QT -- QTLowEnergyService->discoverDetails() does not discover non standard characteristics - c++

I am writing a QT application for BLE on windows 10. The windows application is a BLE central, while the peripheral is running on an iOS device (tablet or phone). I pretty much followed the low energy scanner example and I can find the iOS device with the UUID of interest. The problem is that when the service is discovered and after issuing the discoverDetails() to get a list of the characteristics, the QT state machine goes from DiscoveryRequired, DiscoveringServices, Invalid Service, and then it disconnects.
I know this is a QT problem because
I can connect and interact with the peripheral using other applications
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lightblue/id557428110
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/ble-scanner/9nblggh0j7m0#activetab=pivot:overviewtab
The BLE scanner app (written in C#) from Microsoft, when compiled and run on the same machine as QT, also is able to connect and interact with the iOS peripheral.
I have noticed that other people are had/have the same problem, but I don't see where/if a resolution/workaround was eventually found.
Qt - Cannot read descriptor of the characteristic - BLE
Here is my handler for the QLowEnergyService::ServiceState signal
void BleClient::serviceStateChanged(QLowEnergyService::ServiceState newState)
{
switch (newState)
{
case QLowEnergyService::DiscoveringServices) :
{
// Nothing to do here, just note that we got into this state
qDebug() << "Discovering services";
break;
}
case QLowEnergyService::ServiceDiscovered:
{
qDebug() << "Service discovered";
const QList<QLowEnergyCharacteristic> chars = m_currentService->characteristics();
for (const QLowEnergyCharacteristic& ch : chars) {
auto cInfo = new CharacteristicInfo(ch);
m_characteristics.append(cInfo);
}
if (!chars.isValid()) {
setMessage("Value for characteristic not found.");
break;
}
m_notificationDesc = chars.descriptor(QBluetoothUuid::ClientCharacteristicConfiguration);
if (m_notificationDesc.isValid()) {
m_service->writeDescriptor(m_notificationDesc, QByteArray::fromHex("0100"));
setMessage("Characteristic enabled");
m_start = QDateTime::currentDateTime();
}
break;
}
default:
qDebug() << "Unhandled state received : (" << newState << ")";
}
}

Ok, figured it out. Added more debug code and saw that a very descriptive error was being logged:
QLowEnergyService error: UnknownError
Looking further, seems like , the QLowEnergyController needs a queued connection callback for the serviceDiscovered event to work as expected. So I changed
connect(controller, &QLowEnergyController::discoveryFinished, this, &BleClient::serviceScanDone);
to
connect(controller, &QLowEnergyController::discoveryFinished, this, &BleClient::serviceScanDone, Qt::QueuedConnection);
..and lo and behold, now I see all services with all the characteristics.

