Is it required to use ble_advdata_encode()?

[R2]

I've search DevZone, read the header info in ble_advdata.h, but don't understand when using ble_advdata_encode() is required. (I looked for Hung Bui's blog about advertising at https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/bluetooth-smart-and-the-nordics-softdevices-part-1 mentioned in Devzone but that page is "not found").

Our Nordic nRF52840 application advertises (EXTENDED_NONCONNECTABLE_NONSCANNABLE_UNDIRECTED) as Manufacturer-Specific Data (type 0xFF) only, and we have not used ble_advdata_encode() in our project. These BLE advertisements are easily read by Android devices and other Nordic nRF52840 boards, as is. My concern is that if we must use ble_advdata_encode, our Android code complexity will increase.

Thanks for your guidance on this.

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[Vidar Berg]

Hello,

Sorry for the broken link, this is the updated URL to Hung's blog post:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/guides/short-range-guides/b/bluetooth-low-energy/posts/bluetooth-smart-and-the-nordics-softdevices-part-1

ble_advdata_encode() is a helper functions to help encode the advertising payload so it follows the format required by the specification, but it is optional if you want to use it or not. You can always encode the data yourself.

The 2 first octest of the manufacturer field must for instance include the company identifier (0x0059 is our identifier). You can see from the ble_app_beacon sample how it's used to encode the manufacturer field into the advertisment payload.

The ble_app_beacon advertising payload for reference:

Best regards,

Vidar

[R2]

Thanks Vidar, most helpful and appreciate the updated link to Hung's blog.