pc-ble-driver-js provides a Node.js interface to the C/C++ pc-ble-driver library.
pc-ble-driver allows an nRF5 connectivity chip running Nordic's SoftDevice to be controlled via serial port (BLE Serialization) by an application - enabling the application with complete BLE functionality. pc-ble-driver-js is higher-level than pc-ble-driver and leans towards 'convention over configuration'. Getting started is quick and easy. This module may be useful for tasks ranging from automated BLE testing to desktop applications and BLE gateways in production.
Installing pc-ble-driver-js requires a bit more than the usual $ npm install because of it's C/C++ pc-ble-driver dependency. For detailed guidelines on building and installing pc-ble-driver-js and it's dependencies see Installation.md.
The examples and integration tests serve as a great starting point for development with pc-ble-driver-js. Examples include a heart rate monitor (BLE peripheral) and heart rate collector (BLE master) and show the basic structure of an application built on pc-ble-driver-js. To run the heart rate monitor example, verify your nRF5 connectivity chip is set-up and connected to your PC and run:
$ node examples/heart_rate_monitory.js
All functionality of pc-ble-driver-js is exposed through it's api. Other directories in pc-ble-driver-js/ are for building, binding to C/C++, and testing, and a developer building an application on top of pc-ble-driver-js need not concern themselves with these details.
Adapter is the core component of pc-ble-driver-js's api. An Adapter sends serialized commands to the nRF5 connectivity chip, which in-turn executes the corresponding SoftDevice functionality. Any events the nRF5 connectivity chip receives from the SoftDevice are serialized and forwarded to the Adapter, which parses and handles these events.
An Adapter:
- Sends commands to the nRF5 connectivity chip
- Parses and handles events from the nRF5 connectivity chip
- Stores and organizes BLE related state
- Logs info with the specified verbosity
An Adapter does all this with a 'convention over configuration' approach, and this leads to a high-level api exposed to the developer. SoftDevice functionality is exposed by Adapter through a set of methods that often have default or optional parameters. Events are parsed and errors are checked for/handled by Adapter before being emitted for the application's use. BLE related state is maintained by Adapter and provided to the application through a simplified interface. This makes life easy for the developer, but in the (hopefully rare) case where finer control of the SoftDevice is required, this approach may be limiting. In this case the developer may need to create an issue, modify or extend api/, or if it makes sense, move to using pc-ble-driver directly in a C/C++ environment.
Follow the examples and integration tests for high-level best-practice use of pc-ble-driver-js.
https://NordicSemiconductor.github.io/pc-ble-driver-js/
We are currently working on a Contributor License Agreement (CLA), which will allow third party contributions to this project. We do not accept pull requests for the time being, but feel free to file code related issues on GitHub Issues.
See the license file for details.