Related

BLE BlueZ return fixed pin for connection

I have bluez 5.48 running on embedded device and I am able to connect Apple and Windows devices over the bluetooth. I have also been able to get Bluetooth pairing working using DisplayOnly custom agent which generates random pin/pass for pairing.
The embedded device has no Input/Output peripherals so I need to return fixed pin for all connections but for some reason I am not finding the right way to do it. So far I have created custom agent, registered it on dbus, which receives the calls RequestPinCode and DisplayPasskey (but they are set to return auto generated pins.)
here is code snippet from my set up
static void bluez_agent_method_call(GDBusConnection *con,
const gchar *sender,
const gchar *path,
const gchar *interface,
const gchar *method,
GVariant *params,
GDBusMethodInvocation *invocation,
void *userdata)
{
int pass;
int entered;
char *opath;
GVariant *p= g_dbus_method_invocation_get_parameters(invocation);
g_print("Agent method call: %s.%s()\n", interface, method);
if(!strcmp(method, "RequestPinCode")) {
;
}
else if(!strcmp(method, "DisplayPinCode")) {
;
}
else if(!strcmp(method, "RequestPasskey")) {
g_print("Getting the Pin from user: ");
fscanf(stdin, "%d", &pass);
g_print("\n");
g_dbus_method_invocation_return_value(invocation, g_variant_new("(u)", pass));
}
else if(!strcmp(method, "DisplayPasskey")) {
g_variant_get(params, "(ouq)", &opath, &pass, &entered);
cout << "== pass = " << pass << endl;
pass=1234; // Changing value here does not change the actual Pin for some reason.
cout << "== pass = " << pass << "opath = " << opath << endl;
g_dbus_method_invocation_return_value(invocation, NULL);
}
else if(!strcmp(method, "RequestConfirmation")) {
g_variant_get(params, "(ou)", &opath, &pass);
g_dbus_method_invocation_return_value(invocation, NULL);
}
else if(!strcmp(method, "RequestAuthorization")) {
;
}
else if(!strcmp(method, "AuthorizeService")) {
;
}
else if(!strcmp(method, "Cancel")) {
;
}
else
g_print("We should not come here, unknown method\n");
}
I tried changing the pass variable in DisplayPasskey function to set new pin but bluetooth still connects with the auto generated pin only.
I found this stack overflow question which is exactly what I need How to setup Bluez 5 to ask pin code during pairing and from the comments, there seems to be solution to return the fixed pins.
It would be great if somebody can provide me with some examples to return fix pin in DisplayPasskey and RequestPinCode functions.
The Bluetooth standard does not contain a fixed key association model. The standard does not use a PAKE (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password-authenticated_key_agreement) but a custom ad-hoc weaker protocol. The custom protocol used during passkey pairing is only secure for one time passkeys (in particular, a passive eavesdropper learns the passkey used after a successful pairing attempt and can also be brute forced in at most 20 pairing attempts).
BlueZ follows the Bluetooth standard, which says the passkey should be randomly generated. Therefore you cannot set your own fixed passkey. If you don't have the required I/O capabilities, you shall use the "Just Works" association model instead (which unfortunately does not give you MITM protection). If you want higher security by using a fixed passkey for MITM protection, you must implement your own security layer on top of the (insecure) Application layer. This is for example what Apple's Homekit does.
Please also see my post at https://stackoverflow.com/a/59282315.
This article is also worth reading that explains why a static passkey is insecure: https://insinuator.net/2021/10/change-your-ble-passkey-like-you-change-your-underwear/.

Sleep inside QTConcurrent run method

I'm using QtConcurrent::run to execute some functions in background and not hang the GUI thread. In one function, I read logs from local SQlite database and send them to server by TCP socket.
Now I want to delay the execution after each log so the server has time to save it (TCP response is read in different thread). I'm stuck with Qt4.8 due to implementation limitations (many embeded devices - no chance to upgrade QT on them) and I can't use QThread::sleep(2) because it is protected in 4.8.
Is it possible to somehow pause the execution of thread inside QtConcurrent::run method or should I redesign it to implement my own class inheriting QThread?
void MainWindow::ReportFinishedHUs(bool asyncWork)
{
if(asyncWork == false)
{
QMutexLocker locker(&localDBmutex);
QList<QSqlRecord> HUsToReport = localDB->getHUsForBook();
qDebug() << "HUs to report" << HUsToReport.count();
if(!HUsToReport.isEmpty())
{
Cls_log::WriteDebugLog("HUs to report: " + QString::number(HUsToReport.count()));
foreach (QSqlRecord record, HUsToReport)
{
int _hu = record.indexOf("hu");
int _logTime = record.indexOf("logTime");
QString logTimeString = record.value(_logTime).toString();
QString hu = record.value(_hu).toString();
qDebug() << hu << logTimeString;
// creating message here ...
qDebug() << message;
emit sig_SendTCPMessage(message);
// this is where I need to wait for 2 seconds
QThread::sleep(2);
}
}
}
else
{
QtConcurrent::run(this, &MainWindow::ReportFinishedHUs, false);
}
}
EDIT:
Solved by usleep(2000000) which I somehow discarded for being platform specific... but hey, half of my aplication is platform specific and I only use it in embeded device with constant OS.
Keeping the question open if anyone can suggest more elegand solution using Qt methods. I like to get inspired.

