I tested some features of the new nRF Connect application version 1.0 on PC. The application has a lot of interesting features useful to develop and debug embedded software using a desktop application with a very nice Javascript front-end. This is the very first time you release a cross-platform application and I am very happy for that, thanks for the effort Nordic !
Since the source code of the nRF Connect application for PC is not yet public, it would be great to create a post to report all the issues and requested features (as already existing for the SDK), or to create a Github repository in order to report all the issues at the same place.
As described in this post, here are some comments, bugs and features I'd like to share:
1. Unable to add a characteristic with "Write without response" property
I created a service with two characteristics, one with read and notify, one with write without response property, as soon in the picture below.
I used the nRF Connect for Mobile application on Android to connect to the server, but the TX characteristic has no properties at all, has shown below:
2. Cannot enter a text as a String for the characteristic user descriptor
Only hex values can be entered when editing the Characteristic User Descriptor. It should be possible to enter a description as a String:
3. Error when adding a characteristic in the server setup
I create a quite complex custom profile with several characteristic using the Server setup configuration page. When I click "Apply to device", I get the following error:
Error occurred adding characteristic. (NRF_ERROR_INVALID_PARAM) Failed to set services
The error message does not help here. You should at least add the UUID of the error characteristic because there is no way to correct the error for now.
I found some more debug information in the log file:
Error occurred adding characteristic. (NRF_ERROR_INVALID_PARAM)
at Adapter.<anonymous> (C:/Program Files (x86)/Nordic Semiconductor/nRF
Connect/resources/app.asar/js/actions/adapterActions.js:151:34)
at emitOne (events.js:77:13)
at Adapter.emit (events.js:169:7)
at promiseSequencer.then.catch.err (C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\nRF
Connect\resources\app.asar\node_modules\pc-ble-driver-js\api\adapter.js:2280:18)
at run (C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\nRF
Connect\resources\app.asar\node_modules\core-js\modules\es6.promise.js:104:47)
at C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\nRF
Connect\resources\app.asar\node_modules\core-js\modules\es6.promise.js:115:28
at flush (C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\nRF
Connect\resources\app.asar\node_modules\core-js\modules\$.microtask.js:19:5)
at doNTCallback0 (node.js:443:9)
at process._tickCallback (node.js:372:13)
2016-07-15T11:26:58.649Z INFO Failed to set services
4. No value displayed when the attribute value changed
I enable the notifications on a characteristic using the nRF Connection for Mobile application on Android. The value written from the phone is not displayed on the PC. See the debug log below:
2016-07-15T11:42:56.769Z INFO Attribute value changed, handle: 14, value (0x):
2016-07-15T11:42:58.809Z DEBUG 63/ 0 <- [02 50 00 00 00 0e 00 02 29 01 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 ]
type: VENDOR_SPECIFIC reliable:yes seq#:3 ack#:7 payload_length:12 data_integrity:1 header_checksum:d6 err_code:0
2016-07-15T11:42:58.809Z DEBUG 66 -> []
type: ACK reliable: no seq#:0 ack#:4 payload_length:0 data_integrity:0 err_code:0
2016-07-15T11:42:58.818Z DEBUG GATTS_EVT_WRITE time:2016-07-15T11:42:58.808Z connHandle:0 handle:14 op:1 opName:bleGattsOpWriteReq authRequired:false uuid:[uuid:10498 type:1 typeString:bleUuidTypeBle] offset:0 len:2
2016-07-15T11:42:58.818Z INFO Attribute value changed, handle: 14, value (0x):
The GATTS_EVT_WRITE is received but the value is not displayed.
5. Feature request: apply server setup more than once between reset
When using the "Server setup" configuration page, it is not possible to apply the server to the device more than once between resets.
It is only possible to apply server setup once per session. The board will have to be reset before adding a new server setup. This is due to an inherent SoftDevice feature/limitation.
It would be great to display an alert dialog and to choose to reset the device from the application in order to apply the new server configuration. We have to close the adapter or reset the board manually for now, this is not very user-friendly. After reseting the board, not all the configured settings can be restored, see the next issue.
6. Feature request: saving the adapter configuration
The setup of the Server can be saved to a Json file, but it is not possible to save the adapter configuration. When applying a new server configuration, the adapter has to be reset and all the advertising parameter are lost. It would be useful to be able to save and load the configuration of the adapter (at least the advertising setup data).
7. Self-Updating Node.js application
It could be useful to see when a new version of the application is available and to install it from the application itself.
I am very looking forward to see the source code of the application on Github (just like the C++ driver/library and the JS/Python bindings) to be able to contribute and test the project. It would be great to be able to checkout and build the application from the master branch in order to get the very latest changes at any time.
I hope my comments, issues and features request help. Thanks for your feedback.
