Monobrick on Android

[Edgard Neto]

Hello all,

I’ve been using monobrick for a while now but I’ve decided to start using it with android.
Although I dont understand how to get it to work in android ? I’ve been trying to use Xamarin Studio Android, but I can’t understand how to add the libraries (monobrick for Android) into my project.
Can anyone help me to do that ? Or at least a good tutorial for Monobrick for Android.

Thanks.

[Anders Søborg]

Hi – thanks for using MonoBrick Communication library

Start off by downloading the Monobrick Communication Library for Android. The first thing you need to do is to check if Bluetooth is turned on. This can be done by using the static property on the Bluetooth class as shown below.

MonoBrick.Bluetooth<BrickCommand,BrickReply>.IsEnabled

If Bluetooth is not turned on use the following code to turn it on

MonoBrick.Bluetooth<BrickCommand,BrickReply>.Enable();

Once Bluetooth has been turned on use the following code to get a list of paired devices

MonoBrick.Bluetooth.BondDevices

If you know the device name you can also call

MonoBrick.Bluetooth.GetBondDevice(string deviceName);

Use the Bluetooth device to create a Bluetooth connection instance and create a brick class followed by opening the connection. The code below sums it all up.

var device = MonoBrick.Bluetooth<MonoBrick.EV3.Command, MonoBrick.EV3.Reply>.GetBondDevice("youDeviceName");
var connection = new Bluetooth<MonoBrick.EV3.Command, MonoBrick.EV3.Reply>(device);
var brick = new MonoBrick.EV3.Brick<MonoBrick.EV3.Sensor,MonoBrick.EV3.Sensor,MonoBrick.EV3.Sensor,MonoBrick.EV3.Sensor>(connection);
brick.Connection.Open();

Replace EV3 namespace with NXT namespace depending on your device

Let me know how it goes

Anders

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by Anders Søborg.

[Jacek S]

Hi,
Do I need to buy license for xamarin studio? I think xamarin free starter limitation to 64kb IL size is not sufficient (monobrick library have more than 100kb). Are there any alternatives to use monobrick library for android without buying xamarin license?

Jacek

[Anders Søborg]

Hi Jacek

Are there any alternatives to use monobrick library for android without buying xamarin license?

No Sorry – but if you are a student you can get a discount…

Anders

[Marcin Krzewski]

Hi Anders

I did as you said and I’m getting an error in the line var device = MonoBrick.Bluetooth<MonoBrick.EV3.Command, MonoBrick.EV3.Reply>.GetBondDevice("youDeviceName");
saying 'MonoBrick.Bluetooth<MonoBrick.EV3.Command,MonoBrick.EV3.Reply>' does not contain a definition for 'GetBondDevice' D:\Projekty\EV3\Kama2\Kama2\Activity1.cs
I copied the bluetooth class from the test project. Do you know the solution to that? How should the definition of the GetBondDevice method look like?

Marcin

[Anders Søborg]

Hi Marcin

You need to use the Android DLL. This DLL has another implementation of the Bluetooth connection. One of the differences is the GetBondDevice…

Anders

[Marcin Krzewski]

Hi Anders

I still can’t connect.
"youDeviceName"
Should it be my phone name or my ev3 brick name? And does it matter if I turn on bluetooth and pair devices before I run the app on my phone? Or should I do it in the app using the code you provided? Btw. I dont exactly know what you mean by "This can be done by using the static property on the Bluetooth class"

Sorry if my questions are dumb, I’m still learning.

Marcin

[Anders Søborg]

Hi Again

There are no such things as dumb questions! I am just happy that people are using me software…

Should it be my phone name or my ev3 brick name? And does it matter if I turn on bluetooth and pair devices before I run the app on my phone?

Yes you need to pair you phone with the brick before running the program…

Just quoting what I wrote above

Once Bluetooth has been turned on use the following code to get a list of paired devices

MonoBrick.Bluetooth.BondDevices
If you know the device name you can also call

MonoBrick.Bluetooth.GetBondDevice(string deviceName);

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