Arduino doesn't receive data after reconnecting to USB

So, I've built a basic QT GUI where I want to establish communication with an Arduino Nano through USB. I send a number through the GUI and the Arduino receives the number and processes it.
The communication works fine when I upload the code to Arduino and right afterwards open the GUI and start the process. However, when I disconnect the Arduino from the USB (or restart my PC - I've tried both) and reconnect it to use it with the GUI, the Arduino behaves like it received nothing.
More specifically, in the first case Serial.available() returns "1" as it receives the number properly, but in the latter case it returns "0", so it does nothing.
I made the code as simple as I could trying to track down the issue and the problem continues.
So here is the main QT GUI code:
depth_ = insertDepthEdit->text().toInt(); // user input from GUI
myThread *mThread;
mThread = new myThread(this, depth_);
connect(mThread, SIGNAL(valueRead(QString)), this, SLOT(onTextChange(QString)));
//valueRead is the signal emitted from Arduino
//onTextChange the function that processes the received string
mThread->start();
mThread->wait(100);
mThread->quit();
The Arduino thread code (also QT):
void myThread::run() {
QSerialPort serial;
serial.setPortName("COM3");
serial.setBaudRate(QSerialPort::Baud9600);
serial.setDataBits(QSerialPort::Data8);
serial.setParity(QSerialPort::NoParity);
serial.setStopBits(QSerialPort::OneStop);
serial.setFlowControl(QSerialPort::NoFlowControl);
serial.open(QIODevice::ReadWrite);
if (serial.isOpen() && serial.isWritable()) {
qDebug() << "Ready to write..." << endl;
QByteArray ba(QString::number(depth_).toStdString().c_str());
qDebug() << ba << endl;
serial.write(ba);
if (serial.bytesToWrite() > 0) {
serial.flush();
if (serial.waitForBytesWritten(1000)) {
qDebug() << "data has been sent" << endl;
}
}
if (serial.flush()) {
qDebug() << "ok" << endl;
}
}
else {
qDebug() << "Error";
}
if (serial.isOpen() && serial.isReadable()) {
qDebug() << "Ready to read..." <<endl;
while (serial.waitForReadyRead(5000)) {
QByteArray inByteArray = serial.readLine();
input_ = QString(inByteArray);
qDebug() << input_;
qDebug() << "ok" << endl;
emit valueRead(input_);
}
}
serial.close();
}
And finally the Arduino code:
int c = 0;
const int ledPin = 13;
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop() {
Serial.print(Serial.available());
while (Serial.available() > 0) {
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
delay(5);
c = Serial.read() - '0';
Serial.flush();
}
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
delay(500);
}
When I upload the code to Arduino, it functions properly no matter if I close the GUI and restart it. The problem happens only if Arduino loses power, e.g: when I disconnect it from USB or restart the PC.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~EDIT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COM port remains the same after reconnecting and Arduino Rx LED flashes normally when I send data through the GUI.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~EDIT 2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, so, I tried using the code from Arduino Serial documentation and the problem remains. When I upload the code the Arduino receives the character properly and turns the LED on, but once I disconnect it and then connect it back, it does nothing, the LED remains low as it never enters "if".
Here's the code I used:
int incomingByte = 0;
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop() {
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
incomingByte = Serial.read();
}
}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~EDIT 3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I have the following 3 scenarios:
Use Scenario A:
Upload code
Run GUI
Send data - It receives properly
Disconnect and reconnect
Run GUI again
Send data - RX blinks but Serial.available returns 0
Use Scenario B:
Upload code
Run Brays
Send data - It receives properly
Disconnect and reconnect
Run Brays again
Send data - It receives properly
Use Scenario C (the most interesting) :
Upload code
Run GUI
Send data - It receives properly
Disconnect and reconnect
Run Brays this time
Send data - It receives properly
Run GUI again after Brays
Send data - It receives properly
