live debugging of the BLE serial; you need to disconnect from the IDE, test your code, then reconnect the IDE to make further code changes.

However, for applications that are running the browser, there is special case: the Chrome browser allows the IDE to be open one tab while another BLE application is running in another tab. For example, I wrote a Javascript remote control program that could run in a browser tab while the IDE stayed connected from another tab.

But if you are using another device to connect, such as a phone, then you cannot use that trick so you need to disconnnect the IDE to test your BLE MicroBlocks code.

[xixicarry]

Thank you for your reply, I understand how to debug it.