iOS Question BLE Mini Printer

[iCAB]

Hi All

I am using the BLE sample code to print to a bluetooth mini printer

The Log in the connected event looks like this

Found: Thermal Printer, 7707E342-B321-4E40-ABB8-EF384D43CD92, RSSI = -38, (read only map) {
    kCBAdvDataIsConnectable = 1;
    kCBAdvDataLocalName = "Thermal Printer";
    kCBAdvDataServiceUUIDs =     (
        18F0,
        "E7810A71-73AE-499D-8C15-FAA9AEF0C3F2"
    );
    kCBAdvDataTxPowerLevel = 4;
}

I was trying to figure out the proper service and id to use to print.

So what I did is this:

Sub Manager_DataAvailable (Service As String, Characteristics As Map)
    ActivityIndicator2.Visible = False
    clv.Add(CreateServiceItem(Service), 30, "")
    For Each id As String In Characteristics.Keys
        clv.Add(CreateCharacteristicItem(id, Characteristics.Get(id)), 40, "")
       
        Dim s As String = "abcde"
        Dim msg() As Byte = s.GetBytes("ASCII")
        Dim msg2(msg.Length + 2)   As Byte
       
        ByteConv1.ArrayCopy(msg,0,msg2,0,msg.Length)
        msg2(msg.Length) = 10
        msg2(msg.Length+ 1) = 13
           
    Log ( " ID  " & Service & " " & id)
        manager.WriteData(Service,id, msg2)
    Next
End Sub

The data is printed for the following 3 cases:

ID  49535343-FE7D-4AE5-8FA9-9FAFD205E455   49535343-8841-43F4-A8D4-ECBE34729BB3
ID  18F0  2AF1
ID  E7810A71-73AE-499D-8C15-FAA9AEF0C3F2   BEF8D6C9-9C21-4C9E-B632-BD58C1009F9F

What is the proper way of determining which service and id to use for printing?

Thanks in advance

 

[Erel]

Are you sure that the printer supports printing with BLE? Does it come with any documentation?

 

[iCAB]

Are you sure that the printer supports printing with BLE? Does it come with any documentation?

Honestly, I am not sure at the moment. I am still trying to get the documentation for it.

All what I know that it is supposed to support bluetooth for iOS. And if I understood correctly by reading different posts, that iOS doesn't support bluetooth serial (please correct if I am wrong).
That's why, I gave it a try using the BLE sample code as I described above and it does seem to print (but I am not sure how reliable it is going to be).


Thanks
iCAB

 

[iCAB]

Are you sure that the printer supports printing with BLE? Does it come with any documentation?

Hi Erel
Yes according to the manufacturer, it does support BLE.
I am also having an issue with WriteComplete event not being fired

Sub Manager_WriteComplete(Characteristic As String, Success As Boolean)
    Log("Write complete: " & Characteristic )
End Sub

is there anything special that I have to do for this to work?

Thanks in advance

 

[Erel]

Are you calling WriteDataWithResponse?

 

[iCAB]

Are you calling WriteDataWithResponse?

No I am just calling WriteData

 

[Erel]

Switch to WriteDataWithResponse if you want the event to be raised. Note that not all characteristics support it.