I also made the QT GUI code as simple as that but the problem persists:
void myThread::run()
{
QSerialPort *serial = new QSerialPort();
serial->setPortName("COM3");
serial->setBaudRate(QSerialPort::Baud9600);
serial->setDataBits(QSerialPort::Data8);
serial->open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
if (serial->isOpen() && serial->isWritable())
{
QByteArray ba(QString::number(depth_).toStdString().c_str());
serial->write(ba);
serial->flush();
serial->close();
}
delete serial;
}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~EDIT 4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So after much effort and curiosity, I realized that the source of the problem is not the Arduino code but something related to QT or Windows. I added the delays that Jeff recommended and noticed that each time it functioned properly Rx blinked and LED became high as indicated by the code. However, after reconnecting, the problem still remained but I noticed that, this time, immediately after clicking "Send" to send the characters, the LED blinked for some milliseconds (possibly indicating some error??) and then after the 1 second delay the Rx blinked indicating the receipt of data and LED remained LOW as Serial.available remained 0.
So, what I tried next, was to remove one line of code at a time to see what causes the problem. And I ended up with literally blank Arduino code, just empty setup and loop methods, and the following QT GUI code:
void myThread::run()
{
QSerialPort *serial1 = new QSerialPort();
serial1->setPortName("COM5");
serial1->open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
serial1->close();
}
To summarize, what happens now is:
Upload code to Arduino
Run GUI
Send data
Nothing happens (normal behaviour)
Disconnect and reconnect Arduino to USB
Run GUI
Send data
Arduino LED momentarily blinks once (possibly indicating some kind of error)
OK, so, after hours of debugging I've found what caused the problem.
The root of it was that after reconnecting the Arduino, each time I called serial.open in QT, Arduino did a reset (indicated by the blink of the LED) and by the time it was after the bootloader stage and was running the code, the main program had already passed the serial.write QT command without receiving the data.
So, what I did to solve the problem was to just add a Sleep(uint(2000)); after serial.open in order to let Arduino finish booting and then start sending data.
Thank you all for your help and immediate answers!
In my experience, the issue is not the code in the Arduino. It is because the serial port gets a different name when it is plugged back in.
For example in Linux, originally the port is /dev/ARD0, but when it is disconnected and plugged back in with connections on ARD0, the new plugin is named /dev/ARD1. (In Windows, it might be COM17 then COM18.)
The only way I know to make it become the original port name is to close everything that is connected to it before plugging in again: Close the Arduino IDE, close all programs which have opened the port, etc.
If you use this example for the Arduino Serial documentation do you receive the chars you send?
int incomingByte = 0; // for incoming serial data
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600); // opens serial port, sets data rate to 9600 bps
}
void loop() {
// send data only when you receive data:
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
// read the incoming byte:
incomingByte = Serial.read();
// say what you got:
Serial.print("I received: ");
Serial.println(incomingByte, DEC);
}
}
Grasping at straws here, replace my comments below a one second delay. Editing on iPhone messed with the format a little, but I believe you can see my intent.
Edit: Also, I think you should not do serial->close inside your loop. I would also try sending a single character repeatedly until we have that working.
void myThread::run()
{
QSerialPort *serial = new QSerialPort();
serial->setPortName("COM3");
serial->setBaudRate(QSerialPort::Baud9600);
serial->setDataBits(QSerialPort::Data8);
serial->open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
if (serial->isOpen() && serial->isWritable())
{
QByteArray ba(QString::number(depth_).toStdString().c_str());
serial->write("x");
delay 1 second here
serial->flush();
delay 1 second here
}
serial->close();
delay 1 second here
delete serial;
}

How check fast, if database reachable? (Qt, QML, C++)- Linux

I use qt with qml and c++. On my application i use a database.
It all works, if the database is reachable.
My problem is, that i would like to check, if database is reachable (like ping).
I tried
db.setDatabaseName(dsn);
if(db.isValid())
{
if(db.open())
{
//std::cout <<"Offene Datenbank";
connected=true;
}
else
{
connected=false;
}
}
else
{
connected=false;
}
and give the connected value as result. But that takes very long (maybe 30 seconds), if there is no connection. How i can check fast, if i have a database connection?
Is there maybe a way to break the command .open after 5 seconds not connected?
I think one easy solution is to just check the ping of the database sever. You can use platform specific ways for pinging.
This would work on Linux :
int exitCode = QProcess::execute("ping", QStringList() << "-c 2" << serverIp);
if (exitCode==0)
{
// is reachable
} else
{
// is not reachable
}
I have studied this question a bit. Here is what I found out.
The problem is in default db connection timeout - it is too long. Each db allows you to change it to an acceptable value, using their own API. In Qt there is one common db interface - QSqlDatabase. And it does not have such method. You can set connection settings by calling it's QSqlDatabase::setConnectOptions method, but it accepts only predefined list of options (which you can read in Qt's help).
For PostgreSQL there is an option connect_timeout, so you can write:
db.setConnectOptions("connect_timeout=5"); // Set to 5 seconds
For other databases there is no such parameter. Connection options of each db are parsed in it's 'driver' class, which derives QSqlDriver and is stored in a 'driver' library.
So, what you can do:
You can rewrite database's driver in order it to accept timeout option.
You can write separate code for each db, using it's native API.
UPDATE
Turns out, that ODBC has SQL_ATTR_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT option.
UPDATE 2
qsql_odbc.cpp:713
} else if (opt.toUpper() == QLatin1String("SQL_ATTR_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT")) {
v = val.toUInt();
r = SQLSetConnectAttr(hDbc, SQL_ATTR_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, (SQLPOINTER) v, 0);
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms713605(v=vs.85).aspx
SQL_ATTR_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT (ODBC 3.0)
An SQLUINTEGER value
corresponding to the number of seconds to wait for any request on the
connection to complete before returning to the application. The driver
should return SQLSTATE HYT00 (Timeout expired) anytime that it is
possible to time out in a situation not associated with query
execution or login.
If ValuePtr is equal to 0 (the default), there is no timeout.
Should work fine...
I suggest having some separate thread/class where you check connection and emit signal after some timeout if nothing happens (with a check - knowConnection - if we found out already if its connected).
This code is not tested and written from scratch on top of my head.. may contain some errors.
/// db connection validator in separate thread
void validator::doValidate() {
this->knowConnection = false;
db.setDatabaseName(dsn);
if(db.isValid())
{
QTimer::singleShot(1000, [this]() {
if (!this->knowConnection) {
emit connected(false);dm->connected=false;
}
});
if(db.open())
{
//std::cout <<"Offene Datenbank";
this->knowConnection = true;
dm->connected=true;
emit connected(true);
}
else
{
dm->connected=false;
this->knowConnection = true;
emit connected(false);
}
}
else
{
dm->connected=false;
this->knowConnection = true;
emit connected(false);
}
}
/// db manager in different thread
void dm::someDbFunction() {
if (connected) {
/// db logic
}
}
/// in gui or whatever
MainWindow::MainWindow() : whatever, val(new validator(..), .. {
connect(val, SIGNAL(connected(bool)), this, SLOT(statusSlot(bool));
....
}
void MainWindow::statusSlot(bool connected) {
ui->statusBar->setText((connected?"Connected":"Disconnected"));
}

requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way

My problem is:
I built a c++ code for simulating a communication network (using OMNeT++ discrete event simulator) until there is no errors and the simulation completed, when I tried to increase the number of simulated entities, in any run at some point of time the simulation stops with a message printed in the command prompt says “This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application’s support team for more information” and an error message displayed in a dedicated window under the title Application error says ”The exception unknown software exception (0x40000015) occurred in the application at location ....... ”
I think the problem, i.e., the simulation stops at and due to this part " ((cMessage *)msg->dup() " in the following code (but that may not be correct):
********
`void ChannelAccess::sendToChannel(AirFrame *msg)
{
const ChannelControl::ModuleList& neighbors = cc->getNeighbors(myHostRef);
coreEV << "sendToChannel: sending to gates\n";
// loop through all hosts in range
ChannelControl::ModuleList::const_iterator it;
for (it = neighbors.begin(); it != neighbors.end(); ++it)
{
cModule *mod = *it;
// we need to send to each radioIn[] gate
cGate *radioGate = mod->gate("radioIn");
if (radioGate == NULL)
error("module %s must have a gate called radioIn", mod->fullPath().c_str());
for (int i = 0; i < radioGate->size(); i++)
{
ChannelControl::HostRef h = cc->lookupHost(mod);
if (h == NULL)
error("cannot find module in channel control");
if (h->channel == msg->getChannelNumber())
{
coreEV << "sending message to host listening on the same channel\n";
// account for propagation delay, based on distance in meters
// Over 300m, dt=1us=10 bit times # 10Mbps
sendDirect((cMessage *)msg->dup(),myHostRef->pos.distance(h->pos) / LIGHT_SPEED, mod, radioGate->id() + i);
}
else
coreEV << "skipping host listening on a different channel\n";
}
}
// register transmission in ChannelControl
cc->addOngoingTransmission(myHostRef, msg);
}
`
*********
So, any help will be appreciated as I would like to run the simulation for large number of nodes.
For knowledge I use win xp SP3 and win 7, OMNet++ 3.3, Microsoft visual c++ 2005 express edition, one of the computers I ran the simulation on is i7 processor with 8G RAM.
Thank you in advance.